Bid Day Shirts
 

I feel like this is a really stupid question, but it's something I need to figure out.
I'm in charge of formal recruitment this year and I really want to get bid day shirts for the NMs & for the sisters. I was wondering how you go about having the shirts ON bid day...but since we don't know how many girls we will get, how do you know not to order too few or too many shirts?
It's my first year of formal on the "other side" so maybe someone with more experience can let me know how this works.

Thanks!

better to order too many than not enough. You should have some idea of how many members you can take. Keep the extra shirts for new member ed prizes for the next pledge class.

I have told my VPM to order how many you got last year (new member number) and then about 5-6 more for COB's... you can use them for the spring COB class OR give to advisors during rush that help out as a thank you, house corp, visiting field consultant, or as room decorations for the following formal rush/COB events... and prize give aways...

Remember to order for all actives even your Rho Chi's :)

Find out from the company you are ordering from when the last date to give them a number is first. Then have your Membership Chair or Advisor call Panhellenic to see if numbers are similar to last year at this point (a good indicator if there will be about the same number of women going through recruitment). If it is looking the same you can plan for the same number that quota was last year + the number of ALL women returning to the chapter + 5.

It is unusual for quota to go up more than 5 or 10 between one year and the next unless something major happened (lost a chapter, PH did much better PR so recruitment numbers are way up, using the new release figure method etc.).

As was said previously - don't forget your Rho Gams (or whatever your school calls them) and your PH exec members and or Delegates (basically anyone that is not with the chapter for recruitment b/c they are working with PH). It's always better to have to many than to few - you can always sell them to NM's or give them to alumnae that come to help.

We always order a couple "extra" shirts for everything we do, because sometimes we have sisters abroad or just on hiatus due to a heavy workload (i.e. they couldn't make it to the meeting where we ordered shirts). The ones that don't get worn or given out, we keep to hand down to pledges at the end of the year.

You can order a few extra shirts, whatever you have left after you give them to alumnae, sisters that were abroad, advisors, etc., you can trade with other Sigma chapters for their shirts. Also depending on the size of the new member class that you expect, you may be able to do iron ons. One of the sororities at my school always does iron ons, they make up the designs ahead of time, and then as each girl accepts her bid, they ask her for her shirt size, and the NM mom makes them and gives them to the girls on bid night. They always end up looking really cute. However, this will only work with a small class or chapter, because you don't want to be making shirts for like 60 girls. Also, one year my sorority made our own shirts with a stencil and spray paint. They ended up looking really cute. We just asked the NM's when they accepted their bids what size they were (or you can eyeball it) and made them up for them when they got to bid night.

You should also be aware of shirt sizes when you order.... Of course not knowing who you will get presents a problem when trying to order a shirt to fit her! And how embarrassing would it be if you pledged a fluffier lady and only had small shirts. We generally do it by percentages of who is in the chapter now. For example, we have 65 active members - 60 order smalls and 5 order mediums. We always get 35 of everything for our new members, and for tshirts we are getting 32 smalls and 3 mediums which is somewhat on the same scale of our current membership. I like to throw in a large as well, just because you never know.... If we wind up not using it, there's always an advisor or someone who will want to buy it and put a little money back into the budget.

Of course these are unisex shirts - NOT fitted. Keep that in mind as well. Ask your tshirt company to send a sample of a small, medium, large, x-large so that everyone can determine what will fit them. Depending on the company and how much business you do with them, they'll send them free of charge or calculate the cost of the samples into your final bill. Don't forget to check with local businesses too! We use a local guy for everything so he pretty much sends us whatever we want for free cause we've built up the goodwill. (Plus his prices blow everyone else out of the water and we don't have to pay shipping!!) It's always good to keep your money in the local economy! :)

In the event that you haven't ordered enough shirts for everyone (which happened to us 3 years ago), ask for volunteers amongst your membership to allow a new member to wear her shirt until more can be ordered. Then be sure those members wear the same color shirt so they don't stick out in the pictures! You don't want to risk alienating a new member on her first day by saying "sorry, we didn't order enough, and YOU are the unlucky one!"

Don't worry, they can always give it to the "fluffier" alumna too :rolleyes:

God forbid a chapter gets a "chubbier" girl. Or maybe some girl who's like 6 foot tall and an athlete. The horror.

