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How To Host An Annual Book Club Retreat

This past Friday, my RLR Book Club had our 2nd annual retreat.  The hostesses really outdid themselves so I’m sharing with you today as a follow up to See How Easily You Can Start and Maintain a Book Club.

How To Host An Annual Book Club Retreat

 

Hostesses/Organizers

This should be members who are excited about your club.  The two ladies featured in the picture above were amped up from the day they accepted the responsibility.  I think one will do a good job if they REALLY care about the purpose of the club.

Meaning; they read the books, talk about the books at the meetings, SHOW UP to meetings, etc.

 

Location

You need a spacious venue if you want to stay local.  Depending on if you are preparing the food or not, you want a good chef on hand with a diverse selection on the menu if you choose a restaurant/hotel.

If you choose to go out of town, you want to give everyone a chance to voice their opinion as this is a bit more costly and you want everyone to enjoy themselves.

 

Theme

This is optional. However the New Orleans theme for our 1 day retreat brought everything together most excellently.  We had the decor, food, and beads for prizes. It was amazing.

If you have a theme, you can really get creative with T-shirts if you go away for the retreat.

 

Food

Of course I had to provide you a bit of food porn! No brainer! YOU MUST NAIL THE MENU! That is like a golden rule! Make sure you have enough and check for food allergies.

RLR Book Club Retreat Feast

If you go away on a retreat, you can have the club divide into groups and be responsible for each meal.  Going to the local grocery store to get ingredients can just be one of your planned activities.

 

Book Talk

I think it makes sense to correlate one of your book reviews with the retreat. After all, it is  a book club.  It would be a BONUS if you could invite an author to your retreat as well.

Before I started the retreat, we had an annual meeting where you could make suggestions to change the way the club operated.  One of the things we did at that special meeting was have RLR AWARDS. You can be very creative with this little award show but here are a few examples…

  • Most popular book
  • Wonk Wonk book
  • Sizzling book
  • Most Creative book
  • Most outspoken member
  • Attendance award

 

Games & Activities

Here was some creepy scene from the movie “Silence of the Lambs”.  They got creative and had us act out movie scenes and try to guess the movie for a chance to win beads.  RLR Retreat Games

I thought this selfie station was so cute and fun!

RLR Book Club Selfie Station

We did ice breakers, karaoke, and all that jazz as well! FUN FUN FUN! 

Suggestions:

  • Acting out scenes from some of the books you read for a prize
  • Talent Show
  • Taboo and other box games
  • Workout together like we did in “Crouching Tiger

 

That is the key, Make it entertaining! This is your chance to see the members let loose! Get to know each other! Let your hair hang!

 

Planning Session

The book club that plans together stays together! Word!

You must take a portion to get yourself together. If  you make all the plans for the year, you’re less likely to fall apart due to a wedding, new baby, promotion, etc.

We selected – host for each 6 week monthly meeting, which meeting we would invite an author (we try to have at least 1 per year) to host the discussion, host for our Christmas brunch, and organizers of our retreat for the next year.

 

Picture Time

Encourage people to document the experience and post pictures! Reading is not a priority for a lot of people, but there are those out there with literary hearts and they need to know that your club exists.

Go Red For Women

Our retreat just happen to fall on Go Red For Women Day!  So you know I was like….

RLR Book Club Retreat

 

Swag Bags 

Goodies are always fun to take home.  Plan ahead of time to get donations for these bags. You’d be surprised what you can get donated!

RLR Retreat Swag Bags

I want to give a shout out to my doppelganger Trina for contributing to this post where I fell short.

I hope your retreat is as amazing as ours was!  Happy Reading!

Yours in Healthy, Active, & Prosperous Lifestyles,

Rx Fitness Lady wants to know…

  • What do you do at your Book Club Retreat?
  • What’s on your reading list for 2015?

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Rx Fitness Lady

Greetings, I'm Joi, a Pharmacist with a passion for fitness & a community leader. I am the Creator & Senior Fitness Trainer of "In The Paint" Online Group Training Program. I teach BODYCOMBAT, BODYPUMP, Tabata Boot Camp, & serve as a mentor to young girls. My goal is to inspire people to live healthy, active, & prosperous lifestyles through practical blog posts deliveries. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram. ARE YOU WASTING TIME DIETING... Check out my book "Diets Are Dead Win Small With M.E.D.S., DO YOU WANT TO WORKOUT FROM HOME WITH LIVE ACCOUNTABILITY? Join #InThePaint #OneCommunity! You can view more posts, subscribe to stay tuned to latest updates & Shop all things Rx Fitness Lady at The Shoppes at Rx Fitness Lady.

7 thoughts on “How To Host An Annual Book Club Retreat

  1. I must have food lol. I am a part of an online book club where we read books a month and do a blog post on them it’s neat and keeps my reading skills up to par. Love this though a great getaway and a book is right up my alley.
    Kita recently posted…Naming your babyMy Profile

  2. I love book clubs but (sadly) I haven’t been a part of one for a while!! The winter in CT is also a great time to read and talk about reading since all it does lately is snow, snow, snow!!! Thanks for all the great ways to make a great club. I love the idea of acting out scenes…
    Allie recently posted…The Rundown: Less Is MoreMy Profile

  3. It’s always about the food, right??
    My mom has maintained a book club for years. I’ve never had one, except in San Francisco. It was called Lonely Hearts Book Club because for some odd reason, we were all young, it was co-ed, and many of us were single!
    Tamara recently posted…Challenges, Diagnoses & Awareness.My Profile

  4. I remember seeing your selfie station picture on FB but I didn’t know the backstory. The book club retreat sounds nice! I’m not reading anything at the moment. I’m in a lull. Once I pick up another good page turner I’ll be on a roll.

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