Paddles for littles?
 

Hey, so I've heard talk of giving your little paddles? None of the sororities down here do this but I'm interested in possibly starting the tradition. I was wondering if anyone could give me some info as to what the meaning behind these are?

Thanks :)

Hey, I was a little and I was given a paddle, but I don't know the meaning sorry! We made something else for our bigs

Due to the history of paddles being linked to hazing, many GLO's have banned them. You'd better check your I/Natl policies before trying to start a tradition that would get your chapter members into trouble.

We give our bigs paddles. I made my littles and grand littles mini paddles, about key chain size for xmas though.

In my chapter, Little's made paddles for the Bigs, and the Bigs decorated wooden bears like pandas for our Littles (we personalized our paddles and pandas for the personality/favorite colors/hobbies of our bigs/littles)

I've seen paddles for littles, but they were smaller than the ones littles make for their bigs and not as ornate.

Why hazing?

Is this a serious question or are you setting us up for some super huge rant?

Umm haha I'm serious. No one around here gets paddles, I'm from Canada ;)

UMM they were used to "beat" new members for disgrassing (sp?) the brotherhood or sisterhood.~ I think u should be able to draw ur own conclusions from that. ;)

We dont give them as we aren't allowed to (not sure if it is our chapter or international law) but we were told on BID DAY that no paddles were to be given. However other GLOs on campus exchnage them. A little gives it to her big, They are very personalized, and quite pricey. Iwent with my friend to buy hers, I was shocked at how much they were!

Disgrace**

The one I made for my sister-mother was inexpensive - $10 for the paddle itself and then another $15 or so to paint/decorate it. Did she have someone else make it for her?

Paddles are flat pieces of wood with a handle in them, perfect for hitting pledges. Hence the connection with hazing. My chapter did away with paddles after I was initiated, now the daughters give picture frames and the new member class makes a wall hanging or plaque with their names on it to hang on the living room wall.

ADPiTigergurl-

It probably depends on what you buy and where. I went with my daughter to a chain craft store to get one for her big (she was home for the weekend). We bought what looked like a bread board to use as a paddle and then some paint, ribbon, letters, sparkles, etc. Total cost was around $20.

Trideltlifee -
There is another thread on paddles somewhere on here (sorry, don't have the energy to look it up and link it), that shows some really pretty examples of paddles.

We made ours. We call them paddles but they were really plaques. But we had to make them from scratch which was a pain in the ass. First time I have ever used a power saw.

I was going to say "LOLwut?" but then I remembered that not everyone was raised in a hick town like I was.

I'm a city boy all the way. My first experience with most things that men are known for like building and painting stuff was through the fraternity.