Bid Day Gifts

behrerl · #1 02-28-2007, 12:44 AM

We are looking for some ideas about bid day gifts, something that will hopefully cut down on costs. At our school, when the girls run, they are handed a baloon, and then receive a bag full of small gifts when we all get to the lodge. Any way to cut down the costs of the gift bags?

BlueEyedButrfly · #2 02-28-2007, 01:13 AM

on bid day we gave the girls flowers (purple and yellow to represent our colors) and a card with their bid and then the following day we had a lunch party for them. that was pretty cheap but we're local so we only had a few (6) new members to buy for.

personally, i don't see why anything more than a bid and flowers should be given on bid day. save the gifts for bigs/littles and/or initiation.

KSUViolet06 · #3 02-28-2007, 02:16 AM

My chapter has a tradition of going "all out" with Bid Day gifts. They get their shirt, a cup with pens/pencils, a car sticker, and their bid card all inside a cute Sigma tote. If you're looking to cut cost though, I'd keep things simple. Maybe the bid card, a flower, a balloon, and one other small gift like a car window sticker or cup filled with candy.

NUBlue&Blue · #4 02-28-2007, 12:44 PM

Tote bags are the big thing at my daughter's campus--you instantly have something to take with you everyday that says "I'm an XYZ!" If you just go for a gift bag, you don't have to spend a lot to fill it up, just use lots of crinkle paper and ribbon for the wow factor. A plastic cup filled with candy would do it for me!

adpiucf · #5 02-28-2007, 02:52 PM

Definitely do a totebag and a bid-day t-shirt. Like someone else said, crinkle up tissue paper to fill out the bags and take up room. Add non-melting candies.

One way to cut down on costs is to purchase some craft supplies from Michael's and have the actives make gifts for the new members during Spirit Week that can be put into the Bid Day bags. IE: Pin box, pin pillow, stuffed animals, decorated cup, candles, etc. You can also have the actives write notes to the new members and include these.

You can include a directory of active sisters, new member handbook and some inexpensive stickers, pins and pencils.

You can also ask the local Greek store if they can cut you a deal on Bid Day gifts bought in bulk.

You can also solicit donations from campus activities and local businesses who would want your new members to patronize their business/join their clubs. You might pick up some university t-shirts or pom-poms from Student Gov't, or some Chik-Fil-A coupons from the local restaurant.

Good luck! Find out what the other chapters on your campus are doing, too. You want to stay competitive with the others, and see if maybe you can realocate money to your budget from another area to do so. You want to make a strong first impression on your new members with their first gift from the chapter and keep within your campus culture's tradition of new member gifts, too.

FSUZeta · #6 02-28-2007, 03:50 PM

what sort of items are usually in your bidday gift bags, behrehl?

buying in bulk can help cut costs-sorority pencils and pins, a window decal for the car, a plastic cup with sorority name on it(put candy in cup), sorority post it notes, and all be purchased in bulk from the online greek store websites. you don't have to spend a lot of $$ to have a full looking bag, but don't skimp-the new members talk amongst themselves and if your new girls get a significantly lower amount of stuff in comparison to the other sororities, it will look bad.

you could buy the candy for the cup at a wholesale warehouse store like sams or costco.

make a door decoration from poster board,for each pnm-my daughter still has hers up (as do the other sorority members) on her hall in the dorm-crowns for zta's, quatrafoil shape for phi mu, diamond shape for adpi, panda for a o pi and owls for the chi o's-you get the idea. put the girls name on the door dec. they are a generous size-i would guess that they used one sheet of poster board for each crown.

if your chapter currently gives new members an embroidered cloth bag on bidday, you could cut costs by putting the goodies in a plain paper gift bag. get gift bags in your sorority colors at a discount shop like dollar tree and purchase some ribbon printed with your sorority name on it.

my daughter's favorite items from bid day are her bag and her bid day shirt. her pledge class got quilted black bags with z t a embroidered in turquoise. they had attached a ribbon fob to the side which could be detached and used to hold keys. the fob was black and white polka dots, with a thinner solid black ribbon sewn on it. z t a was embroidered on the solid black ribbon. one of the members moms made all the fobs.

Eirbear · #7 02-28-2007, 06:20 PM

We give them their bid day t-shirt, a pink rose, a balloon, and a tote bag filled with goodies. These goodies include a plastic cup, a little key chain, post-it notes, a pencil, stickers, and crafts. The crafts are handmade by sisters over the summer and such--no one is required to, but most people make several, so we always have a bunch left over. Then, at the NM's room, we hang blue and yellow streamers down one side of the doorframe, a single blue balloon, and then a bunch of signs, again made by sisters. And the goodies aren't too terribly expensive, I don't think, because I'm pretty sure we buy them in bulk.

LyonLuv · #8 03-05-2007, 02:05 AM

We buy our bid day packages straight from Phi Mu nationals. They have "Phi Packs" in all price ranges!

33girl · #9 03-05-2007, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LyonLuv

We buy our bid day packages straight from Phi Mu nationals. They have "Phi Packs" in all price ranges!

That is a totally AWESOME idea. That way no one has to be running to the Greek store and stuff like that.

AlphaFrog · #10 03-05-2007, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

That is a totally AWESOME idea. That way no one has to be running to the Greek store and stuff like that.

Plus, National can probably buy in bulk and save the chapter some $$.

Great idea.

I was just about to say that ASA National should make "Pearl Packs", but that sounds like we give our NMs a box of tampons.

sherbertlemons · #11 03-05-2007, 01:03 PM

To me, it is definitely worth giving the new members a tote bag with letters. You could look at it as a double investment. It is both a new member gift and great pr for the chapter. I know for most sorority new members at UCF, when they were given a tote bag they usually started carrying it to every single class and their letters were seen all over campus.

At UCF, it seemed like a lot of girls just barely afforded a sorority and most had to work for it, so the girls just couldn't go out and buy a lot of letter tees after bid day. Those bags really got a lot of use and were a great way to establish the sorority's presence on campus.

Crafts are a great idea, and Kappa used them a lot. Wooden photo frames are very cheap at Michael's, and they have a lot of cute prepainted wooden cutouts. I know I've seen lions and several other sorority symbols. Buy that and some paint in your colors, and you've got a present and a fun activity for bid day.