|
I know that my chapter split inspiration/initiation week up between three girls per new member. One obviously was the girl's big, but the other two were sailboat sisters/violet sisters. The lesser sisters got smaller gifts, such as flip flops or badge boxes, picture frames, etc. This saved the big gifts for big sisters. Bigs were required to get the first traditional satin stitched shirts for the littles, and we ordered the shirts in bulk as a chapter. This was good in case for some reason you grew out of your old stitch or it got ruined, etc, because we ordered them at least once a year and you could get them cheaper. We didn't have a cost max, but it wasn't really an issue. I didn't get a whole lot from my big, but I knew once I took a little that she did spend around $150 on me based on what I got my little. We never gave our gifts in public, however. We took them to the campus mail center and the gifts were held there with a pick up slip for the NM to pick up.
I do know that after I took my little that we weren't allowed to give paddles. I adore my paddle that my little made me, but after that we had to do sailboats and triangles because of the implications paddles had.
You could list items in a tier system to curb spending. For example, Tier 1 can be afghans, blankets, flags, anything that costs more than $50, and say that bigs can only buy one item max from the tier 1. Tier 2 could be between 30-50 and limit bigs to 2. The lower in cost, the more you could buy from that area. That way it doesn't limit creativity but it does put a curb on spending.
|