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THere are a lot of variations on stamp clubs. THe key is that each member commits to a certain amount of purchase per month, for a certain length of time so that each month there can be a hostess. Mine are a $15 commitment per month. Do you have more specific questions?
My club has a $20 commitment...goes for the number of months that there are participants...and if you are unable to attend, your order has to be in by 5 pm the night of club. That means that the hostess is able to make her choices that night instead of having to wait for orders to get sent in.
We also get a catty free, and 3 projects each club meeting.
Our stamp club meets once a month and you are required to make 20 cards per year-these are then passed on to an organization called Women for Women (a cancer treatment center). Dues are $12 a year and you must commit to attending at least 8 meetings in the year. Someone teaches a card making class each month (you pay $2 to the instructor) One person also brings dessert for the group each month. We also have a secret pal card swap each month-this is on a "do you want to exchange" basis each month. If you do want to exchange a particular month you put your name in a hat and then choose a name. At least a week before the next meeting you send a card to your "secret pal". Then at the meeting we try to guess who sent us the card. Once we go around the room and the actual person that sent you the card is revealed any questions you might have on "how'd you do that" are answered. We currently have about 24 members in our group from all over. Lots of fun and a great way to "give back" to the community.
I joined my first club last September, which is when I officially became an addict! :lol: We have 12 members, so we will meet for 12 months. We are required to spend a minimum of $15. Each member gets to be a hostess during one month. The demo draws our names to see who gets which month, because everyone wants to be hostess during sale-a-bration. We make 3 cards each meeting, and we all get a free catalog. The hostess provides snacks for the club (although I have never eaten a snack yet! I'm too busy stamping)
Thanks ladies! A couple of my questions have been answered - and it seems clear there are probably as many ways to run a club as there are demos!
1. Do you allow "guests"? Once or repeaters who never join? If you allow them, Do they pay a fee, or are they required to order?
2. Who provides the snack?
3. Is there a deadline when orders must be in and paid? If someone can't come? Penalty for not paying/having the order in on time?
4. How do you deal with 'difficult' people? ie those who won't be quiet during teaching time despite repeated requests?
5. Ideal club size?
And anything else you can think of, will be greatly appreciated. We're between clubs where some of those issues arose in the last one. Like to set some groundrules for making club run more smoothly next year.
Thanks ladies! A couple of my questions have been answered - and it seems clear there are probably as many ways to run a club as there are demos!
1. Do you allow "guests"? Once or repeaters who never join? If you allow them, Do they pay a fee, or are they required to order?
2. Who provides the snack?
3. Is there a deadline when orders must be in and paid? If someone can't come? Penalty for not paying/having the order in on time?
4. How do you deal with 'difficult' people? ie those who won't be quiet during teaching time despite repeated requests?
5. Ideal club size?
And anything else you can think of, will be greatly appreciated. We're between clubs where some of those issues arose in the last one. Like to set some groundrules for making club run more smoothly next year.
1. Do you allow "guests"? Once or repeaters who never join? If you allow them, Do they pay a fee, or are they required to order? My club allows guests but they have to notify the demo in advance so she will have enough materials ready. Guests pay $5. They can be guests as often as they like.
2. Who provides the snack? the monthly hostess
3. Is there a deadline when orders must be in and paid? If someone can't come? Penalty for not paying/having the order in on time? This is always a problem in the club I'm in. The demo has to hunt people down sometimes. If they don't pay and haven't hosted yet, the demo doesn't allow them to host and therefore not receive all the hostess benefits.
4. How do you deal with 'difficult' people? ie those who won't be quiet during teaching time despite repeated requests? Most of the people in my club are teachers as well as the demonstrator. Teachers are the worst. We expect our students to be quiet, but seem to think we can talk when someone else is leading/teaching...rude!!! Since the demonstrator is a teacher too, she has no qualms about scolding the offender. ;)
5. Ideal club size? The depends on how long the club wants to commit to meeting. Our group started with 12 members so one member could host each month. A couple have dropped out, so now we have 10.
We agree to buy $15 monthly for 10 months a year (10 members) and she draws names at the beginning of the year for the hostesses. We make 3 things each session and each get a catalogue
1. there are often guests and she encourages hostesses to invite others too. I don't think they pay--I'm not sure.
2. Hostess provides the snacks and drinks
3. I don't know about a deadline--If I miss I always give my order that night or the next morning.
4. I think our group is all "difficult" people--we are a pretty rowdy bunch, LOL! We are all seasoned stampers so it's not really an issue--we all help each other out or yell for the demo to come back if we need her, LOL! We all have lots of fun, including our demo.
5. I think 10-12 people are perfect--then everybody has enough space and she splits us into 2 tables and rotates projects.
I LOVE the SU club I'm in--I've been going for about 6 years and it's a blast each month. I'm hoping to start something similar with my a|s business if I can get enough people to join. My demo is lucky because she works in a school and they all love to be crafty.
I have done a club with my SU demo several times, but we didn't ever actually meet formally. Many of us did attend her classes and so got to know each other, but we all placed our orders monthly. During our month, if we got extra orders, or wanted to host a workshop we could do and it was added onto our "guest" sales.
__________________ Diana
*******
Save your drama for your llama.
The stamp club I was in just ended; although I like the demo, I will not be participating again. Some months we would not get the items we ordered until the next meeting; I found out this was because some members didn't get their orders/payment turned in in a timely manner and the demo waited to place the orders.
There was also a group of 3 members who had a habit of going out for supper first and showing up late. They were really disruptive; when they would finally arrive, they would talk, giggle, and act silly. Really annoying! The demo never called them on it, either.
As I mentioned, I really like the demo but it stopped being a fun night out for me. When she brought up next year's club, I did tell her why I wouldn't be joining again.
We did have "regular" guests; I don't believe they paid anything. Also, the hostess was the one to provide the treats.
Demos - Stamp Club question
