[honeychile]

For our 150th anniversary, our chapter had sent invitations to every alumna, and included an RSVP with an envelope. We were asked to send the money for the dinner, and a donation for the chapter, if we'd like. One alumna who I know donated over $100, and one of the actives said told her, "Oh, thank you for your donation! It paid for the favors!" The alumna was horrified, and talked about it for months - "I donated that money to the chapter, not for party favors!" (At the time, the chapter suite was decorated in "early Fallujah")

That aside, I LOVE the idea of having Alumnae from different decades speak - and possibly have photos available! Ask them to bring photos, or possibly sing pledge class songs (should they remember them!). You could even encourage sisters to "dress their decade" and also to wear their pins.

I am a firm believer in programs, and even more so, selling ads for them! Or possibly give a listing of every business owned or operated by an alumna - we ALL can use the publicity! List all the sisters from that chapter, and make sure that there's at least one blank page for autographs! You can also put a decade by decade list of awards and other fun things in there, such as:

1960's:
Awards: Overall Panhellenic Award, 196_, (etc)
Sweethearts: Susie Jones - Alpha Tau Omega 196_ (etc)
Do you remember: GDIs picketing Rush, Mrs. Jones as housemother, etc

1970's:
Awards: Treasurer's Award, 197_; Diamond Four Point 197_-197_-197_-197_ (etc)
Sweethearts: Jane Williams - Beta Theta Pi 197_ (etc)
Do NOT list "Little Sisters"!!!! They were big in the 70's & 80's, but are seriously out of favor now!
Do you remember: Streaking, disco, Mrs. Lilly as housemother, etc

and so on. Oh, as for ads in the program? The formula is to figure out how much they will cost, then a full page ad is 1/2 the cost, a half page ad is 1/4 the cost, and a business card ad is 1/8 of the cost.

If you have a house, a suite, a room - have a tour! Alumnae really do want to see it, so they know what you need! Even if you don't, have a few photo boards up, so sisters can find themselves and those they knew.

That's a start, but the most important is HAVE FUN!!!!!