Big Little Gift Ideas
 

Hello my fellow Xi's!!!

I have the opportunity to take a lil this upcoming Spring and was wondering if any of you had ideas to creative gifts!?

I can tell you the stuff I have 28 years later - my paddle, my teddy bear and my pin holder, a little A Xi D pillow. None of those things are fancy, or particularly expensive but the paddle was hand painted, is simple with pretty much only a pink rose on it. The teddy bear is a Gund light beige normal teddy bear (it used to have light blue and yellow ribbon around its neck), and the pillow has meant I never had to figure out where my quill was in all that time and about a gazillion moves. I guess the common thread is they're timeless.

If I were to buy gifts for an 18 year old sister today (and I could afford it), I'd probably buy a letter sweatshirt, a fun frame with a picture of both of us, and/or something hand made, maybe a little cross-stitch. And then at initiation I'd give her a quill pillow or box.

WE SPOIL OUR GIRLS TO THE EXTREME!!!

For my chapter, our tradition is to give the littles their lavaliers and 1st pair of letters at initiation and our big/little week is usually a few weeks before initiation. We also do the week of initiation, everyday the bigs give their littles a betxi bear, a quill box, a a pink rose, and a letter. For our reveal, we give the littles a cross-stitch blanket--everyone gets one!! I love the pillow idea!! The littles have an entire week full of gifts and clues from their bigs and Im not the most creative person so I just wanna see if anyone had good, unique ideas, Ill definitely be doing the pillowcase :)

I always wondered for chapters like this, is it included in your dues or do you pay out of your own pocket?

Completely out of our own pocket.

I'm not an Alpha Xi, but if you want more Big/Little gift ideas I'd be happy to share some of my gift ideas that I've had/done if you want!

Yea that'd be awesome, thank you :)

Here's some "don't" advice that I've seen happen: don't give your little "stuff" for the sake of giving her more gifts (aka bouncy balls, tacky little gifts, food items, etc.). She will appreciate much more the thoughtful gifts you have clearly spent time on, even if there are fewer of them. That said, here are some ideas. Having a theme to guide your gift giving will help with ideas, and seem less hodge-podge when you give it. Give your little things she can use to decorate her room, and things that are useful. Incorporating a basket etc. full of the gifts is nice too:

-Decorated tote (beach theme? I painted a sailboat and clever phrase involving our name on mine, and filled the tote with a towel--you could get it embroidered, decorated visor, decorated sports bottle or one of those monogrammed cold cups, girly magazines, tanning lotion, etc.)
-painted picture frames (don't just have to be with your colors and letters, you can come up with fun themes)
-decorated/painted mirror in a frame
-decorated bulletin board or ribbon board (cover a corkboard in nice paper, trim it with ribbon, you could paint your crest onto the cork if it's allowed, etc)
-movie night basket: movies, cute pajamas, fuzzy socks, candles (scented or decorated), personalized/decorated mug, hot chocolate, popcorn, candy, blanket or snuggie
-spa day basket: various spa supplies, personalized and decorated, etc. Embroidered towel, anything monogrammed, etc.
-decorate a giant martini/margarita glass (see if this is allowed first!) and fill it with candy
-quilted/padded scrapbook or photo album
-decorated wooden version of your symbol (for example, the Gamma Phi chapter here does wooden crescents)

That's all I can think of for now...sorry, it's late! Do a search on here for "Big/little gift ideas" or something, and I'm sure you'll come up with a lot.

Ohmygoodness!! Those are all amazing ideas!!! Thank you soo much :)

I LOVE BIG LITTLE WEEK. we go all out here on campus during it and the littles LOVE running to get their gifts everyday. I did themed day for my little ( I went all out because she was my first). I got really crafty but also bought a lot of different things too.
THE MUSTS (in our chapter)
Bear
Quill Box
Set of Letters
Lavalier
Lettered Shirt

Some of our girls didn't give their littles their Lavalieres until initiation, but most of us typically give them to the girls sometime during big little week.

I gave my little
several stitched letter shirts
recruitment shirts from previous years
Fleece blanket with her name and Alpha Xi Delta embroided on it
2 lettered scarfs
AXID letters
TFJ Letters
Bear
Quill Box
lavalier
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...68217048_n.jpg
Day 1- PINK DAY (her favorite color)
-AXID Letters (pink glitter)
-Pink&White AXID scarf
-Zebra print letters on pink shirt
-2 glitter wine glasses
-3 frame picture that said Gbig Big Little over each of the frames
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...21129624_n.jpg
Day 2-Random Day
-Bear
-Jar of "Reasons why i love my litte"
-Secrets of being an Alpha Xi (box book i got from michaels) with a flask inside and a chant written on the cover
-2 shirts
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...40129399_n.jpg
Day 3- Blue & Green Day (chapter color and our family color)
-a lettered shirt (blue) and a blue recruitment shirt that said ALL THEY DO IS WIN.
-Fleece Blanket
-Giant Puzzle Pieces painted our chapter and family colors
-Beer mug with chant on it.
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...70169345_n.jpg
Day 4
-another scarf
-lavalier
-quill box
-tfj letters

I'm not an Alpha Xi, either, but I've taken two littles and these are some of the gifts I've given. Most of mine were practical or decorative:

• badge box (literally go to Hobby Lobby or Michaels, get a $1 wooden box, paint it, decoupage it, etc). You can personalize it and make it as cute as you want!
• painted wooden frame (also about $1 or $2 from craft stores): put a picture of the two of you in it, paint your letters and "sisters" or something similar on it. I did mine in my little's favorite colors.
• Painted door pillows (like these http://sororitysisters.net/ideas/custom-sorority-pillows/ )--a lady was selling them on Etsy for about $15, but I made one myself for literally nothing. Just handpaint your symbol on plain white cotton, write using fabric markers or puff paint, and sew it up!
• My chapter doesn't do paddles, but we do handpainted sailboats. Definitely do a paddle or wooden symbol with her name on it.
• I usually ended up going to the Greek store near my university and purchased lettered stickers, pens, stationary, and cups (things you can't make by hand and look good).
• I did cute personalized handwritten notes to include with each day as well.
• If you can sew, I would recommend making pillows (I made a heart shaped one with letters from a recruitment shirt that my chapter had extra of), makeup bags in your sorority's colors (you can use iron-on letters to personalize), or anything else you might think she'd use.
• Many of my sisters make fleece tie-blankets for their littles in our sorority's colors. My big actually gave me a store-bought blanket and had letters embroidered onto it professionally.
• Buy a large wooden letter for her first initial and paint it with your sorority's colors, symbols, etc.

Sorority Craft (http://sororitycraft.tumblr.com/) has a lot of cute, handmade and personalized gift ideas as well.