We use (real) leis during pref, and then the girls that come back to us on Bid Day get one to keep (plus you know the sisters keep them also...I've kept 2!:p )

I think it's absolutely lovely. How did it look by last round of the evening? Did it stay fairly intact?

It actually did look good. We have three pref parties, each an hour long, so it lasted past the 3 hours.

We had that problem with cookies that had our greek letters on them. And the girl didn't even pledge us!

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This is a picture of the cake we served during two years of pref. Generous area alumnae cut (3" diameter) and frosted the 2-layer cakes for us the day before pref. After the second year, they begged us to find something less time-intensive so we switched to chocolate mousse.

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Over the years, I've made Pref Night desserts for 2 of our chapters. I've done a lot of different things, usually a choice of 2 or 3 for each PNM and "host" sister. It's getting to be a little much for me to handle, but it is fun:

- cookies shaped like our badge (I have custom cookie cutters)
- mini cheesecakes (with lime, lemon, raspberry, or orange curd)
- individual fresh fruit tarts (expensive, depending on the season!)
- individual black-bottom caramel puddings (topped with whipped cream and a raspberry)
- dressed up brownies (round with piped ganache and a gold dragee on top)
- individual kite-shaped cakes

I'm sure there have been others, but my old brain can't remember.

At my pref night, AOII had this delicious cheesecake with strawberries on it. While cheesecake is over done, I love it so I defintely wasn't complaining.

The 2nd house I went to on pref night...I don't really remember what they served us. I wasn't really paying attention that much because all I could think about was signing my card for AOII!

One year my chapter had chocolate seashell "cups" filled with chocolate creme mousse and a "pearl" candy since our jewel is the pearl. Very well received and yummy!

Fruit trifle was another one Canada Alpha did which went over really well - a nice alternative for those who didn't like chocolate. Still satisfied a sweet tooth and was light - easy on the pants post dinner!

Spotie that sounds so beautiful and incredible!

Why would you want a new member who didn't like chocolate?:D
j/k - and I love the pearl candy idea!

Not for pref...but for our skit night, we served pink lemonaid, sherley temples, and water with limes. For the pink lemonaid, we rimmed the glasses with pink sugar crystals and the sherley temples had red sugar crystals. It looked super cute.

So two years ago (as UCFADPi said, no food only beverages) we got in trouble for having lemons on our water cups!! Talking about no frills, that would definitely cause a stir up!!

But it is very pretty!!

Tell us! Tell us!

ditto what IvySpice said!!

Oh yeah, back in the 80's right before campuses started going No Frills, the Rush budgets were outrageous. Food, drink, decorations, you name it we had it. I was at the University of Illinois, I can't even imagine how things were at University of Alabama and other SEC schools. It had to be mind boggling -- and ridiculously expensive! The Advisor in me is now looking back thinking "What a waste! Oh, the wonderful things we could have done with that money!"

I remember being absolutely stuffed after the leaving the last Chapter on Pref Night. I could have easily skipped eating as I'd already filled up at the other 2 beforehand, but I didn't want to appear rude.

Yep. You'll get ice water and some sodas, and that's it. On pref night, they may make some kind of fruit punch. Don't worry. You'll get fed on Bid Day! ;)

Make sure to eat breakfast and carry a power bar or something with you to recruitment (your recruitment counselor will watch it-- longingly-- when you're in a party). Bring a water bottle and some breath mints, too!

Every campus is different, but most should allow you to carry some sort of bag or purse. You just probably won't be allowed to take it into the parties. The Recruitment Councelor will watch over it, but even still I would leave anything of value at home. Also even if you have pockets don't bring anything in.

Things to leave at home:

- Cash/Credit cards
- Cell phones or other electronics
- Perfume (too many people are allergic)

Things to bring:

- Snack/power bar
- Makeup & those face oil blotter things (tissuepaper like things)
- Hairbrush, hairspray & mirror
- Breath mints (no gum as it's too easy to forget to spit out)
- Deoderant (the clear kind)
- Any medication you might need (like an inhaler, one PNM last year missed a few parties because she had to go home to get hers)
- Recruitment book, notepad, & pen
- Drinks should be provided at each party, but you may want to bring your own like maybe a sports drink
- Depending on the location of the sororities on your campus, some comfortable shoes to change into to walk between parties
- Femine products if necessary (Every year we have at least one PNM that is in need of something, so check your cycle ahead of time. How embarrassing to have an accident.)

