we did a fun activity last winter--one member, using a video camera, went to 3-4 members houses and filmed their quilting spaces, showing how they stored their fabrics, design walls, etc. It was really fun--two of our members really had the stash!

We also do a block of the month, where members bring one for charity and one for a member raffle (each block you make equals one raffle chance). Our charity quilts go to the county cancer foundation for clients and to anyone in the county dealing with fire, flood, etc.

We do a survey to find out what people are interested in learning and what they may be interested in "teaching" (give an option of "with others"--sometime people have wonderful skills but are shy about leading others). Also, if you have a LQS, check with the owner to see if he/she would be interested in giving a program on fabric--I found it interesting to know when fabric for holidays, seasons, etc gets ordered, how to deal with fabric bleeding, etc. and new products coming out.

We play quilt trivia. For prizes, we pick out three charm squares that people donate. It's a fun way to get everyone talking and laughing.

We had a fun meeting when members were encouraged to bring in their favorite "quilting tool" and tell the rest of the members about it. It was really good to see and hear about tools maybe used in a different way than intended. Or new tools you had thought of but didn't have. The tool could be either a real quilting tool or something not generally thought of as a quilting tool. We had a great time.
And I agree about asking LQS owners if they would like to come and do a presentation. The ones we have had are allowed to bring items/fabric for sale especially if they talk about a new quilting tool or ruler. One shop owner demonstrated a way to make 2 color bindings, gave us all a handout and was a great speaker.

This is an excellent question! Is it possible to save this thread? I love all the ideas here and will undoubtedly want to refer back to it.

RGAY, when I want to save a particular post, i blog it. go to any posting you like, or the first post, on the bottom left, hit Blog This Post... it appears in the blog as a quote of that first post. before hitting enter, paste a link to the thread or any other words you want to keep.

Not my idea, but we have done this a couple times. Everyone brings a greeting card they like, because of color, theme, design etc. We put in a small brown paper bag ,then trade them. We then make "something" that represents the card. It is fun to see what people come up with, bags, wall hangings, potholders. Also we exchange, " what was I thinking" (ugly) fabric. Usually a yard of it, also in a brown bag. Each recipient makes something. This was fun too. The dice game CLR is fun, we each bring 3 predetermined fabrics, either theme,ie Halloween, Christmas, or size 2 1/2 inch wof, charms etc and use instead of coins.

The fabric gambling sounds like a blast

This may require a license from you state authorities. A non-quilting organization I am part of had to make sure all paper work was filed to be designated as a non-profit organization and there are monthly income and disbursement of funds. It can vary from state to state. Worth checking out because this is an easy "fund raiser".

Our guild is about 50 participating members, and we sometimes do the "strip poker" game, bring in favorite tools, have demos (5 or 6 ladies each do 1 item and we rotate the group of 8 or 10 onlookers to each station). I have enjoyed our UFO challenge, we each made a list of 6 UFOs (a copy for us and a copy for the president) and then numbers 1-6 were put in a hat. The number drawn out was to be finished in 2 months and brought to the meeting that month. We drew a new number that month for 2 months away. FIrst time we did this we didn't know the plan, and some listed things they would probably never complete in that time line. Second year we were savvy and listed things we really wanted to finish! We have had a "color the block" contest, different block printed up each month and if you colored it your name went in a drawing for a fat quarter. If you made the block (multiples were accepted) you put your name in a drawing for a 1/4 yard. We are having our quilt show soon, so a contest was set up to bring a pincushion that could be donated to the boutique table and a winner would be chosen for a gift card prize. Lots of different things work, think charity quilts, baby quilts, QofV, all can be "judged" and the winner gets a prize.

I really like this idea - tried 2 different quilts and felt very much on the outside. At break time everyone gathered into their little groups, which I understand, but I felt left out. Tried going back a second time and same thing happened, and didn't try a third. It is hard for a newcomer, at least me, to go up to a group and try to participate. I felt like I was really intruding when I tried that. But to have a designated group for newcomers and people to talk with - I would have loved that!