The paint-your-own pottery is a great idea... I might actually suggest that to our active chapter as a rush event.
My chapter has gone through a lot of ups and downs (it closed for about two years due to complete lack of interest/membership plus internal issues), and the alumni association completely fell apart. Most of the "older" alumni (alumni from pre-implosion) no longer really have an interest in participating with the chapter. Some of the "new" alumni (post implosion) do, and so I'm hoping we can start fresh and get a strong alumni association together, inviting the older alumni to participate if they wish... but also focusing on moving forward with the newer ones that wish to participate.
One of the things I've discovered as one of the "old" alumni is how interested many of the actives are to hear stories about when I was in the chapter. They literally have a cut-off history in the late 1990's, and it's as if many of them started a brand-new chapter. So one of the biggest alumni activites right now is making a record of memories of our days in the chapter so they can see where the chapter *has* been.
~ Mel.