On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 12:26:02 PM UTC-5, wrote:
My club is doing well and growing but our set up is not great for socializing. I think it would be nice if there were a few more excuses for people to hang out after flying to further build friendships.
We just moved from another airport that had no good club house or club space other than the hangar. We have an office / clubhouse now but it is pretty basic. When we are done putting all the aircraft away people mostly split and go home.
I think if we had a few more features it would help make the club more family friendly and more social.
I was thinking some picnic tables, chairs, bean bag toss game/"cornhole", horse shoe toss etc.
A pool might be nice but not in the budget. What works well at other clubs?

Any kids stuff work well?

Chris
When we started our operation almost 40 years ago, I asked my mentor, an old timer who had been in the sport since the thirties, what the most important things were to making a go of it.
He had a one word answer- Picnics.
We have simple burgers and dogs picnics once a month in the hangar after flying. Everybody brings something to put on the table. We always have 50 or 60 people and we see a lot of the wives. The juniors have their own group and table and commonly now man the grill.
Sometimes we'll do a theme, like Chili night.
A swing set is nice if there are enough of the right age youngsters.
Having a grill in the hangar makes it easy to have a few people stick around after flying and do an impromptu meal. Drinks in a refrigerator lube the system also.
Not fancy but it helps with the sense of being part of the group.
FWIW
UH