Bring a purse or backpack or just a large plastic ziplock baggie with your name on it. Either way, lock your cell phone and money into the car and bring with you:

* Keys (so you can get back into the car!)
* Water bottle (helps to bring a frozen bottle with you that will melt as the day goes on)
* umbrella (it rains in the afternoon!)
* face powder or blotting papers
* lip gloss
* breath mints or strips
* a power bar or some crackers
* a notepad and pen
* tampon (just in case!)/emergency medicines (inhaler, epi-pen) that you would normally have
* Your PNM nametag

Any more makeup than that will melt, even under the tent. (Trust me, I learned the hard way when I was in your shoes! Wear waterproof mascara and break in your shoes beforehand because you will be doing a lot of standing!)

Your recruitment counselor will hold your stuff for you when you are in the houses. You can trust her!

You can't bring anything into the house with you except for yourself and an index card with your name and PNM ID# on it. You'll get this index card from your recruitment counselor and you'll hand it off to the sorority sister who greets you at the door when you enter a party. She'll pocket it and then you don't take anything out of the house with you.

Hope this helps!

^^ Great advice!

If you can't find actual blotting papers, try cutting coffee filters to "face size". The cone-shaped ones work better (because they're flat), and they'll take away the perspiration without messing up your makeup.

Our Panhellenic doesn't do this. But it is such a simple yet brilliant idea I immediately fired off an email to our Greek Advisor suggesting it.

Every year, every party, we have the same problems over and over, trying to remember "Was that the Jane Smith from Hoover or Huntsville?" or having a PNM go by a nickname but she registered under her full name. We do our best trying to keep everyone straight, but with so many PNMs going through it's tough. I'm sure every other Chapter on campus has the same problems too.

Thanks!

crabtree and evelyn sells an inexpensive little booklet of face blotting papers-smaller than a pack of cards and very convenient.

It's extremely low-tech, too! In most cases, they're just simple index cards. At the beginning of the day, the PNM is given one card for each party she will be attending and she writes her name and ID number on it. The recruitment counselor holds the cards and hands you one before each party. You go into your party, shake hands with the girl who greets you and she takes your card. It's a great way to make sure that the girl WAS there and in most cases, you as a sister are only rushing 1-2 girls, so surely you'll remember the person who you greeted at the door if you have her card in your hand!

Go with the ziplock. In fact, when I was going through Recruitment, my counselor had ziplocks for us, so we wouldn't bring purses/backpacks. They said they didn't want to carry around our purses/backpacks, and I agree - I'm going to be a recruitment counselor this next recruitment and I respect not wanting to be responsible for 10-20 purses/backpacks other than my own tote. Ziplocks I can handle.

At Iowa State the cards used are the size of business cards, different colors for each day. Each chapter generally has a woman standing at the front door with a tray that takes the cards. PNMs just write their names and ID numbers on the cards and then drops them on the tray as she walks in the door. Shaking hands with PNMs was not something that was done at my school.

Such a simple yet intelligent way of handling the "which Jane Smith do we want?" problem! I'm sure that there's been more than one mix up over the years - AND a great way to remember who showed and who didn't!

I hope more Panhellenics are looking into this idea!

As I said I emailed our Greek Advisor about this suggestion. He responded back with a simple "Thanks". Not sure what that means. Guess I'll have to wait until Recruitment to see if we adopt this or not. I sure hope we do because it would eliminate so many problems we always have. Nobody wants to invite/drop the wrong woman and there is no way we are the only Chapter that has this problem.

I remember one year a PNM "joined" the wrong party group. It screwed everything up and we had a terrible time trying to straighten it out with Panhellenic. They had her listed as a no show/withdrawn from Recruitment, yet we knew she was in our house. Panhellenic kept saying our actives must have written the name down wrong. I don't know why we were the only Chapter complaining to Panhellenic because she was a great girl, maybe we were just the first to catch it since she was a Legacy. Still, it was a mess.

In my experience, that means, "Great. Thanks for telling me how to do my job. I'll take that under advisement."

Maybe you can bring it to the table this spring when they plan for Fall 07.

Yes she eventually pledged our Chapter.

Panhellenic finally straightened everything out, but it was like pulling teeth. Finally we called our Greek Advisor who in turn called the PNM and asked her to explain what happened. She didn't even realize she had gone with the wrong group until he talked to her.