Nametags
 

I haven't seen this discussed on here before, so maybe it's unique to my university, but for rush here each girl is supposed to make a nametag that represents her personality.

Do any of your schools have this nametag tradition? What kinds of things did you do for a nametag? What level of skill do they expect the nametag to be, kindergarten or Martha Stewart? Does anyone have any examples of nametags that really stood out or made a positive (or negative!) impression? I'd really appreciate some guidance from the GC gurus. Thanks and much love!

At my school it varied, some girls had a plain white note card with their name written in black pen, some girls used glue guns, lace, and glitter and matched their outfits each day...realistically, most girls' nametags fell somewhere in between :) I just cut out a cute shape that I found online from an index card, and then decorated the un-lined side.

Just make sure your name (and maybe hometown) are legible and you should be fine. Good luck with recruitment!

name tags sound like a fun idea. if it were me i'd probably have a curling house, with a rock and a broom on it as my name tag with my name written over it. we do something similar for our new member classes where each new member decorates a blank crest to represent them.

i like photography and cooking, too. to represent photography, it might be fun to actually make the letters of you name and take a picture of it, and the picture could be your name tag. or for cooking, an idea is cut out your favorite recipie and write your name on it. or for traveling, use a plane ticket and write your name on it.

I don't have any unique ideas, but I do have a suggestion: DON'T put anything on your nametag that could make it look like you have a preference to a certain sorority. It doesn't matter if you were Miss Teen USA (ok, in light of current events, I wouldn't be advertising this anyway) - if you have ZTA on your campus, don't make your nametag a crown. And watch what colors you use. I know it would be almost impossible to avoid all sorority colors, but avoid sororities unique combinations. A red and yellow nametag might scream "I wanna be a ChiO".

I would pick one thing and focus on that for the nametag. If its a conversation starter, it should do just that--start the conversation, but not be the whole conversation. A nametag could not possibly represent everything you are or do. If it were me, I would want something simple and classy, not distracting. Too much is distracting.

Good luck!

I think making your nametag out of a photo sounds like a really cute idea! To add to that idea, maybe you can spell your name out of objects (cooking utencils, something representing your travels etc.) that represent you! Good luck! I can't wait to hear what you did!

At my school, PNMs got nametags issued by Panhel for round 1. At the other rounds, each sorority would make up nametags based on their themes. So PNMs didn't have to worry about making their own nametags.

You will want something memorable, maybe indicating a hobby or interest of yours, but easy to make. For example, if I had to make a nametag for rush today, I would probably make a little cross-stitch design of my name, because one of my hobbies is cross-stitch. I might even draw in a little needle and a stray thread. :)

You might make a nametag that looks like film, with sprocket holes and the like, if you're into photography. Just an example.

this is very good advice..you could look biased.

since u are a crafty person..im sure whatever u decide on will look great!! im a artsy kid and sometimes i stress over that same perfection ur talking about but in the end it all works out :)

good luck and let us know where u end up and how it went!

That is so creative that you all get to make your nametags my school made us these generic nametags that were hideous. But yea listen to these they are giving you good advice don't use any colors that might be sorority colors because wrong impression at certain houses. Like combination of blue and gold adpi blue and blue would be my house KKG
red and blue would be pi phi. Those are so color combinations you probally would want to avoid. I wish you the best of luck during recruitment and let us know what you get

We had name tags and most reflected something about the girls name so we could remember it. Mine was Maggie and I am from Springfield so I had a picture of Maggie Simpson. Another one of my friends, her last name was brown, and she had her first name written out on a big picture of a brown crayon.

Get creative and think of something that will make you memorable in a good way!

I can remember one girl had a hotdog styrofoam container as her name tag. It had nothing to do with her name, she just really liked hotdogs. She became known through out the greek land as "hotdog girl".

Hi, so I am guessing you go to UVA.

I went to VT and we did the same thing with nametags. I don't think anyone really expected talent from the nametags, but thought should be put into it.

Some girls do play on their name, makes it easier to remember and some decorate with interests they have. Its always a great conversation topic if you are trying to talk about things to the PNM.

Personally I was no Martha Stewart or creative so I was trying to think about what represented me. I painted a small square piece of cardboard my favorite color (light blue) and put a picture on it of my family. Honestly people liked it because no one really else had a photo and people kept wanting to look at my cute brothers and my mom (it was a great pic of her).

Oh about not making it obvious on which sorority you prefer in a nametag, I diid a big ooppss on my first day. I honestly had no preference, nor did I know anything about the groups. A friend wanted me to rush with her. I wore my gaurdian angel necklace, which was given to me, and I wore in stressful situations... well of course, Angel - Pi Phi. I honestly fell in love with Pi Phi from the beginning though so it was fate.

on year we used those sponge cut outs that you can buy in the craft section at wal-mart, they just happened to have unicorns. we used puffy paint to print out names. the last year i did it we just went to printing out cute name tags with colored ink!

