iluvpink
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,257
Location: Michigan
Jul 13, 2014 12:40:31 GMT
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Post by iluvpink on Jan 6, 2019 20:28:29 GMT
I just started scrapping and card making again after at least ten years of not doing anything due to time/space/life limitations. I decided to start a small meetup craft and chat group at my house for my area. I don't want it to be just scrapping as I have a friend that cross stitches and I thought this would be more inclusive. I stated that it's for anyone whose craft is portable. I figured we'd meet once every month or two on a Saturday work on crafts and eat light snacks and chat.
Of course I didn't expect to get many people interested but I did. I doubt most will want to attend every meeting especially as some live at least an hour away according to their meetup profile. But even so I'm going to have to limit it to the first ten RSVP's.
Any advice on this? I did it rather impulsively! It's time to set up the first event. I have a day but am working on a time etc.
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Post by mom on Jan 6, 2019 20:55:10 GMT
My only advice is be extremely careful since you are bringing strangers into your home.
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leeny
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,611
Location: Northern California
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 1:55:53 GMT
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Post by leeny on Jan 6, 2019 21:03:23 GMT
My only advice is be extremely careful since you are bringing strangers into your home. This. Plus I would ask everyone to bring a snack or take turns so you don't have to provide every time. Do you have animals? Make sure people know (I am very allergic to cats so I would want to know) and that you have a safe place for your animals in case someone does not like them. Do you have another place you could host? I've hosted my friends at the clubhouse at my Mom's senior mobile home park. I like having a neutral place.
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Post by grammadee on Jan 6, 2019 21:05:52 GMT
Sounds like fun! As to details, once you set up the first one, you can talk with your participants about their preferences as to format.
I would suggest 9:00AM to 5:00PM. Host provides coffee and muffins or something in the morning.
Depending on your location and the group you are meeting with, lunch could be pot luck or delivered pizza.
Things to consider would be table space, lighting, and power outlets for those who need them.
Good luck!
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iluvpink
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,257
Location: Michigan
Jul 13, 2014 12:40:31 GMT
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Post by iluvpink on Jan 6, 2019 21:15:45 GMT
Ha, yes the safety issue. I will make sure my dh is home at least the first time or two. He's a big guy, contractor. And I'm going to ask to see FB profiles if people are on FB etc. I will be careful and it will be during the day etc.
We have a dog, a small shih tzu. She's about as lazy and friendly as a dog can get. And if dd is home, she will take the dog upstairs with her. I will warn people though (we also have Guinea Pigs and a hamster upstairs).
I'm going to provide snacks at least the first time. We'll see how it goes after that. I might see if people can take turns bringing snacks etc.
If it gets bigger, I may look for another place to do this. I want to keep it small and fairly simple if possible.
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dald222
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,602
Jun 27, 2014 0:50:15 GMT
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Post by dald222 on Jan 6, 2019 21:45:08 GMT
I know that you can rent the rooms at the library.
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Post by Citygirl on Jan 6, 2019 23:05:44 GMT
Personally I would find a room at a community center, library, church, etc. to start out. Sounds like fun. Hope you get a great group started.
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Post by LisaDV on Jan 7, 2019 1:56:38 GMT
Personally I would find a room at a community center, library, church, etc. to start out. Sounds like fun. Hope you get a great group started. This. Most craft groups around me don’t meet all day but 1/2 days or a few hours. I’d ask the participants what they prefer. I’d totally start out at a different location and once we bond I could move it to my house.
