Scrapbooks and Rush
 

Do you think that everyone should have one?
Do you think that there should be a time during rush that you sit down and show the pictures?
What would be their purpose?
We have scrapbooks but we never have time to get to them.

How does everyone structure their rush?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this.

Do you mean, does your chapter have a scrap book? Do you mean is it just a scrap book of the rush events?

In my chapter, every year our historian puts together a scrap book of that years events. We usually have that scrap book an few from past years out to show our rushees the events and such that we did over the year.

well, we have a chapter scrapbook
and we have individual scrapbooks that people made
the chapter scrapbok with all of the events is always on a table
but we have yet to structure our rush in a certain way

is just because there is a lack of time that the rushees never get a chance to look at the scrap books? If that's the case, is there a chance you could change the length of the parties.

Our rush is very different, because we're the only sorority on our campus, so we have a lot more time to spend with the rushees.

If you can't change the length of your parties, perhaps you could pass them around while people are talking. Although you do run the risk that the rushees will not be paying attention to what you have to say.

What we usually do is leave them out, and let the rushees have a look at them when they can.

We used to make scrapbooks for rush but we cut them out last year because we felt like people were just talking about the pictures rather than sharing why they chose Pi Phi.

We used to show our individual scrapbooks during the house tour. We would lay them out on our beds and while you were showing the rushee your room you could flip through it. I would point out pictures of certain events in the pictures and use them to steer the conversation.

I think showing scrapbooks are a great way to personalize your events. All houses say they have date parties and socials and formals, but it really means something to see the pictures and hear the sisters talk about their experiences from past events. "here's my date and I at last year's winter formal. This is when we present our new sisters right after initiation." or "This is a picture of me with my big sister during big sis/lil sis revealing. It's so much fun because we..." etc.

We always have our scrapbooks out - so do most of the other chapters -- its a good way to get conversation going (especially if you are with a quiet one that doesn't talk) and to remind our newer members of all the events we do (sometimes its hard to remember all the stuff!) as they talk to the women.

As a sort of compromise, you could have pictures in picture frames out around the room where you rush, and you could just casually point out a picture to talk about if the conversation runs dry. Even if you don't talk about them, the pnm will probably notice the pictures and the sisterhood that they represent. But at my school most of the houses show slide shows during one of the rounds, which sort of takes the place of scrapbooks too.

Sarah

We have a scrapbook with a page for every member. We all made our own pages and included our interests, reason for joining, major, age, etc... this helps a lot when sisters can't make it to a rush event PNMs can still see what kind of women are represented in the chapter.

There is a Greek intro fair thing that they have in the student center prior to rush and we have our chapter scrapbook on display there. Also, during the first round of rush, all of the sororitie on campus show a video of various events and things.

I don't recall any scrapbooks from UW rush last year! A lot of the girls had pictures around the room during house tours, and in Tri Delta we all decorate the doors to our rooms with pictures and Tri Delta stuff.

They are nice.....
 

If you use/see them! I was at a house where they had a scrapbook lying on the table and when I went to look at it was firmly told "NO! you can't see that!" And all I could think was "why in the hell do you have it out!?" I wouldn't have minded seeing it but was kinda muffed when the girl said that!

We use scrapbooks for round one. we have them set up on different tables around the room surrounded by other memoribilia. We do use them, mostly to help move conversation or to answer a question. If a pnm asked "how are you involved with community service?" a sister would answer "oh we do lots of things, for example we help out with a children's carnival every fall, here let me show you..." then they would walk over to a scrapbook and look at pictures of us doing that philanthropy as well as others. I think they show how sisters are really involved and what a great time we have together. The books are put away after first round though.

We also donate one scrapbook (with the px's stickered) along with the other chapters to the panhellenic interest table at the freshman orientation campus activities chair in the fall. They're pretty handy. They keep girls at the table and spark them to ask questions.

We use scrapbooks out here too. We have some girls in my chapter that go all out with them (myself included). Since it is only us and one other group in Panhellenic we both have our scrapbooks out at the table in quad during informal and info days.

Back to the whole 'go all out deal', has anyone heard of Creative Memories? It is a scrapbooking company that puts on parties. (like candle parties and stuff). sisters put these on all the time. We have even had a scrapbook party with the consultant at a chapter meeting!! Creative Memories consultants even put on workshops for us where they supply everything and you just bring the pictures. Very cool. (These parties are a good idea for a social with other sororities too; we haven't done this but I'll let you all know how it works out)

Also, during Rush since there is no houses out here every party is on campus so we came up with something last year that worked very well to decorate the room and have the same feel as scrapbooks. We call them "Sister Boards". As our Membership Recruitment Chair last year, I went to the fabric store and bought tons of fabric. I tried to get a big variety of cute different patterns and then let the sisters pick what they wanted. I also gave them a big board of cardboard. (it pays to work in retail sometimes) Each sister in our chapter made their own board and put whatever they wanted on it. We then hung them up all over the room. They were so cute and they were a lot of fun to show all the pnm the different types of women in our sorority.

