I have a few paddles I can share with you just email me at
St_jcarroll@tarleton.edu and I will email pics. When the girls are activated they give their big a paddle and the actives give their little a pillow that they have embroidered with both their names. It is called "pillow/paddle exchange"
The Alpha Zeta chapter leaves assigning big/little to the 2nd VP and Rush Chair. During the MC process the MCs are assigned a different active to be their "Bull Buddy" for that week. This gives the actives and MCs a chance to bond; usually they go out to eat together or just study in the library.
Bigs and Littles are assigned about a week before activation then revealed at activation. We use to allow the MCs to write down their top three choices for a big sister and the active write down their top three choices for a little. This caused some issues when the majority of the MCs wrote down the same actives and vice versa. So now we assign them by personality, career goals and things like that. Sometimes we feel it is best to put people together that normally would not have chosen each other. This way they get a chance to spend time with someone outside of their normal clique.
For our activation ceremony we blind fold the girls and take them to a secret spot, usually an old cow barn or open field. Remember the policy about asking the girl’s whether they are comfortable being blind folded. We dress all our active members up in robes and wear them throughout the ceremony. The new girls are given sigma alpha themed gifts by their bigs after the ceremony and the chapter gives all the new girls a EA shirt.