I took 4 littles. Three of them are in the same new member class, but I only took two when big sis revealing came around. The other girl was adopted when her big turned in her badge. My 4th little came my senior year when we doubled our chapter size and many people took twins they asked the seniors if we would mind having one more. My last little has been "adopted", since i graduated, by her twins. In our family tree she is still under me though.

Wow. I guess when I was in school, our pledge class sizes were pretty stable, so pretty much everyone had one big and one little. If you wanted a second little (which was rare), you usually got them during informal recuitment in the spring. Spring pledge classes were 5-10 women versus fall which was 45-50.

We also had a rule that you had to be active for at least two quarters before you could take a little.

So a spring initiate couldn't take a little that fall, they had to wait until spring or the next fall.

It may depend on the chapter size.

My undergrad chapter was small. I had three sis-dots (sister-daughters), each in a different pledge class, one from formal recruitment and two from COB. Mind you, that was in the early 1970's and gift-giving most likely was less elaborate than it is now.

I maintain Christmas-time communication with all three, with some e-mail correspondence in between. OTOH, I have no idea what happened to my sis-mom, whom I last saw at her wedding in 1973, or my sis-grand, whom I last saw at her wedding in 1971.

-slight hijack

I'm curious - how much do/did people usually spend on their littles/daughters? And I'm referring to time and/or money. When I was in the chapter there was quite a bit of gift giving, as well hours upon hours spent on making a book full of poems and letters to be given when the little was initiated (which I realize was a tradition with our chapter as I haven't encountered many other chapters that do that). This is why some people in our chapter were hesitant or didn't want to take on littles.

<sorry if there's another thread on this and I've missed it>

When I was active and got my little (1998) there wasn't an abundance of online greek stuff and easily accessible greek paraphenalia to be purchased in our area. Our littles usually got stuff that was passed down -- from what I can recall, what I passed down to my little was a lavalier, a teddy bear, a plaque, a some passed down t-shirts from the founder of our family (our chapter was a few years old at the time). I bought her a set of family letters, a key chain, window decal, buttons, and other small chatchkis. Our chapter was also paint pen crazy, so I am sure I made her a couple of mugs and pic frames with our family stuff on them. I probably spent about $75 - $90 total - the letters being the most expensive.

I know my grandbig and big also gave my little some little things - passed down letters and t's and made her some mugs or something.

As for time paint penning paraphanalia or making welcome little signs - I couldn't tell you. I used to do the paintpenning for my roomate because she wasn't good at it and it kind of all runs together.

I honestly think this is one of those things that varies w/ every person...one sister might be able to be a fantastic, attentive, supportive big to 3 littles, and another sister might not even be able (or should I say care enough) to handle one.

What happens a lot of the time is there is a sister who takes on too many littles, feelings get hurt, so rules get put in place to prevent it. I don't believe that if a sister hasn't had a little, she should automatically get one over a sister that has had a little - it might not be a good match. But if it IS a good match, then a sister w/ out one should definitely be at the head of the list. Sure there are going to be times where the whole class wants someone for a big...but if she's had her chance for a little already, she needs to step aside.

That's probably what they do...I just remember that being something they said every time I went to their house was "Our new member program doesn't have have the big/little system like other chapters"...which maybe I misinterpreted it 'cause I knew other groups had different names for big/littles, but explained that it was basically the same thing. I probably just lost something in translation.

In my chapter the big usually but not always buys his little a letter jacket. And of course you should spend time with your little, but it's not that bad even if teh jacket is a bit pricey.

A nearby AΣA chapter buys jackets for their littles...what do y'all's jackets look like?

In our chapter, the big-little relationships are very tight knit it seems. I'm insanely close to my big, and I know a lot of other girls in my chapter are too.

As far as taking a little, our chapter wants everyone to take at least one, but you can take more. It just depends on if a new member clicks very well with the active. For instance, my grand-big has 4 littles (she adopted one of them) so our family is HUGE because almost everyone else has 2 littles.

My personal line is a bit different from the rest of the chapter. Most of us have pull over hooded jackets. The letters are on the back on four inch letters colored garnet and gold. On one arm is the AO which is our chapter, and the other arm has pledge class and semester of pledging. On the left front we have two inch letters, also garnet and gold. And on the right chest your pledge name is written.

Mine is a bit different. First off it is a coach jacket I believe they are called.
Then I have everything else, but everything is in silver instead of garnet and gold or gold. Also my letters are graffiti style.

My collegiate chapter called two littles at once "Twittles" (as in Twin Littles). I was matched with a Big who took on another Little at the same time-so we were twittles. :) It isn't common, but the girl who was supposed to be my Big ended up having to withdraw her name for a Little at the very last minute.

All in all my Big had 1 Little (from her junior year), 1 Little (from her senior year) & 1 set of Twittles (me & my twin-from her sophomore year.)

Out of curiosity--I don't think it's a rule, but rather a tradition for many groups that at initiation the big pins her badge on her little. At least it used to be that way, since it took a while for the new badges to come in. If you have two littles initiated at the same time, is it any big deal who gets to borrow your badge and what other active member lends hers?

I would assume the big would go to her big or someone else in the family.

Or ask another sister who isn't taking a little that go-'round if you can borrow hers?