A side note...someone needs to tell my campus Panhellenic that NOT EVERYONE FITS INTO A BABY DOLL T and that buying them for recruitment SUCKS when you get get above a size "XL" which is really a MEDIUM.

AMEN to that!

Even if your girls all weigh 100 lbs., why would you get shirts in anything other than larges and XLs? They shrink the first time you wash them.

Not to mention girls who have decent sized breasts will have a hard time fitting a medium, especially after washing, but even before washing

HEAVY COSIGNAGE ON THAT ONE!!

If my post was offensive or derogatory to women of size, I apologize. I posted this only in the spirit of helping a young lady who had no experience in purchasing shirts for women she does not know. PinkSigma3, it looks like you are getting a lot of good advice - best of luck with ordering your shirts and with your recruitment! Being in charge of formal recruitment can be very stressful yet very rewarding, and it sounds like you are thinking way ahead and trying out fun new things for your chapter.

AND...not that what everyone else thinks matters, but there is nothing attractive about an entire sorority in shirts that are too small for them no matter what size the girls are. Make sure you order way more shirts than you're going to need to account for the size variations or you may have a shirt that everyone hates and no one wants to wear again-this happened one year in my chapter because the design was fugly....we were not thrilled. :)

:rolleyes: What is a "woman of size" Everyone has a size. Maybe those who take zeros don't have a size, but everyone has a size. 2, 8, 22, 12, they're all sizes.

It was very tacky an unnecessary to say "I like to throw in a large as well, just because you never know.... ". Seriously, you could've just said to buy a variety of sizes and could sell the extra to alumnae. I'm sure the alumnae love being deemed "women of size" as well.

Like I said, a girl could have bigger breasts, or be really tall, or heaven forbid you take a girl that weighs more than 120 pounds.

I don't think she meant anything by it...it sounded like she was just looking for a way to say "a bigger girl in the pledge class" without saying "bigger girl".
Anywhoo, I don't think it was offensive...talking about this stuff is a necessary evil when dealing with rush. We used to have very un-PC discussions when designing shirts....especially one year when someone wanted to order tube tops as bid day shirts. I think my actual statement was "there is no way I want to my huge boobs- that have no business being in a tube top at all-with my letters on them"...haha :p

I agree. You have to accomodate all sizes. A chapter is going to pledge tall, short, large, medium, small and extra-small women, and it's something we should talk about!

My advice for new member shirts at bid day-- better to order mediums, larges and a couple of XL's for the new members, and get the smalls only for the chapter members who request them. Get chapter member sizes in advance and get shirt samples so everyone has a size reference.

Better for the NM's shirts to be a little roomier-- they can order other letter shirts later on that are better tailored and with the bid day shirt being their first, they will wear it on campus anyway, because they are so excited to be a member of your sorority!

Talk to the Panhellenic Recruitment Team about their thoughts on this year's quota-- I agree you want to look at the past couple recruitments and see how quota has grown to estimate.

Extra shirts are great gifts for alum, moms, boyfriends and homecoming buddies! Or next year's new members, etc.

You also may want to take into account that no matter the size of the women going through, they may LIKE larger sized shirts.

I know even when I was smaller, I loved bigger t-shirts, even now, I always get at least 2x bigger than I normally wear, first for the normal shrinkage and I like the roomy-ness. I have always been this way....even in "today's times" of running small, I still look for the biggest t-shirt that I can.

When you get those samples, make sure to get various blends and weights of fabric, heaven forbid you get a great deal on t-shirts, but you can see right through them!

Those of y'all who have met me know that I'm not exactly small up top. I can remember being given a medium t-shirt on Bid Day. I asked, "Which boob do y'all prefer that I cover?"

I got my larger t-shirt! :D



And jwright, I thought "fluffier" was a very cute way of putting it!

Size is a touchy subject and I think "fluffier" is a nice way of saying it.

I too am a thinner girl but I have larger breasts and I order an XL so the "twins" can have breathing room and no look like they are going to pop at any moment.

My theory: larger looks better b/c if there is more of u out of a shirt than in it, wrong size and even the tinniest girl looks bad.

If u are ordering non fitted pre-shrunk you might want to go by this percetage ( an advisor once told me this and my chapter has usually had success) 10% extra small 10% x- large
20% small 40% medium 20% large in the ratio of #'s

I'm pretty short and generally small but with big boobs. When we order tshirts that I know are looser (like letters or for Greek Week), I usually get a small. For baby tees and shirts that I know tend to run tight or small, I order a medium.

