About NWA Hip Mamas

Who are the NWA Hip Mamas?
Being a "hip mama" is all the rage, but we can't all be Angelina or Halle... so come join us!! Real moms with great kids who love to hang out, learn, share and grow together. We try to offer a huge variety of outings, gatherings, and social time. While the calender is full of weekday meetups for the stay at home mamas, we also try to have weekend events for the family and so our working mamas can get out too! Calendar variety is key and each meetup is a great way to make new friends and let our little ones of all ages learn how to socialize with each other. Girl's Night Out is always a BLAST! As much as we LOVE our little ones, we mama's need adult interaction and FUN from time to time. Family events, such as Dad's Poker, Naturals games, hiking and holiday picnics are also a highlight, as well as supporting our community.

We consider giving back to the community important... The last two years we walked in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure. This year we put together a "Pursonalities Bag" to auction in support of the American Heart Association's 2009 Go Red for Women campaign and raised funds to support the Alzheimer's Foundation NWA Memory Walk. We also try to schedule a volunteer opportunities, such as the food pantry or soup kitchen at the Samaritan Community Center.

Our organizers have worked hard to make NWA Hip Mamas a FUN group of friends by having a great calender of events. Since many of us are new to the area it's a great way to meet and get to know others, grow friendships and socialize with our kiddos in a safe, fun environment.

How do I join?
Click on "Join Group," fill out the Request to Join and upload a picture of yourself and kiddo(s)! This is designed to keep you and all our members safe. We don't want to have "lurkers" in the background getting access to our members and their children. Also, since our group communicates through our internet site this is one way to introduce yourself and your children. Once you have done this your membership will go to an organizer for approval. If approved you will have 30 days to attend your first meetup and pay your dues.

Why do we pay dues & how much?
Dues are $7 every six months. You may pay an organizer or through the link on the Hip Mama's page. The organizer pays a fee to run the meetup site. Dues off set this expense so the burden is not just on one member. Any funds left over, after paying the fee, are used to support event needs like supplies, fees or to aid in our fundraising projects. New members, please be conscientious about paying your dues within your first 30 days. Reminders will be sent. If you get removed because you forgot, just re-apply and pay your dues at that time. We remove people pretty close to the 30 day mark out of fairness to everyone else who has paid.

What's expected of me?
1. Monthly Attendance -- All members are expected to be active. Stay-at-home Mamas will be required to attend 2 events each month; Working Mamas will be required to attend 1 event each month.
2. RSVP's -- Every member is required to contact (with a phone call) the event host personally if you need to change from a YES or MAYBE to a NO within 24 hours of the scheduled meetup. For meetups at someone's home this is out of courtesy to the host and everything she does prior to a meetup to prepare. For meetups in a public place this is to keep the group from waiting or looking for you. If the meetup is in a public place please call an organizer who's attending or another attending member. Most phone #'s are listed on the message board.

Please make a conscience effort to RSVP YES or NO for every event. AND to update a MAYBE as soon as possible. It does not take that long, it lets everyone else know who to look for at an event, lets the host better plan and keeps you actively looking at the calender. You never know when an event may pop up that you didn't know about! We try not to send out 3,000 emails for every event - helping to keep YOUR in box clean. But it is courteous and respectful to put a YES or NO as soon as you know your schedule.

Organizers reserve the right to remove any member from the group at our discretion. This will usually only happen if you do not pay your dues or are not an active member. We feel this is in everyone's best interests. If you do not stay active your membership will be removed. Please understand your organizers do not plan on "policing" the rules, but in general we will, and always have tried to stay on top of things and know all our members. We make an effort to meet and know you... we want you to make an effort to be an active, important part of this group!

What can I do?
Use the Message Board and talk to each other. We all have great tips, stories, laughs, questions.... The reason we joined was to know, care and help each other. If you don't feel that way, maybe this group is not for you. We know there are plenty of options out there. We want you to be here if we meet your needs and you meet ours. ALL of ours.

Share, understand, support each other, tolerate different views about motherhood and life, help out when you can, volunteer.... HAVE FUN and give what you want to get.