Sisterhood Retreat Weekend...ideas?

[Tiara98]

I am trying to organize our first sisterhood retreat for next month.

I originally thought camping was a great, inexpensive idea, but it turns out that my sisters are highly opposed to it. And in all honesty, I am not the 'Outdoors Princess' either.

So what we're trying to do is find a hotel or cottage/cabin somewhere in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or possibly West Virginia. (Our university is in Baltimore) Any ideas here?

We will have between 7-15 girls once we finish recruiting this weekend, and we're looking to spend as little as possible, yet end up in only one or 2 different rooms.

Also, what kind of bonding activities can we do? I'm thinking I want to incorporate as many facets as possible into our weekend itinerary: Academics (aka study hours), Philanthropy, and obviously a lot of sisterhood bonding.

Any suggestions are welcome!

------------------
Amanda M.
Social Chairwoman
Theta Sigma Alpha
Towson University

[This message has been edited by Tiara98 (edited September 25, 2000).]

[BFulton]

Originally posted by Tiara98:


Also, what kind of bonding activities can we do? I'm thinking I want to incorporate as many facets as possible into our weekend itinerary: Academics (aka study hours), Philanthropy, and obviously a lot of sisterhood bonding.

Hi! I have been hearing a great deal lately from our chapters about ropes courses. These are team-building training... I've never been through it myself but those that have really enjoyed the experience and thought it brought their group together. For what it's worth!

Some games can be a lot of fun also. We had a board meeting this summer and had a RIOT playing "Taboo." It also taught us a great deal about how we communicated with and understood (or didn't) one another. For example, certain members almost instantly got what a certain player was describing, while others were clueless.

[33girl]

Hi Amanda!

2 places I can think of to have it would be at Seven Springs or Hidden Valley in south-central Pennsylvania. you take I-70 to Breezewood, then get on the PA turnpike and they are both off exit 10. Seven Springs I've seen the cottages - about 8 people can fit in them and they are cute as anything. They might be a little pricy though. Hidden Valley probably has something similar but might be a little cheaper.
www.7springs.com www.hiddenvalleyresort.com

[Tiara98]

Thank you both so much for your suggestions. Now...if only I could find a 10-person condo type place near a ropes course instruction center, schedule time to play taboo, and some study hours, we'd be all set...

------------------
Amanda M.
Social Chairwoman
Theta Sigma Alpha
Towson University

[This message has been edited by Tiara98 (edited September 25, 2000).]

[Eclipse]

Tiara98,
While I am not in a sorority, I am a corporate trainer (like Richard on Survivor, minus the evilness ) and have facilitated many teambuilding session for groups. There are tons of books out there with long and short activities that foster togetherness and team spirit. One of my favorites is "The Complete Games Trainers Play" Call the HR office at your school (I happen to work at a college!) and see if they have one and will let you come in to look at it. One of my favorite get to know you activities is to give each person a questionaire with about 10 things on it like Favorite food, dream vacation spot, favorite all time movie, etc. (can be serious or silly) After each person completes it they give it to me and I transfer it to large flip charts. When the group comes to the retreat site all of the flipcharts are up and they have to guess who's who. I usually give a small prize for the person that gets the most right. It gets to be kinda funny when people swear up and down that a sheet belonged to 1 person when it belonged to another! Now, if you did this it would prevent you from participating (unless you brought in someone like an alumna to facilitate), unless you made everyone word process them so people couldn't do it based on hand writing!

I also have this fun creativity exercise that always gets rave reviews. It requires that you break up into smaller group of 4 or 5. All you need is 1 unboiled egg per team, some masking tape and straws. E-mail me if you want the details. Like I said, I have tons on this so if you want more info e-mail me. Good luck & have fun!

[NewInFL]

Hey Tiara98--
I used to go to Towson too!!!! Go Tigers. Anyway, at this time of the year, it might be very economical and still a ton of fun for you to look into Ocean City or one of the beaches in Delaware. You can check on the net or call for rates, but alot of the rooms after the middle of October go for around $20-$30 a night (look into fenwick inn) anyway since you all don't have many members, you could rent like 2 rooms and smuggle the girls in, and I must say that Fall is a beautiful time to be down at the beach!!!! Its not too crowded, the weather is beautiful(unless you get a bad weekend)and it probably wouldn't cost you that much!!!! let me know how things are going up at 'ol TU.

[angelic81]

On our retreat, my sorority attended Wilderness Adventure. It is located about an hour from our school and about 30 mins from Roanoke, VA. There we stayed overnight in a rustic lodge and then the next day took part in rope courses, a zip line, and team building activities.

[mccoyred]

A great sisterhood game we played at my chapter's last retreat was 'The Weakest Link'. We used sorority history and other Greek info for the questions and our hostess had everyone rolling on the floor with her comments! We didn't do sudden death so we had 2 winners (I was one, can you tell?). It was a lot of fun and sorors are STILL talking about it, even some who weren't there!

[DGPhoney]

Woohoo, another Tiger on the Board good deal(Go TU )
Some really good places in MD would be like Deep Creek, like near Wisp Ski resort, if your looking for something closer to home, try Oregon Ridge, or Patapsco State Park, they have some cool places around their.
Or try a bonding type activitiy where you can venture out downtown around the harbor or something like that. We have done that deed before and it was really cool.
Hope everything works out for you all
DGPhoney~