Paddles?
 

Hey. So My sorority had a falling out but we picked up the pieces and honestly it's better then ever! We want to fill in a few gaps, and i had questions about paddles.

Now I was told that only the pledges make paddles for their bigs. Is this true?

Or can the bigs make one for their little's and are there more ways to use the paddles? Also since we are local -- does any local have pictures of how theirs are made. I don't want to steal ideas just see how some make them maybe form my own idea..

Thanks

This is your organization. You make the rules about who makes what.

To speak from my national organization experience, I believe that most large organizations have attempted to move away from paddles since they tend to elicit thoughts of hazing. Instead, you may consider members (bigs or littles) making plaques or decorations for each other so that you can still celebrate the tradition that you want without the negative thoughts that can be associated with paddles. Also, I'm pretty certian there are some other threads with pictures on GC that might be of use to you.

Hey bianca!

We have paddles in my sorority, and I do want to warn you that many people who are not in the sorority question them and often joke about us paddling our pledges in hazing rituals, etc.

We use our paddles as a symbol of a newly initiated sister. The girls paint their own paddles near initation. When we ask them to paint their own paddles, it's like our way of informally welcoming them into the sorority. Since we all display our paddles on our walls as decoration, the paddles are something we all have as a sign of our sisterhood.

In terms of how we paint them, we paint our three greek letter vertically on the handle. Then we paint two diagonal stripes on the top and bottom of the paddle, with the crest in the middle.

Hope that helped!

In my APO chapter, your first paddle must be a gift from your little. There is a lot of freedom in how our big/little paddles are designed.

In Alpha, we have no such tradition (at least not in my chapter).

Hi, I know I am not from a local chapter but I really love what we do with our paddles! Our pledge moms make them for their daughter and they get them for initiation! On the back is a message from the mom about what our chapter has meant to them and possibly an inspirational quote. We made paddles for panhellenic as well.

If you guys have a symbol (like a lion or a quadrafoil-what Phi Mu uses) we usually make paddles for our bigs and the bigs make the symbol paddles with inspirational quotes on the back for their littles. That way, you get a symbol paddle as a new member (other GLOs may do this, also) and then when you have a little, you get an actual paddle. This way-EVERYONE gets one!

Good Luck!

Hi! I'm a member of a local as well and we do paddles for the pledge educator and big sisters. At formal the new class(es) of the year present their pledge mistress with a paddle. The paddle usually has our letters, when they pledged, their class name and their names and/or numbers. (I was in a class of 4 so we were able to fit both but our spring classes are large and can only do numbers) Also we put little hearts/stars around it as well since we cannot find a wood piece of our symbol (Pegasus) anywhere.

The littles give their bigs a paddle anytime before graduation, usually at their first Christmas party (which the bigs pay for their little's ticket). These paddles include our letters, when the little pledge, big/lil and their names/numbers. My twin and I included "L&S" for love and sisterhood (something the sorority uses when writing to each other) as well as the name of our tree and an apple because our big was an education major.