Big/Little Gift Ideas
 

I was wondering what were some gift ideas everyone had?

I have been working on making a book for my future little. It has information about our family shirt and banner fabric and other sorts of things.

What have you given to your little?

Sigma Alpha Iota

As the unofficial "aunts" of the Lambda Pi chapter (our "big" was Susan Bermann, NVP of Membership :) ), my SAI sister and I made little black pillows that had SAI (the greek letters) sewn on in ribbon. They loved them on installation day. We had also made folders for them to keep papers in during the process and little snacks and treats here and there.

My big made a frame for me that had random SAI lines on it (from the Chorale, Symphony, etc). She also got me a tote bag that was embroidered with the letters, and a binder with our family tree (now hazing :( ) on it.

I graduated two years ago and haven't had a little in 3 years, but lets see what I can remember.

My chapter did a big/lil week the week before the pledging ceremony. A central location was chosen and bigs would leave gifts and clues for their littles daily for the 5 days leading up to the revealing.

My family had a tradition of a "message in a bottle" where a bottle was decorated and the day's clue was placed in the bottle. I made a few door hangers painted red & white with the SAI initials (not greek letters). I always made a notebook (for MiT activities/notes) with the little's name, semester/year, I <3 my little, stuff like that on it. In whatever gift I gave, each day, I included a fake white or red rose. Oh, and making a badge box was also something I always did. For initiation, I always gave a family letter shirt and a pillow with the greek letters painted on the front and a sisterhood quote on the back.

Most of the things I did can be bought pretty inexpensively at Micheal's or ACMoore.

We have two gift-giving occasions.

The first is after the pledging ceremony. We give some small gifts, one of them having a rose on it. I gave my little a sewing kit and fabric to make letters.

The second is the night before initiation. Traditionally, letters are given to the MIT's, because after initiation, we go to Steak'N'Shake to celebrate.

^^^My chapter used to always go to Steak'n'Shake too!

Steak'n'Shake rocks! love the shakes.. haha
We gave cookie cutters to the girls from greek life products.
Many gave the treats they made as gifts.
Small pillows with letters always go over well too!

I got my little a bunch of little things like the wood frames you can buy from JoAnn's for really cheap (I think its a 3-pack for $7), they're really easy to paint and you can be really creative with what you make. Since we get littles really quickly I just made picture frames using my sorority colors.

You can go on www.etsy.com for ideas of little handmade things to do. They have a lot of great ideas that inspired me :)

Another thing my sorority does is blankets with the little's name and your letters on it and slippers that you decorate. It seems silly to do slippers but its really cute when you see everyone around the house wearing them when they're studying or before bed.

I got my little a tumbler from etsy that has Lilly patter on the inside with our letters on it, but you can do a monogram too and its really cheap (like uner $15 for the tumbler including shipping). I also had my sister-in-law make a koozie saying "Family (insert fam number)" and it turned out really cute and is SUPER useful since my little and I are both Diet Coke.

I'll try upload the frames I made when I get home from work. I'm sure I saved the pictures on my computer at home!