Quote:
Originally Posted by irishpipes
Back on the day at Illinois, they were called exchanges. We had 4 exchanges per year. These were one-on-one parties with a fraternity, and the way they "asked" was by serenading the semester prior. The chapter would vote on all the invitations and pick the 2 per semester they wanted to accept. Some were themed, most were not. No one except members of that fraternity and sorority could attend.
Exchanges were totally different from other social events. They were more official. Of course, back then Bid Day was an official event hosted by a fraternity (my how things have changed) as well.
Fall semester
Bid Day (sorority formally matched up with a fraternity)
Football block (formal match up with fraternity)
Barn dance (date party)
Stocking/winter formal (date party)
2 exchanges (matched with a fraternity)
Spring semester
Pledge dance (date party put on by "pledges")
Atius (Mom's day show - official pairing with a fraternity)
Rose formal (date party)
2 exchanges (matched with a fraternity)
There were tons of other events too, but that was the backbone of the sorority social calendar. it seemed like the other chapters all had similar set ups.
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Whoa so different now!! I would say most sororities have 6-8 exchanges a semester now, with maybe one of them being a big one per year. We have dinner announcements at the beginning of the semester where fraternities stop and bring gifts (flowers, a song/skit, food) to the sororities and ask us to keep them in mind for an exchange this year). Sororities do the same for fraternities, although the gift is always food! Then there is a social chair barcrawl that the social chairs go on and socialize and basically mingle to meet one another to pair up for exchanges. There is no chapter voting, but I think social chairs tend to take unofficial suggestions.
Your standard exchanges are just a mixer that is ALWAYS themed at an on or off campus bar. Sometimes you just have a Friday night happy hour that’s very casual. Then there’s usually one BIG exchange a year such as a Bulls Game/Blackhawks Game/Cubs Game/Cards Game (no love for my Sox) or something like a Riverboat exchange (I was not around when my chapter finally did one—you basically drive to wherever they have those Riverboat cruises…Don’t know much more info).
We still have football block in the fall—sounds like that’s exactly the same. Barn dance is so popular that it’s held in the fall and spring now (that trend started my senior year). Semi formals are usually in the fall, with formals in the spring. We still do Atius although it’s very much focused on the new member classes only and are not considered too big of an event, socially. Impromptus were pretty popular a few years ago—you get like a 2 day warning that you’re going to have a “date” event (usually just at an off campus bar) and it’s kind of semi formal attire.
Fraternities are pretty much the same as the above, although I think they all still do pledge dances (my husband’s did) and a lot of them have their big “trade mark” event that are pretty much for their chapter and then a certain number of invites. I know my husband’s chapter did “Samoa”, an island/tropical party that I know has been going on since at LEAST the 70s, cause I saw a picture in a yearbook lol My brother’s does Double Trouble (or Block Party—I think the name changed at some point) where it’s just a big shared party between his fraternity and the neighboring fraternity. AEPi always had a foam party when I was there. And I cannot think of any others. Fail
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CONGRATS ON ZETA TAU ALPHA!!!!!!!!