Well you always know your chapter best and to be honest there are chapters that do not take "fluffier" girls (Now there is no need to flame me for this comment because you know it is true) and so you know what sizes to order. Look around, what sizes do the girls wear now? But it is always a good idea to at least get a couple larges...cause from time to there will be that six foot tall girl who while isnt necessarily fluffy she's tall and needs a bigger shirt.
Another idea that I always liked, for the smaller girls like myself (I'm only 5'3"!) is getting the shirts in kid sizes if you can....now a kid large fits the same as a adult small except with shorter sleeves and it's generally shorter...so it doesn't fit like a baby tee but rather a regular tshirt that actually fits! Because an adult small on my always has longish sleeves and a long waist and I always hated that.

Haha... it's true. I believe every chapter on my campus got baby tees for bid day last year. And getting the right sizes always seem to be a mess! My pledge twin and I are about the same size (she's a bit smaller than me I'll admit!) and she ended up with an extra small that barely fit her and I ended up with an extra large that could have fit us both all at once. I wish there was some way to make sure girls got the size they actually NEEDED! Oh well, now I'm on the "other" side of recruitment and I get to specify my size... haha. :)

Find out what quota/total would be and then add 5 or 6. You can always sell the rest to alumnae, Ebay, etc.

Yes, please make sure your ENTIRE chapter looks good in the shirt. Even if that means no baby tees. :)

yea, I am not liking this whole "tight" t-shirt thing. We, advisors love to wear the bid day shirts too and those "fitted" shirts, though flattering on a size 6, 20 year old, don't do much for a size 12, 34 year old.

I say > chapter total + approximate amount of quota + 10. Any extras can be sold to new alumna or interested pi members.

YES! What she said!!!!!!

This is off topic, but the whole signing pref cards and bid cards seems so foreign to me... we don't do it...

We have girls sign sign bid cards because we turn them into the Greek Life office to keep track of were each girl goes. I also think, not completely sure, so that every NPC group can know if a PNM drops and the 1 yr. limit hasn't passed, she can't get another bid.

Having the girls write what size shirts they are is a great idea. Wish i would have thought of that.

We always had the person who preffed the girl guestimate the shirt size... it works fairly well, and only a few girls have to exchange for different sizes every year.

We always get a lot of extras. People can buy those to pass down family lines, for t-shirt exchanges at HQ conferences, etc. They always sell well, esp. since a lot of people don't want to give up their own shirts to pass down right away.

Rambling
 

JTIS, my sister has a tshirt (from delia's I think) that says something like:
"Ewe's not fat, Ewe's fluffy!" with a big sheep on it.

You have to order the shirts before you have any clue who is even rushing.

I wish that my school would order babydoll T's....or give girls the option of paying more for a babydoll, because I would love to have a shirt that I will actually want to wear instead of putting it in my 'ugly sorority shirts' pile.

No sign a bid card? I believe there is something in NPC green book about requireing something in writing as an agreement from the PNM and the chapter that she is joining and like a previous post said to keep track of who is signing with which chapter in case people drop.....

Is it in the green book? can someone verify?

You probably sign something else, like a sheet of paper...you've got to have it in writing. We had a song once talking about a "bid card" and we had no clue because that's what we did, signed it on a sheet of paper.

We have bid cards at my school too...we do the whole pref card thing too but I don't know of a school that doesn't use at least the pref card system.

Haha, sheet of paper... that's it. :D I knew of the rule that it had to be in writing but I didn't have a clue what these bid cards were...

I'm guessing pref cards are used to pref your top three (or two, or eight... however they do it at school!) after the last day of recruitment? Our entire system for that was computerized. (Sounds great when you think of how easy it is, sounds horrible when the comp crashes... which happened a couple years back!)

That's weird...when I joined my chapter we had to sign bid cards and all our NM's still do...maybe it's just a chapter to chapter thing, I dunno. You'd think though that we'd all do the same thing being at the same school and all...;)

Good luck with recruitment this year, I am SOOOO stoked to finally not have to actually participate in it during the 105 degree heat, instead I will get to hand out water bottles at the front door....yay for being an alum! ;)