Mixer Location Problems

phokus · #1 10-16-2011, 08:53 PM

Our fraternity (colony 1 semester old) was unable to secure a house for this semester. We have a mixer this coming Saturday and we still do not have a location or a large amount of money to throw it.

So greekchat/fellow greeks, I call for your help and/or ideas as to what we should do. Keep in mind our small budget and the fact that it is occurring in less than a week.

If it makes a difference, we are located on Long Island.

excelblue · #2 10-16-2011, 09:07 PM

How did you get yourself in such a situation? Are you out of your mind?!

If you had a few weeks to plan, then it may be possible to explore a few great venues, but with no house and less than a week, you're pretty much out of luck.

The only real solution is to apologize to those involved and inform them that the event is cancelled, since it's not going to happen unless you have a location, and chances are, you aren't going to get one on such short notice.

phokus · #3 10-16-2011, 10:26 PM

We've been searching and thinking of locations since we got the date for the mixer. Everything has either fallen through or we were denied. I honestly think we have a decent amount of time to still put something together.

excelblue · #4 10-16-2011, 11:09 PM

Well, what are you doing for your mixer? Is there food? Are there structured activities? What are you doing in terms of risk management?

Low budget and quick usually don't go together. However, you might want to see if you can find a large classroom to do an extremely informal mixer in. It worked for my fraternity's first mixer, although, it was just with a few engineering groups. Lots of structured activities and some food made it a fun, comfortable event.

33girl · #5 10-16-2011, 11:45 PM

Do any of your brothers live together? Can't you just hold it in someone's apartment? Those were often the most fun mixers we had.

I'd rather just hang out and be able to get to know the guys in the fraternity rather than have some big to-do with a lot of money wasted on it. Money does not make successful mixers (or parties of any kind) - people do.

ASTalumna06 · #6 10-17-2011, 12:01 AM

The size of each chapter will really determine what you can do for the mixer. If you need a large venue for 100+ people, you might be out of luck. However, if the chapters participating are smaller, there are a number of things you could do.

Some of the mixers that I've been to outside of a house included:

Bowling
Picnic/Cook-out (have everyone bring food - you can have this pretty much anywhere)
Greek Olympics (some serious and some ridiculous games/sporting events)
Mini Golf

Or as 33girl suggested, you can have it at a brother's house/apartment

phokus · #7 10-17-2011, 01:11 AM

There's going to be a max of like 40 people. Most likely less.

Mixers around here usually consist of basically drinking at a house/place.

1 sorority to 1 fraternity having a party.

No brother lives in a suitable house to host the mixer.

33girl · #8 10-17-2011, 12:20 PM

So now you've learned a good lesson. You're still a colony, so you get one mulligan. Here's how to prevent this from happening again.

For next semester or next year (whenever leases run), find a suitable largish apartment. 3-4 brothers live there. Keep passing it down through the fraternity as people graduate.

This isn't just important for mixers, but for a place to gather and hang out.

You're welcome.

phokus · #9 10-17-2011, 12:29 PM

oh trust me, I knew that from the beginning. We actually found a house and two brothers were living in it (including myself), but none of the other brothers wanted to, so we had to take in random people and through some events, we had to move out. 3 of the brothers who were going to live in the house had to back out as well. Monetary reasons mainly.

I understand the importance of a house and no matter how much emphasis I put on it, the brothers seem to not care enough.

I'm the vice president, if I didn't understand and try to encourage everyone/enough of everyone to move into a house, I wouldn't be doing my job.

Anyway enough about the house...I'm thinking the picnic idea is best so far. Unless we magically come up with a house to use in the next day or two.

33girl · #10 10-17-2011, 01:04 PM

As far as houses are concerned, START SMALL. Better to have people upset because there's not enough room for them to live there than to have them upset that they have to live there. And keep the randoms out (for now).