[adpiucf]

Congrats on your new role in the chapter!

My favorite revealings were done as candle lightings. The initiated sponsor sister gets two identical candles; perhaps home made or decorated by her.

She keeps one and one is earmarked for the new member.

Everyone comes to chapter dressed in a solid color-- black, white, blue, whatever-- dressed to pin.

The new members are given their candles and are escorted to the outside where the initiated members are standing in a circle, serenading them. The new members candles are lit, and they walk inside the circle. When they come upon their sponsor sister, the sponsor holds out her candle so the new member can see and light it. The new member stands beside the sister until all the new members have found their sponsors. Then blow the candles out and have a cake and punch reception to celebrate.

You can also lead up to the reveal by clues and gifts being dropped off at the new member's home or in the chapter house (within reasonable hours of the day).

For your retreat, split the chapter into "stations" where small groups get together to review policies, learn songs, talk about the founders, etc. This will help keep attention from waning as they walk from project to project. They might be working on completing a craft project throughout the retreat-- IE-- give everyone a piece of yarn-- as she completes each station, she gets a bead to symbolize completion. At the conclusion of the retreat, everyone has a sisterhood bracelet.

You can make your retreat interactive-- get the groups to act out the sororities standards policies-- gives everyone a good laugh. Or when discussing ethics and morals, ask each group to design a coat of arms to represent their group.

Regarding your founders, something I really enjoyed about ADPi was when we learned about the founders, our NMC read aloud a diary entry from one of the founders. Then other sisters "played" the founders-- each wore a sign around her neck with the name of the founder and read a short bio. We also learned some mnemonics for remembering names and important dates. You can even make up a song.

Making a trivia game like Jeopardy and offering prizes is a good way to encourage participation and competition.

Get your seniors involved and have them help out, teaching songs, being recognized and sharing their experiences as new members 4 years ago and what has changed on campus.

Get members to attend new member meetings to get facetime with the new girls, and to help the NMC.

Make your plans very interactive and offer incentives and small prizes.

Good luck!