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Post by sdcraftchick on Jan 7, 2019 21:19:08 GMT
I was the moderator of a Mommy Play Date Meetup group a few years back. We had home and park play dates, but the home ones were more 'private' and we did have a cap since some people hosted them in smaller apartments or townhouses. We had a process of vetting. If you came into our Meetup group, we would ask you to attend a public park Meetup to greet me and/or other co-moderators that we had. Of course, if one of our members had a friend that wanted to join, they would automatically be fine. Once we were good that this person had a baby or toddler, I put a little '*' next to their name in our group. Only those with the '*' were allowed to attend home play dates. We did this primarily for safety. Of course we also had people who joined who were there to advertise (it wasn't quite spam... but I wondered.) I let most of that happen though if it was innocent enough - they would create their own Meetups at their theater or book store to generate interest with a targeted audience. And I found too that I would - every six months or so - cull out inactive members. I'd warn them with an email first (I think there is a way as the Meetup owner to find those that haven't attended a meetup in six months or a year and send just that group an email) and give them a week or so to at least alert me that they want to continue. But I'd then remove anyone else. It kept the group smaller perhaps, but it really did create a tight knit group of moms which was wonderful. I'm still friends with many of them to this day, despite closing the Meetup a few years back (I wasn't going to pay $90 or whatever it was after our kids were more grown up and attending school - I was finding it hard to make anything as well - and I didn't find a willing mother of a smaller toddler that wanted to take it over either.)
As to snacks, we'd say it was pot luck. The host usually provided a snack and drink - but other moms (or dads!) would bring something too to snack. The kids would get to play with each other and the host kid's toys - and the parents got to talk. It was good - and I think typical of the other play date Meetup groups I was in. Good luck - I have enjoyed using Meetup to find others with similar interests. I wish there was a crafting group in my area - I lost my last card stamping group as the coordinator got a job. How dare she! I tried to continue (hmm... it seems I have a pattern with trying to continue groups I was in; did so for two book clubs, the mommy group, and then this stamping group) but I didn't get much interest. And I never realized how much work she did for us to get the materials ready for our cards! If Meetup becomes cumbersome and/or expensive, another awesome place to get together with other crafters is actually the Buy Nothing Groups on Facebook. Before we had some kind of crazy drama with our group (long story) we were having events within that group where we could exchange craft supplies with others (all free - it was Buy Nothing!) and we even had a crafting event. There was a way to cap an event on Facebook as well to like 10 attendees I believe. The best benefit of this is that you know these people are really local to you - most Buy Nothings are what they call Hyper Local - so they aren't usually an hour away from you. Another resource that could be used is Next Door - another good place to meet your neighbors that share interest! Good luck!!
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Post by sean&marysmommy on Jan 7, 2019 22:47:49 GMT
I started something like this, but with a group of friends, and we rent out the classroom at Michael's. It's free to rent out, so long as they don't have a class scheduled. Our group is a nice mix of planners, knitters/crocheter's and sketchers/painters. I work on home craft projects, like wreaths, sometimes.
During the summer, the M's classroom is usually busy with kids' events, so we move to the cafe at Barnes and Noble. It's so much fun! We do it twice a month and it's been about a year and a half now.
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Post by Patter on Jan 7, 2019 23:51:18 GMT
I started this at our church last Fall. I call it "Craft 'n Connect." Women bring any craft and enjoy connecting with each other. A new craft is introduced at the beginning for anyone that wants to learn something new. We also bring supplies we no longer need and share with anyone that wants to give the items a new home. It has been amazing. We only meet for 2 hours once a month because we are all busy, busy, busy, and this is what works best for most of us. I have done a lot of promotion at church and created a logo, etc. Have fun!
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,090
Jun 29, 2014 18:58:47 GMT
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Post by scrapnnana on Jan 8, 2019 3:45:45 GMT
Personally I would find a room at a community center, library, church, etc. to start out. Sounds like fun. Hope you get a great group started. That's what I did. We met in a room at the library for no charge. It's one thing to be inviting people you know to your home. It's another to have total strangers come.
