Alumnae Picnic

[Zeta_heart]

Hello All! I am trying to plan our first alumnae picnic/senior send-off. We really want to make this nice for the alumnae who are willing to make this trip to share this time with us. I was wondering the following;

1. What type of event/activities would alumnae members like to see? Obviously they don't want to be over-programmed, but we would like to provide something relevant and enjoyable.

2. What do you want to see/hear from your collegiate chapter? Old composites? Scrapbooks?

3. Would you be willing to pay a small fee? Something around $20 to include food, drinks, and a small gift?

Any other ideas would greatly appreciated!

[FSUZeta]

if you use a rush video, the alums. would probably enjoy viewing that and hearing a recap of your year. a quick ice breaker also might be fun. be sure to have the collegiate sisters interact with the alums. have them treat this like a recruitment event and rush, rush, rush these ladies.

is there no money in your budget to treat the alums? of course, if you are expecting a lot of alums, that is probably out of the questions.

i feel that $20 is a bit steep. could you ask collegiate sisters to join forces and bring salads, desserts, drinks, paper goods, etc.? or ask the alums. to bring the desserts and you all supply everything else.

is the gift for the graduating seniors or the alums? if for the alums. i can promise that they are not expecting a gift. if for the seniors, that should be in your budget or the alum. chapter might be doing something.

please be sure to give the alums plenty of notice of the event. one month would be ideal-if that time frame has already passed, you need to notify them asap. the biggest complaint i hear from fellow alums. is that the collegians do not notify them with enough advance notice.

[Zeta_heart]

That is a wonderful idea to recap them on our year! Especially because we would really like this to become a yearly tradition for our chapter.

We don't have any budget for the moment for our alums unfortunately, we've been neglecting them. We are hoping to set up a budget for next year since one of our chapter goals has been to increase our alumnae involvement. We have a small sisterhood budget we are working from to provide most of the necessities, but it isn't quite enough. The gifts would be for the alums, something small for them to remember the day and to renew their bond with our chapter and the Fraternity.

We are planning for April 24th, we figured a Saturday might be more accommodating for alums that might be a bit further away could stay the night. We have messaged about a save the date for the weekend, and will be sending out invitation next week. Is that a good time frame?

Thanks for all the input and advice!

[FSUZeta]

I am pretty sure that the alums. would not care one way or the other if they received a gift or not-especially if they are paying for it. ask the sisterhood committee(if you don't have one, recruit some members) to bake some cookies, get some saran wrap and turquoise(or blue) and grey curling ribbon and make cookie bundles for each alum. who attends. attach a little note to the package thanking them for coming and reminding them that "zeta is forever" or "love ...the greatest of all things." put them is a cute basket(or 2) and hand them out to the alums at the end of the event.

i am so glad to hear that you have a save the date already out and that you are sending out your invites next week. since you have sent out a save the date, you could actually wait to send out invitations 6 weeks before the event, like you do for a wedding.

you could also have the chapter sing a few zeta songs-you could print the words out for the alums. and have a sing-along. two or three songs would be fun.

do you put up displays during recruitment, i.e. photos of zeta events, t-shirts, zeta jewelry, race for the cure, other philanthrophy events? they would probably love to see something like that. the chapter i advise does them on heavy cardboard like those you would use for a visual when giving a report.

at the end of the event, you might want to do a sisterhood circle and have your president thank the alums for coming and the committee for making all the arrangements. end by singing "today and forever".

do you have a full contigent of advisors? this might be a great way to recruit some. be sure to invite the province president and the district president of your region and any past or present national officers living nearby. take lots of photos and be sure to send some with a story into themis!

[33girl]

For a picnic, $20 is a bit much. And wouldn't they basically be paying for their own gifts?? Skip that part. Seriously, most favors from things like that just end up in a cupboard.