Oh my gosh! I could not imagine any of this! Our recruitment gets really competitive--we use to have food--until people began making gourmet meals, they use to have gifts that they gave for pref night--I have seen hand-made fans or little tea sets... Now they're considering getting rid of drinks b/c it is getting too competitive. The nametags would be ridiculous!!!

Nametags
 

In the past at my school, the Rho Chi groups make nametags the first night, and the girls continue to wear them all week. Each name tag was shaped different for each group, but all had similar basic information on it like Name, Hometown, Major, Hobby, etc. I think it was up to the Rho Chi's in charge of the group, to decide what color/shape the nametag would be.

We had to decorate our own nametags too. Some peoples were stunning, but mine definitely looked like a kindergardener did it. And it took me forever to find a color combination! If you put three or four colors on you should be able to avoid having the colors of one sorority.

Oh what fun!
 

At my school, where I also advised for 6 years, the Pi Chis make the nametags for the pnms. Some are more creative than others. I would have LOVED to have made my own.

I actually made all the nametags for my sorority myself when I was recruitment advisor for years just because I had so much fun doing it. One that might work particularly well in this situation is a license plate. I found a website with the blank images for each state and then used a desktop publishing program to add the names. Each girl had her home state. They were a huge hit.

In this case I would think it would make more sense to come up with one nametag and wear it all week rather than changing each day to match your outfit. If you come up with a super cute nametag it will help the girls identify you. They might tell their friend "You have to meet the girl with the really cute chinese take-out box nametag at the next round" and if you show up without it, the friend won't know which one you are.

I am no longer the recruitment advisor for my sorority because I moved up to a different position at the district level and I know I will miss making nametags. Maybe I should start a business making them for people on here! Some I've done in the past:

3D flip-flops for a beach party,made from that craft foam.
city skylines for a NY theme party
Photos of a starbucks to-go cup with each girls name printed on the cup (had some help from a graphic designer alum for this one) for a coffee themed party
Lollipops with real lollipop sticks, a colored circle and cellophane.
Blue gingham border with red sparkly shoes for a Wizard of Oz party
Popsicles with real popsicle sticks
khaki with a leopard print or zebra print border for a "We're Wild About Theta" party

If anyone ever wants help with their nametag, or any group wants help, let me know. I'm obsessed! I think I'll probably have nametag withdrawal this fall. :)

nametag;as flowers.
 

:) [quoe=try floweres . texas blue bonnet' or zinnia' or moonflower:]

Simple is best--- helps people to remember you. At my school,the PNMs wear plain pre-printed name tags, but the sororities have simple decorated name tags for each round. When you get too elaborate, it looks messy and you can't see the person's name! Stick to large simple cut-outs, maybe some color or some glitter.

But if you have the opportunity to decorate your PNM name tag, I'd go with something about you or a way to remember your name: IE: Jessica's Junior Mints (scan the box and add your name-- easy way to recall who you are), A cut out of an airplane with your name if you are someone who has traveled a lot, a cut out of a beaker and your name if you are a science major, etc... Just keep it very simple, and use good taste.

At my school, the Pi Chis made us all cute nametags but they were for our tote bags that we'd leave outside the houses so we could figure out which bag was which after leaving the parties.

For the actual parties, we were given plain white cards with our name and pi chi group printed on them. they were slipped into those plastic tags with the strings so you'd wear them around your neck.

Since you have to make them yourselves, I'd go with something simple and classic, but still cute and colorful for them to remember you.

If you go to Target, Wal mart, or a crafts store, you can usually find cute little wooden shapes. Just use hot glue to put a saftey pin on the back. Maybe paint it one solid color, like your favorite color (I guess this could show favoritism if your favorite color is red for AOPi or green for KD, but I'm sure it won't be a big deal unless it's a distinct combination). Maybe try a pale color like baby pink or baby blue-something that usually isn't a distinguishable sorority color. Then you get just write your name in puffy paint, like in black or white.

When I rushed, a sorority did this for their novelty party! They were super cute...the cutout must have been just two "shoe" shapes (like the bottom of the shoe?) and then a couple strips of foam arched to make the thong thingy, then a little colored jewel as the point. I still have it :).

Again, in keeping Otterbein weird, girls don't make their own nametags. It's all done by the rush chairs at the houses. All of the houses do really cool nametags for open house, usually related to their symbols. One does scottie dog cut outs (which I love because I want a Scot so bad), another did big pink breast cancer ribbons w/ the PNM's name printed on a little sticker on it (their philanthropy is Amer. Breast Cancer Found. and their color is pink...two birds, one stone). One just used a scrapbooking cut out stamper thingy in the shape of a cat one one colored paper, and then put a contrasting color behind it to make the cut out stand out. All in all, I think the whole deal is SUPER time consuming, but it makes for some wonderful keepsakes for the girls.

My sorority has one day that each of the members makes their own name tag. We then explain to the rushees what's on our nametags and why. So for me on year, my name tag was shaped as musical notes (because I love to sing and I'm a music major) and then on it I put a picture of my dog and a couple of other things that represented me.