As both a member and an occasional speaker at guild meetings I believe treats at meetings take up valuable time.
I was scheduled to be part of a "round robin" type demo event recently. There were 4 stations set up to demo and we were to have 20 minutes for each demo. Refreshment time was so long that we only had 10 minutes for each demo...The only situation in which it seemes to work is when the refreshments are scheduled 30 minutes before the meeting and program. I personally believe it takes time and effort that could be better spent. If you are having difficulty staffing the time and getting the refreshments then perhaps it is time to discontinue. If I were in charge and had difficulty I would just tell the officials that due to the situation I could no longer do it. If the groups really wants it then someone else will step forward. Now having said all this.....there is one group whre I occasionally speak and give workshops that always has a delicious assortment of Chocolate Chip cookies just for me......

our guild does treats but really do we need to eat just because we are there for 2 hours? i think this is why it is so hard to control weight, every place we go we have to eat!!

Thanks for all your comments.

Our guild also uses the birthday system -- you bring treats the month of your birthday. A few months are low on birthday girls, so the December birthdays are asked to help out, since December is a pot luck lunch where everyone brings food.

During the meeting break, the birthday girls for the next month meet to decide who brings what.

Dayle

My guild has about 100 members. We bring in treats the month of our birthday. Some months we have a lot of treats and some months not so many, but it works.

I keep thinking I'll join a guild - but seems there is this kind of stuff I'm not interested in. So will just keeping thinking about it.

Our meetings start at 6:30, and some members arrive right after work with no time to eat. The snacks seem pretty important, under the circumstances. They're on a buffet table and people file past soon after arriving. I haven't noticed it as intruding on the meeting in any way. Snack duties are assigned by alphabet and that seems to work out fairly.

My old guild put out a list in January for the year. Snacks were 'assigned' to all members by month. Three members per month were responsible. i.e. Jan, Betty and Joan had January....Pam, Judy and Treva had February....and so on...take the number of members...divide by the number of months....and assign away. If you weren't going to be at guild on your assigned month, it was YOUR responsibility to trade-off with someone....

Neither of the guilds I belong to do snacks. One meets at a LQS so I don't think snacks have ever been discussed. The big guild has a 'social' period from 6:30 - 7, and the program starts at 7. I think there an ice-cream social in the summer and a holiday party in December. For our all-day workshops, we brown bag it. Works quite well.

Cheers, K

My guild asks members who have a birthday to bring the treats for their birthday month. It seems to work well and I think most members participate.