[GPhiBLtColonel]

....our alumnae chapter is small (about 2 dozen active members) and new -- just two years old. And we do not have a collegiate chapter near us. For an alum chapter like ours I suggest keeping it simple and fun and EASY-going --
The first year we had founders Day, we tried to find a restaurant but in our area there were none that had private rooms except those restaurants in hotels and they all wanted huge deposits which we could not afford. So I cooked a nice luncheon in my house for 15 women plus an alum initiate candidate (who is now a member). I like to cook so it was not any big deal -- herbed chicken breast, sauteed green beans with bacon & pears, horseradish carrots & pine nut rice, also a nice cake for dessert. We had wine and soft drinks and the ol southern standby -- "sweet tea!" We did charge a small amount to cover the food cost and a donation to our Headquarters Foundation. I set up two card tables and used the kitchen table and the dining room table and we had a blast -- much nicer than a restaurant where we might have felt pressured to move on. Everyone really enjoyed it. We did essentially the same thing last year but we did a potluck at our new President's home (I was too busy to cook -- our Founders Day is also Veteran's Day and I am a retired military officer so could not squeeze cooking into a full schedule)...again we had a blast -- we did a presentation for a member who had attained 50-year status -- she was thrilled to be so honored -- she had not been involved since her college days...now she is one of our stalwart members (she and I even roomed together at our convention this past summer).