gifts for littles
 

hey ladies- i will be taking a little in a few weeks and i was wondering if anyone has any good gift ideas. if you or your big did something creative, would you mind sharing? thanks so much!

All the bigs got their littles the same things during the week. The gifts were always personalized though and usually handmade.

Cookies
Bulletin Boards
Pillows
Clocks - SK Time!
Violets
Photo Albums
Picture Frames
Big/Lil Sis Shirts
Family letters

The one gift I gave that I was quite proud of (not to sound full of myself or anything :D ) was a full length mirror that I personalized for my little/grand littles. I bought one of those $5-10 full length mirrors from walmart/target and paint pens or puffy paint. Then with them on the top part of the mirror wrote "Mirror Mirror on the wall, whose the sexiest Sig Kap of them all?" and put their name at the bottom. I also added violets, hearts and what not along the sides for more decoration. It always looked great!

That is the cutest idea! I love it!:)

We always bought those glass candy jars at Wal-mart for like $3, and then decorated them with paint pens. I did this recently for my little sib in the first year med class, and she was a KD at UF but had never seen them before. It went over very well - she keeps it on her lab desk now! :p

a couple of more unique things i did for my little were:

1. i went out to like A.C. Moore and bought a little fence, and painted it and glued violets on it and then hand wrote the names of my family members on each of the fence posts (well at least as far back as the fence would allow.. so like up to my great-great-greatgrandbig)

2. i would make a CD with the favorite songs of me and my big and add in chapter songs (like the one our seniors pick to sing that is usually sad in nature on bid day, and our chapter song we sing and dance to at special events)

3. i made a blanket out of two different patterns of fleece (i cut three inch tabs every two inches apart on each peice of fabric and tied them together! it's a cheap way to make a nice LARGE blanket, and then i'd take those iron on patches they make for pants you can get at like walmart and cut out large a large SIGMA and KAPPA and then ironed them on and put puffy paint around them to secure them.. my little loved it and we started kind of a trend in my chapter)

:D ooo.. i'm getting a great-grandlittle and i can't wait to make some things for her too!!

but congrats on whomever you get to take as your little!!!

I bought my lil sis' everything and anything I could find that was lavander or maroon or anything that I could paint lavander or maroon....anything heart shaped, dove shaped magnets, etc....the usual at my school is a buliten board, lavander and maroon jelly beans, lots of picture frames, little pillows, heart shaped necklaces with a dove on it, etc. I made a bouqet of violet pens out of silk violets and plain bic pens which I covered with green floral tape and put them in a Sigma Kappa tin bucket/pail thing. Oh and my lil sis' loved the little flag I made them that had our letters and #1 lil sis. Have fun!

thank you so much everyone. these are all wonderful ideas!

My chapter does this as well. At first, it started with only a few families doing it and now most of the chapter does it. A few more suggestions: instead of iron-on patches, we use one of the fabric patterns to cut out letters and stitch them on. If you're going to do this, I'd suggest getting 2 yards of fleece (often it is 60-72" wide, which is good) for each pattern. Get an extra 1/3 of a yard for the fabric that you will make the letters with (if you are going this route). Usually, we use a print and a solid, but whatever looks good and whatever you little likes is good.

I like to give a detailed family tree diagram on paper with as much as I know. Some families know their history as far back as 10 years ago! Some families give the immediate diagrams presented in different ways, like the wire "trees" designed for holding greeting cards (you can put pictures of family members), wooden plaques, etc. I like the fence idea!
It's extra special when you can incorporate a theme that your little likes into a family tree. Example: one NM really likes butterflies. Her big got these butterflies from a craft store with feather wings and glued them onto a plaque. Each butterfly represented a member of the family. She didn't do this for the WHOLE family tree, just the NM's grandbig and her aunts and cousins.