What stood out the most!

[Tibi]

Out of all the sorority decorations, videos, scrapbooks, etc. that everyone saw when they went through rush, what stands out the most i your mind and why? This is not a question about the sisterhood, or who you like/didn't because of attitude, this is strictly a house/them/decor question. Basically you could have hated everyone in the house but thought something they did during rushwas really cool!

[AggieDZ]

A few things stood out for me:

At DZ on the first day.... It was my last party out of 12. When they flung open the door, the entire ceiling of the entranceway was COVERED with brightly colored (primary colors) balloons, the girls all wore matching polos (assted. primary colors) and were playing music in the background (I remember "celebration" and "gettin jiggy with it" one at the beginning and the other at the end of the party) It was just SO FUN! I thought it really added an element of "letting go" and didn't come off as pretentious (sp?) or actually boring as some others.

Tri-Delt did My Best Friend's Rushing on Day 3. It was gorgeous! The house was all decorated in flowers and white netting draped everywhere. They had the skit set up like the banquet scene and all of the girls wore pretty pastel dresses (short, classic) and sat on one side of a long table draped in a white table cloth with beautiful place settings and arrangements, while they did their skit which was composed of mostly singing.

Some things I just didn't like:

One house did Grease, which I thought was really cute, but somehow, the impression of girls dressed and acting a little too convincingly like men just didn't go over well with me.... I don't know what it was that struck me as wierd about this, but somehow it just was a real turn-off to the house.

Another house had a kind of country-fried theme that I just thought was tacky. Granted, we're from Texas, but I'm not joining a sorority to wear overalls and straw hats and act like a bumpkin.

[lyrelyre]

Be sure to check with your Panhel. about decorations. My chapter covered our ceiling with balloons and we got a fine for illegal decoarations. Then again, our Panhel. is notoriously anal.

One chapter had this horrid bright green carpet in their formal living room-it has since been redecorated. It looked like astro-turf. They worked with it (this was back when there were 2 skit days, how old am I?). For their short skit they had a golfing theme. They put light blue balloons all over the ceiling and over the lighted panels they put pearly white balloons with silver around them so it looked like the sky with clouds. It was very cute.

[dzsaigirl]

At my school, just about as many people join from informal rush as formal rush, of which I am one, so I will tell you based on when I was a rho chi and was allowed to see everyone's parties. BTW, can you believe they let us do that? I was surprised...well anyway...

Any time a sorority had a slide show with background music, I wanted to cry. Even when it wasn't my sorority. That caught my eye. Also, any room that has less decorations made me feel as though the girls didn't care as much about their sorority. The rush room is like a "temple" to your sorority and should reflect how you feel about it in my opinion. Also, I did not like it when people had built a stage. I think that being in the front but on the same level as the rushees makes them feel more a part of the skit than if the skit is on a stage. Also, in our skits (it is universally agreed that our skit day is always the best) we make the skit take place in different parts of the room, so the spotlight travels from the front, to the corner...that way the rushees almost feel like they are in the skit, and it adds variety.

Also, any time you personalize something for a rushee, like their cake or petit four at pref, she feels like she is so special.

The rush room you are using should be completely transformed after the first day or two. If you are in a house, they should not be able to tell that on skit day. The floor, walls, ceiling should all be covered so as to create the illusion that they are actually somewhere else. I assume everyone knows how to do the wall coverings....maybe not. At our school we have to because we do not rush in houses, we rush in rooms in the student center.

[lyrelyre]

AggieDZ-I'm with you on Grease. At my school they were the only ones with "boys" in their skit. It was knid of creepy.

We built a stage because if the skit wasn't elevated some the PNMs in the back couldn't see very well. I agree with trying to stay on the same level with them-especially when you are having conversations. It can be awkward if the PNM is sitting in a chair and you are sitting on the floor looking up at them like "tell me a story."

Again with our anal Panhel. we aren't allowed to personalize anything. My chapter used to write notes to the PNMs telling them why we thought they would be an asset to the house. They could read them while we sang before our pref ceremony. We started getting massive fines so we stopped.

I also definitely agree with going all out on skit day. We had a wedding skit one year and you never would have known that you weren't outside in a garden. The only thing is that it can get expensive.

[KarenC725]

One house had a "Oh the places you'll go" type theme and had really bright colors and almost dr. seuss-ish images.

[dzrose93]

I agree with the girls who said that Rush skits where the girls dress up as boys is a turn-off. One of the sororities on my campus did the Grease theme for YEARS, and it was really successful for them. However, when I was going through Rush, I thought some of those girls looked a little too convincing as guys, and the whole skit turned me off to the house. Even though I had really enjoyed the previous parties thrown by that sorority, I cut them for Pref mainly because of the Grease skit. Looking back, that's kind of a shallow reason to cut a house, but all I could think of at the time was that I didn't want to be sisters with girls who could pass as my brothers!