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Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,592
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:55 GMT
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Post by Elsabelle on Jan 8, 2019 4:36:46 GMT
I would consider a room at your local library for your first meetup. I'd also keep the first meetup to less than four hours. Maybe in the afternoon so you don't have to provide a full meal. Then if you feel comfortable with the group and everyone wants a longer craft day you can extend the next meetup. Let everyone know that they are to bring their own supplies. When I lived in another state my friends and I would meet regularly and everyone did their own thing. It was a lot of fun and I miss it. My friends in my new town are not very crafty.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 8, 2019 5:53:48 GMT
I tried a few times and ended up not ever getting a cohesive group going, and the cost for the Meetup platform was prohibitive because no one wanted to kick in a couple bucks to help offset the expense. I also would recommend finding a neutral public place to hold the meetings. In addition to it not feeling safe for you, some of the potential participants may be uncomfortable going to a stranger’s private home. I’d limit the first few to just a couple hours until you get a feel for who is coming and what people are wanting to do. Some of the Meetup groups around here meet at the library, some meet at restaurants or coffee shops that have free private meeting or party rooms (food or drinks have to be purchased there and nothing can be brought in), some meet at rec centers and churches sometimes have rooms you can use. Good luck, it sounds like a ton of fun and I hope you get a good group going! There is a scrapping group in my area that does a low cost monthly crop at a community center in a nearby community, but it’s always on a weekend that isn’t convenient so I never get a chance to go.
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MerryMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,529
Jul 24, 2014 19:51:57 GMT
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Post by MerryMom on Jan 10, 2019 0:46:34 GMT
There was a similar group that met at our local Art League for a long time. I think it was $5 each time to cover the snacks.
Unfortunately the contact person with the Art League moved so we couldn’t have it there anymore as we would have to pay to rent the room.
We now meet at the local library, we chip in a few dollars to cover snacks or you bring something. What we collect in money that day, one of us will go to the store and buy with the money we just collected. We listen to a book on tape. If you don’t want to listen to the book, you just put in earbuds. We do this for 5-6 hours. No messy crafts. We have card makers, stampers, scrapbookers, knitters, crocheters, Cross stitch etc
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msliz
Drama Llama
The Procrastinator
Posts: 6,419
Jun 26, 2014 21:32:34 GMT
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Post by msliz on Jan 11, 2019 14:01:19 GMT
I started this at our church last Fall. I call it "Craft 'n Connect." Women bring any craft and enjoy connecting with each other. A new craft is introduced at the beginning for anyone that wants to learn something new. We also bring supplies we no longer need and share with anyone that wants to give the items a new home. It has been amazing. We only meet for 2 hours once a month because we are all busy, busy, busy, and this is what works best for most of us. I have done a lot of promotion at church and created a logo, etc. Have fun! I'll be attending a church crop this Saturday. Same kind of thing, and the organizer is planning to meet once a month. It's a no frills crop, but there's also no charge for attending. I'm excited to see some faces I haven't seen in a long time, since attending some CM crops with them almost a year ago.
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Post by Patter on Jan 11, 2019 14:02:24 GMT
msliz, praying you have a wonderful time!
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Post by Leone on Jan 13, 2019 2:09:02 GMT
I would do a half day. And a neutral location. Going into a home reminds me too much of the Creative Memories format.
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lvggma
New Member
Posts: 9
Feb 1, 2016 14:25:20 GMT
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Post by lvggma on Jan 16, 2019 3:33:30 GMT
Iluvpink...I'm in MI and would love to scrap with you or a group! Just for safety's sake, I would have it at a library or church,too. Have fun and let us know how it was....& if you're close to AA, let me know😬
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heavencole
Shy Member
Posts: 16
Oct 24, 2014 9:26:48 GMT
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Post by heavencole on Jan 16, 2019 8:02:16 GMT
I met my crafty friends through IG and last year we started doing crop together. Though there are only 3 of us. It's fun to talk about crafting and gush over new releases without sounding and looking weird. We always have it at a coffee shop with huge table and excellent food choices and good parking space. Most of the time we last 4-5 hours. depending each other's schedule. It also helps me in terms of bringing only supplies that I could carry. Sometimes its hard cause at home you'd get overwhelmed with supplies. And doing it at a neutral place avoids clean up and people are comfortable making a mess. though we try to avoid that too, we bring our own trash bag.
Try it its fun, just not at home so its less hassle for you
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