[NYCMS]

I'm with those of you who think the huge hoop-la and endless gifts at some SEC schools are over the top. Seems like all the sororities buy the same things for Bid Day - costumes, glitter, paint, etc. - from some company likely making a fortune off them. And then the themed parties? The pics I've seen from friends whose daughters pledged there that could rival anything Martha Stewart does!

I'm sure I sound like an old fogey but when I pledged (1978) we got a cute t-shirt and my first Big Sister had made me a sweet card with a special note and we did a cookout at the house; I think the following night (the weekly Formal Dinner) we had a ceremony where we received our "pledge ribbons" to wear. I would have died if my parents had shown up because it was "my day" to share with my sisters and as someone else wrote, the parents only see the girls for so little time before they go off with their new sisters.

I guess none of this is a surprise since nowadays girls at schools like Ole Miss have "designer dorm rooms" that have made national news...again, like something out of a design magazine. There's even a woman in a Mississippi town who specializes in doing them and she stays full busy every summer. My friend's daughter (from Colorado) who went to OM was in a bit of shock when she saw them, LOL.

All that is to say to Theta1234 I think you'll be fine not being there on Bid Day. Not all SEC schools go to the level that places like Alabama and Ole Miss do and even if TAMU does, I know plenty of girls at these other schools whose parents were not there.