But anyway to sum up my entire post: I love scrapbooks!!

This type of nonsense just appalls me! I keep thinking about that scene in Animal House where the "undesirables" are kept in the one section.

I've heard of Creative Memories. My future mother-in-law has already gotten me an album & tons of stickers etc, as her church had a Creative Memories party. Mine did, too, but that was when my mom was just out of the hospital & I couldn't go. Their website is awesome! I've done two scrapbooks for friends who turned 40 (!), and have 2 more planned. Once the creative muse strikes, there's no stopping me! I'd like to get my college years in a scrapbook, too, before it's too late and the pictures get funky.

One of our sisters is a Creative Memories consultant, and she does the parties and stuff. All of us are now ADDICTED to scrapbooking. She gives us all kinds of pages and stickers and stuff, and lets us use her fancy cutting tools and stuff. It's so much fun. PNM's have commented in the past that our scrapbooks are nicer than some of the other sororities.


But she always makes us look bad because her scrapbooks are SOOOO much nicer than ours :p

I think it's always nice to have scrapbooks displayed. You don't necessarily have to allot time for the girls to look at them. But, be sure to cover up the faces of any girls on Panhel or any Rho Chis.

As a former....I repeat....FORMER Creative Memories consultant, I have a few things that I want to let people know about that are thinking about these parties....

1) They are NOT FREE -- the cost for a basic workshop is $10 per person! You bring 8-10 pictures and the CNS (Consultant) gives you an album page and a long strip (12") and a triangle for the corner (its called a "Simple Steps" class). Then you use her personal trimmer ($19.50 to buy one) and her tape runner ($6.75 not refillable) to mount your pictures. The catch is this....that album page ONLY fits into CM albums (12x12 strap hinge style) -- so if you made a really cute page, you better own an album to put it in otherwise, those pictures are stuck on the page.

2) Most of the materials that CM markets and sells are NOT what they are cracked up to be, and they have TERRIBLE customer service from HQ. One of my friends had a BRAND NEW corner rounder (which are very cool by the way) but it was the old style -- CM had too many probs with it, so they re-did it. Anyway, this customer had just taken her rounder out of the box and it was broken -- CM REFUSED to refund her money. Instead they told the CNS to replace it with a new one, thus the CNS was out the money.

3) For the love of Pete -- DO NOT sign up to be a CM Consultant without knowing what you are getting into. The cost of the kit is about $300 -- then (they don't tell you this when you sign up) you have to keep an INVENTORY -- plus, you have to buy all the "free" stuff that you give to a hostess for holding a class or show. I lost $3000 to CM and I really want to make people better understand what they are getting into with it!

4) A Pro -- the albums are without a doubt the BEST on the market. They are very durable and great quality. The same size pages can be found at Michaels and the like (I think the ones I use are called Westrim maybe) -- as long as they are 12x12 strap hinge style. I would definitely say spend the money on the albums -- a 12x12 is $36 (sounds like a lot I know, but trust me its worth it).

5) The stickers and die cuts....eh - go to a scrapbook store for a much better selection (plus, at a store, you can buy just ONE sheet of lady bug stickers instead of a whole pack of assorted summer stuff, etc.).

6) Oh, another pro - the page protectors -- the off-brand ones I've seen at craft stores aren't as good. The CM ones are worth it and it really does help protect your pages from smudges and spills.

PLEASE PM me if you have any questions about CM stuff - I really want to be able to give you the info you need when you are thinking about doing your scrapbooks.

AXO Alum, great post! http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...y/luxhello.gif

Hey Chloe173, that is saddest thing I have ever heard of. Nobody deserves to be treated the way those two or three girls were. A scrapbook should be used to show the sisters on adventures, goofing off, Greek Week, mixers and formals. I agree that it should be a good source of conversation between rushees and sisters. Using it to discriminate against the 'undesirables' is just plain sad and totally wrong. What is the point of displaying the scrapbooks if there are ulterior motives for it?

http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...d/nixweiss.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...ad/annoyed.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/angryfire.gif

Hootie, the video scrapbook for rush is a cool idea!!!! http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...happy/wink.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/scatter.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/monalisa.gif :D

Hootie, that is a fabulous idea! I am totally emailing my VP Recruitment when I'm done typing this.

I'd like to add to the "scrapbooking is worse than heroin" sentiment (or rather, that's what my friends back home refer to it as). I became Historian last year and I loaded up on CM stuff because one of my friend's mom's (an ADPi) is a consultant, and helped me sort out what was worthwhile to buy, etc. And then when I became Chaplain and passed on Historian to another girl, I had to buy my own! Damn this addiction! :(

Usually at Formal Recruitment we have the scrapbook lying out for the first 2 or 3 days and ask the girls if they'd like to see it at any point, or if they have seen it. (I especially asked because I was so proud of it. :p ) Most girls liked it, but only took a casual interest. Maybe Hootie's suggestion would work.

We do this every year and get really good feedback!