Different strokes for different folks, I guess...

[KappaStargirl]

The chapter I eventually joined holds its pref parties in a really nice lounge on campus (no houses). There are double doors with windows leading in, and we cover the windows with white paper. The lights are kept dim and candles are placed around the room, and to start the party, everyone lines up to form an aisle and wears all cream (not white). I remember going through Rush my freshman year, it was a very striking, beautiful, yet calming effect. It's a nice change from the standard all-black seen at a lot of pref parties.

[33girl]

This is kind of an offshoot of the country bumpkin theme...the sorority that was known as the "campus beauties" dressed in overalls and flannel shirts for Meet the Greeks. I think they were trying to downplay their image and come across as "just plain folks" but it was way too contrived.

[AOPiLaLa]

The poem that the AOTT's read at pref is really what did it for me. I don't know if any of the other AOTT chapters do it, but it starts off "One of the best things about AOTT is friends--you find them whereever you go" and ends with "That is why I consider myself so lucky to have both a sister and a friend in you". It is done as a circle poem and as you stand there, you hear sisters voicing coming from all across the room. I still remember thinking it was one of the neatest moments in my life.

[Sue_XO]

Two of my favorite parties were held off-campus. One was at a park so you piled into a car with another girl and 2-3 of the sorority members and drove there which really helped in getting to know them personally. The Pref party was held in a beautiful mansion off campus also which made it more elegant than one of the "meeting rooms" on campus.

[SigkapAlumWSU]

I also went through informal rush, but right after formal, so there wasn't really a whole lot of rush parties to go to, it just felt right. Well, the first time I got to see the house done up for a Rush party (which I was then participating in) I was in complete awe. We had this wonderful old fashioned black and white checkered floor, and the tables and chairs are wrought (sp?) iron with glass as the table tops. It looked completely transformed because there were candles and balloons everywhere and it was like seeing the room for the first time. I know that I wasn't the only one with that reaction because the girl I rushed later became my little sis and she said that her best impression was that same night as well.

[AlphaChiS2K]

When I went through Rush, a chapter also did the Grease theme... I agree, definitely turned me off. The same chapter also did an Austin Powers skit (we have essentially 2 skit days, the second open party and Theme) and I was a little freaked out by the Dr. Evil/Mini Me thing going on there.

I loved XO's skit- they did a baseball theme party, kinda like A League of Their Own , and they all wore little baseball tee's. The skit was hilarious, and they ended it by singing "These Are Days... (you'll remember)" by 10000 Maniacs, which is their chapter song. It made me cry. It was just so upbeat and casual and fun, like these are girls you could go to a real baseball game with and they would know what was going on...

Also loved AXO's Get Wild party- room completely decorated in animal print, animal print letters (this year we're getting snakeskin! yeah!), and a KILLER dance, to Tone Loc's Wild Thing. It looked so together and professional.. found out later that AXO had 8 sisters on our college dance team, so it had to be good!

I really only had 2 bad conversations when I was going through rush. The first was at XYZ, where this one girl could not pronounce my name (it's MAYA. Not that hard, plus I'm wearing a nametag). She just started calling me Mary. I told her three times that Mary wasn't my name, but she just kind of smiled and nodded and said, "ok, Mary." It pissed me off. The second was at ABC- I was talking to three sisters, and one of them was a senior. She was talking about graduating, and said, "I'm graduating in May with a Marketing degree and I just don't know what I'm going to do with my life!" One of the other sisters turns to her- dead serious- puts her hand on the senior's knee, and says, "Oh! Well, you can market."

Duh.

[LionsNLadybugs]

One thing that stood out for me was AOII's decorations. They had red balloons everywhere and the walls were just covered with letter jerseys in all different colors. It was really neat.

Also, the sisterhood video slide shows were so moving, I think I cried at each sorority's party that had one!

[ZTAngel]

What stood out to me?
The drinks at each sorority house.
UCF does their recruitment mid-August. It is about 97 degrees outside and with humidity it can feel about 110. You want nothing more than to run into the house and grab something to drink. ZTA always stood out to me because they always did something cute with their drinks.
The first day, the drink of the day was water. All the houses just handed out plastic dixie cups with water. ZTA handed out these mini Zephyrhills bottles.
The second day's drink was lemonade. All the houses had plain old yellow lemonade. ZTA had pink lemonade to match their pink ribbons that they all wore for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The third day was soda day. Once again, dixie cups with soda. ZTA gave out glass Coca-Cola bottles.
I was so impressed how ZTA always went above and beyond what they were required to do (and without getting a rush infraction!!! )