[NYCMS]

BraveMaroon your rush sounds amazing!

I rushed fall 1978. Started on a Sunday and ended the following Sunday with bids given out at 2 pm.

Four rounds of rush...actives at each house wore their own clothes for rounds 1 & 2, then matching outfits for the 3rd and 4th rounds (skit and pref). Pref was usually all white or all black dresses or pastel colors (big back then) - their own dresses, although matching color. The songs they sang as they came out for each round were amazing...I remember being stunned when the girls raced out onto the lawns singing, often with dance type moves. I remember Chi O singing the Greek alphabet then singing, at the end something like "go Chi Omega, oh don't you want to go Chi Omega?". Theta used the tune from the Dr. Pepper ad song (I'm a Theta, she's a Theta don't you want to be a Theta, too, be a Theta, Kappa Alpha Theta). Very catchy.

Skit parties had decor in the house to match the theme, that's when we got house tours. Houses had huge bowls of M&M's or other snacks in the girls' rooms to nibble on as you took the tour. A large array of food served in the dining rooms of each house, always matched the party theme.

I loved the pref parties - one of my pref house's decor/food/set-up was particularly memorable as it was so elegant and seamless. The dessert was a small square piece of white cake with white frosting and the rushee's (first) name inscribed on top in the sorority color; there were also sugar cookies in the Greek letters. The piece-de-resistance was the ice cream treat: a small real flower pot filled with some type of invisible liner with vanilla ice cream in it topped with oreo cookie crumbs. There was a tiny, practically invisible plastic flower holder in the middle that held the sorority's flower so it looked like a real plant with the flower.

The pref party was split into two: one girl took you through the first part where you sat in the living room and chatted, then had dessert. Another active took you through the second half - music ("You've got a friend" from Carole King), actives speaking, etc. There was a large fountain out front and as the active walked you out, you were handed a carnation, the sorority's flower. She walked you to the fountain and told you to make a wish as you threw the carnation into the fountain. This house had a long sidewalk so the lineup of actives singing their farewell song, as you were walked out by your active, was rather magical.