Rush Budget - Ideas
 

my chapter has a relatively small rush budget ($2000). any ideas as to some good, unconventional events that would fit into such a budget for a 6 week rush?

44 Kegs of Natural Light.

What kind of restrictions are put on Rush events by your school/your nationals? Where will you be holding the events (in your house? in the student center? in brothers' apartments?) How many events are you trying to plan with that budget? How many people (including brothers) are usually at these events? Do you have the ability to do outdoor or off-campus events? What kind of weather is usually going on during Rush week?

I'd be happy to help (my chapter is used to hosting Recruitment on even less money than that), I just need some more info :)

I was about to say...

it just means cheaper whiskey.

Royale Club is even cheaper.

Sam's Club has alot of it on sale for real cheap...you could probably get a handle of Evan as part of a larger package...(i think they come in 6's) for like less than 10 bucks a pop. You're looking at 200 handles.

Not bad. I think at a smaller university it'd be hard pressed to find a group of rushees that could finish off 200 handles.

I think I'll stick to the crown reserve.

basically no restrictions. we are off campus. the way i want to set up rush is 4 or 5 small events on weekdays and 1 major event on the weekends. 42 person chapter.. most brothers attend cheap events. i subsidize it a little for brothers for expensive events. weather good.. its fall rush. we start as soon as school starts. informal rush. many events in house, but we have 7 houses (6 people per house) so theres no 1 giant house.. just one house where we throw all our parties. thanks for your help

id tone that down, while you want to maximize opportunities, 4-5 times a week is a bit much, maybe have a particular event on two nights of the week, like tuesday/thursday, big event fri or saturdday, you don't want to exhaust your guys if you do too much, attendance will begin to wear thin in a chapter that small.

With that, what I'd suggest is one night that every rushee knows somethings going on.

The Lambda Chi's here have "margarita mondays", which, while not an actual rush event, all the girls know that on Monday, Lambda Chi house is a good place to be.

Perhaps do some sort of bar-b-q or have a beer pong tournament.

RECRUITMENT IDEAS
 

One inexpensive idea is a poker tournament. It's a great way for brothers to sit down and have informal discussions with rushees as they play. You can rotate tables now and then, too.

Prizes can be inexpensive things like $5 or $10 food gift certificates for fast food, Applebees, or pizza or movie passes to local theaters. Videos and T-shirts are also good prizes. You can set up the prize allotment as you wish, but it's a good way to spend an evening getting to know guys and not spending a lot of money. You may already have brothers who have poker chips and cards, or if you purchase them--they can be used over and over. Food can be pizzas or something cooked out during the event.

Another good event is some form of basketball tournament with prizes similar to those above given out. Again, it's a good way for brothers to meet and interact with rushees.

If you have a city park and they have facilities, frisbee golf is a great event. You can cook out at the park and let brothers and rushees team up as they wish. Again, prizes can be awarded if you wish, but the event itself is just a good time.

thx everyone.. a lot of these are actually very consistant w what im already planning:

my weekday events:

bbq, sports w brothers (football, baseball, hockey), driving range, poker night, nfl games at the house, pool hall, bowling, trip to philly for cheesesteaks, rope swing (by a nearby lake), and wing night

major weekend events:

strip club, comedy club, pudding wrestling, go-karts, beruit tourney, mlb game

also... we have something similar to "margarita mondays" like at your school.. we have something called "wednesday night club" at my house which is basically a regular beruit party that everyone knows takes place every wednesday night

and this is coupled w the usual themed parties on the weekend nights of course

That sounds like a blast! I'd be totally signed up for all that! (especially the strip club ;) )

Like...two dudes wrestling?

In Pudding?

Isn't there something a bit more heterosexual?

However, I suppose two females wrestling in pudding could be exciting.

jello would be better, you get the same effect, but if there happens to be a "wardrobe malfunction" it seems it would be a whole lot better.

Im hopeing your referring to two girls wrestling in jello right? ;)

ha, if you had seen some of my other comments on here, then you'd no without a doubt i was talking about two girls.

Haha, my pledge class was going to do this as a fund raiser. The guy with the idea was going to donate all the money/pudding/etc and even pay the girls a good price. But we never found girls willing to do it. :(

Doubtful its within the rules for any NPC sorority girl to participate in such.

One of our guys threw his own christmas party at his house with a "Santa Claus and his Ho Ho Hos theme," and one of the sororities advisers told them if they were caught there they'd be sent to standards.

so dont get caught

No, of course. That's a given.
But even the GDI girls down here seem to be prudes. lol

Hahaha, i know man, i was just joking.

Would it be wrong just to pay two chicks off the street to do it though?

Why is your budget so small, my chapter is a little bigger but our rush budget for the fall is $25,000 and $12000 in the spring?

This dude is on crack. Or can't see past big school Greek Life. Congratulations for your immaculate rush budget but some chapters just can't swing that.

I guess the mods didnt think my joke about coke and strippers was as funny as I did.

well of course i meant girls.. and yea i changed it to jello bc cleanup is easier

i figure we're gona ask girlfriends of brothers and friends of the hosue to help us out. i figure we can get like 8-10 girls so thats a good 4-5 matches

I hope your brothers are dating GDIs then, because that is going to be a standards nightmare for any sorority girls (and kind of trashy for rush as well, in my opinion at least).

Most of the places they call it Beirut don't have overly prudish sorority girls.

http://www.collegehumor.com/pongmap

wow your budgets are ridiculous our budget is only $400 bucks.

Oh damn, well never mind then. I was going to suggest a concert with DJs/bands/artists that are popular in your area.

I'm of the opinion that unless your house is going to have trouble drawing rushees, leave the gimmicky crap to others. Your going to have a lot more effective rush in terms of getting guys that you want if brothers talk to rushees rather than just watching something with them.

Yeah, I believe that too. But if a chapter wants to get its name out there to PNMs then a concert wouldn't be a bad idea. I wasn't going to suggest it to be during actual rush week either, because I also think that rush week should just be laid-back events where the brothers get to know the PNMs.

Oh, and to the OP, I think you should focus more on Recruitment vs Rushing. If your chapter focuses all its energy into rush week, then you'll likely get lower numbers and poorer quality of guys.

I'm assuming you know the difference between Recruitment and Rushing, but if you don't.. Recruitment is "all year," as corny as that sounds. If your chapter starts recruiting guys since way before Summer B starts (e.g. getting to know them, hanging out with them, reeling them in so to speak) then you'll have a much better pledge class than if you waited until Rush Week itself to meet guys and give them bids.

The best chapters at any school already have a strong foundation for a pledge class way before Rush Week. Focusing all your efforts on Rush Week results in poorer numbers and lower quality of men.

Are the guys in your chapter good at recruiting? Because you can have the flashiest rush events (which isn't possible in your case anway), but if the guys don't know how to talk to guys and "rush" then you're screwed.

If your chapter is new/having trouble with recruitment I suggest you read this book.

pantherteke, thanks i may check that book out..

however, how can we recruit during the summer? we have informal rush so our rush is 5-6 weeks. we dont have a set "rush week". therefore, from the moment we get to school we are rushing until early october..