Bid Day
 

This is how my chapter did it this past year:

1. Sisters got the same size shirt they ordered for the Panhellenic issued recruitment shirts for first round.
2. For new members, we ordered an additional 25 shirts (even though quota would be much smaller than this) and just kinda did a guessing game....more than likely we'd have women who'd want larges or XL's, so we ordered more of those than the others. We ordered a couple mediums and a couple of XXL's for the "larger" women, and that was that. We also found a GREAT company who was able to do a rush order for a really reasonable amount of money! :)

Hope this helps....it really is a guessing game when it comes to ordering shirts for new members!

They've actually kept them for the women who COR or join through informal recruitment this year. They're very optimistic about picking up some wonderful new girls.

Is there a way to work out a deal with the company you're looking at to get a certain number now, and if you need additional shirts later, you can order another group of them?

ETA: We're a small chapter as well with very limited funds, so I understand completely what you're going through!

Might I recommend getting shirts that you can use for more than one bid day? meaning no dates and such on them? That is something that my chapter does anyway so that we can give new shirts to the new ladies no matter when we get them be it COR or Recruitment. :)

One way it could be done is to order one shirt for each current member, and then the difference between current membership and total. Just put "Fall Recruitment 2003" on the front instead of an actual date. That way you can give them to other new members throughout the semester as you take them.

We also notfity recent & local alums that they can purchase a shirt if the money is in before we place the order. That helps increase our order number and any potential discounts!!!

I have also seen chapters selling extras on ebay after the semester is over (not us, we usually don't have any left!!).