stressing......need advice

[OnePlus69Is70]

OK, to be quick about this:
I'm in a newish chapter (2 years old), and it's our first year in a house. Saturday coming is going to be our first big party of the year. (We're a tad bit slow- no one in the house is taking less than 5 classes, so we've been concerned with school-type things.)

My worry is, the party is going to be dry. That is not normal here- fraternity parties are supposed to have beer free-flowing from the taps. We're doing it, because promising to be dry was how we got the house. Since no one's ever done this before, my brothers are afraid it won't go off- which would wreck our reputation and our rush. (Rush here has completely sucked this year- half the normal number of men going through, and the sorority number's even lower.) We've followed all the normal advice for doing this: have a theme, have other food and drinks, blah blah blah.

Is there anyone who's holding dry events, and can say they're actually going off well, so i can tell my brothers not to piss themselves? Or shall I tell them buckets away, we're screwed?

[AchtungBaby80]

At my school, the whole campus is dry, including fraternity and sorority houses. We usually get around this issue by having a "pre-party" off-campus where there is alcohol, so everyone's already lit when they get to the actual event, or there might be a party afterwards that is off-campus. If that's an option, you might want to try that.

[CarolinaDG]

First off, I want to start by saying that it's really sad that people might not show up because there's no alcohol...

... but it's a fact. Fraternity parties, most of the time, include kegs and girls looking for kegs. But I think what you could probably do is hold an off-campus pre-party. The only danger with that, though, is that people may not want to leave the pre-party for the dry house. I dunno. I know I'm not much help, sorry.

[OnePlus69Is70]

it's an interesting idea, but.....how would people get from the pre-party to the party? the nearest complex where we have friends is three miles away, and the nearest apartment complex where we have a brother is in a different township. I can't imagine people wanting to go from either place back to the house.

Being dry very nearly defeats the purpose of having a house....'oh, here's the thing you've been wanting, but we aren't going to let you use it'. most days i think we were better off in the dorms- we could drink and it was cheaper.

[nyrdrms]

My school is a dry campus and last year IFC imposed new rules on fraternity rush. Since we don't have houses on campus, the fraternities could technically have alcohol at their events...that is until last year. Now, not only can they not hold events with alcohol, but they can't go to an establishment that makes a certain percentage of their proceeds (40% I think) from the sales of alcohol.

The key to having successful dry events is to keep people occupied. You need to have things going on so that they don't feel that they need to have the alcohol in order for them to have fun while at your house. One of the fraternities rented one of those air joust things, another held a luau and had a slip and slid out across the lawn. People are interested in things that are fun, but too often they think that they can't have fun without the alcohol....you just have to prove them wrong! Good luck!!

[chideltjen]

i agree with the pre party idea. hopefully people will be smart enough to have some sober drivers in the group because even if your party wasn't dry, sober drivers would still be needed. the last thing you need is a death on campus from a DUI.
Next time tho, try having a party at a 3rd party vendor. if you offer the alcohol there and have a fairly decent admission price, you make lots of money.
But I personally enjoy smaller parties. Everyone gets to know everyone else and their aren't too many party fouls. There is nothing worse than a chapter room-turned dancefloor full of 20 zillion people and no one can breathe... let alone move.