I think you should totally encourage your new members to sleep over during Lamplighting! Obviously you shouldn't require them to, that could be considered hazing I guess, but it really does help you get to know the girls in the house. Last year the first night of lamplighting fell on Halloween-- two other of my 05 pledge sisters and I slept over with an 04 and spent the evening drinking lots of caffeine and watching horror movies, since we couldn't go out. We were totally wired by the end of the night! Halloween is during Lamplighting again this year, so we were thinking of maybe getting the girls together to go trick or treating around the neighborhood- our house is located in a quieter, residential area right off campus
AchtungBaby80, don't be distressed- our lamplighting ceremony is only about 5 (sometimes 10, because we have a lot of members) minutes each evening. Sometimes they can get really emotional, sometimes they're a bit on the duller side, and sometimes they're very entertaining! I think a lot of the new members are pretty apprehensive about it because the word "initation" conjures up images of hazing in their heads- and when they find out it's all harmless I'm sure they're very relieved!