Spirit Break

[OUadpiGIRL]

Does anyone have any fun ideas for spirit breaks during meeting??? i want to do one thats fun and creative, but on a small budget.

thanx for all ur help ladies!!!

[adpiucf]

1) When calling roll, instead of saying "here," each sister can name her favorite color, restaurant, fraternity, date, etc.... Pick one topic and see how many times you hear "Blue," "TGI Fridays," etc....

2) Do a pat on the back. Each member pats the back of the person to the front, back, right and left of herself.

3) Group massage. Each member gives a quick back tickle to the person to her left. Then switch, and scratch the back of the person to your right.

4) Song Break. Teach an ADPi song to the group with the help of the music chair and the music committee. Or your seniors.

5) Celebration letter. Write a letter to a sister who has made a difference in your life, in celebration of your friendship. Read it a loud, give her the letter in a frame and a hug. Next week in chapter, she will write a celebration letter to another sister. And so on....

6) Read an inspirational story from a book like Chicken Soup for the Soul. Make it brief. Share this duty with the chaplain.

7) Start a "Warm Fuzzies" cork board. First, in chapter, take turns reading this story: http://www.storybin.com/sponsor/sponsor138.shtml
Then, start a bulletin board with bits of scratch paper where sisters can leave inspirational notes and thank you messages for each other, little "Warm Fuzzies" to make them feel loved. Your chaplian can assist.

8) Send a list around to the chapter in meeting, or before, at dinner, asking that sisters list their accomplishments for the week (A+ on a term paper, got an internship, was elected student body pres, gave a sister a ride to class, etc.) Pick two at random and given them little prizes (a bag of candy tied with some ribbons, etc.)

9) Do a group stretch-- everyone stands up and stretches, does one jumping jack, etc. Do a quick talk about the importance of keeping your body active and eating right in order to stay healthy and succeed in school.

10) Ask three sisters to tell a clean joke each to the chapter. Get them laughing. Do a quick talk about the importance of laughter in your life.

11) Make "classy claps" -- using a bit of blue ribbon, a bit of white ribbon, and clear "diamond" beads, string them together on a diaper pin and pin it to your backpack as a constant reminder to be an ADPi Lady.

12) Violets to you. This is great after a retreat. Cut out large violets and tape one to each sisters back. Everyone walks around with a pen and writes a cheery message on your violet on our back. Hang it in your room

13) Make pin pillows. Get a bit of stuffing, fabric and thread and make pin pillows for your badge!

14) Get toiletry items, craft materials and small bags. Decorate the bags with messages for the residents at the RMH and stuff the bags. Drop them off at RMH as goody bags for the residents.

[adpi*violet]

Those are all AWESOME ideas adpiucf! I miss the girly girl times of my collegiate chapter. I can't wait to move back to the States and join an Alumnae group.

[adpiucf]

Thanks! Zeta Omega was (and still is!) a VERY spirited chapter when I was in school. I think we took in too many dancers and cheerleaders! Or we drank too much caffeine... SOMETHING.

One year a TCC commented that we were a little "too spirited" in chaper meeting, so we toned it down. LOL. It used to be that we cheered for anyone who got up to give an officer report!!!! To tone it down, instead of cheering, we started to do "spirit fingers" -- which we called "Sparkles!"

SIDEBAR... My roommate at one time was a Tri-Delta, and the Tri-Deltas snapped their fingers in meetings (I was shocked when I became a sorority adviser at another chapter and my ADPi girls were snapping their fingers!)... but I digress... so my DDD roommate and I used to sign little notes to each other "Sparkles and Snaps."

Sparkles and Snaps to all my Greek Sisters!

[Adelphean1851]

PATA! is an adpi spirit buzz word, its a western thing, ADPiUCF, I dunno if the Cali girls do it but the Las Vegas ones did and I met an Arizona alum who's chapter started it. It has actually evolved from a simple acronym spirit word to having it's own cermony no one outside of adpi is supposed to know what it means and in my chapter Alphas couldn't know either but it varies from location to location. The alum I met said that it wasn't so involved when her chapter made it up but it's still a fun way to spread adpi spirit. We used to write it on everything. if anyone would like to know the profound meaning of PATA! PM me and i'll be happy to tell you, and if you would like to "initate" your chapter i'll e-mail some of my sisters from EP and see if they can't get me a copy of the ceramony.


Another thing we used to do was dress Alphie, each semester the spirit chair would purchase a stuffed alphie and give it to a sister who really went out of her way to show ADPi spirit or just had done something really great that week. She would then have to place something on alphie (ie. when one of our sisters won homecoming queen she put on a taira.) then at next meeting she would choose a sister she thought deserved alphie and tell why and that sister would do the same thing this would continue all semester and then at last meeting alphie would be presented to an outstanding graduating senior.


we also used to make spirit beads by stringing a few blue and white beads on a blue or white ribbon. we would wear them to events like football games or all greek rallies, or when ever we wanted to show our "true blue" colors

[adpiucf]

Originally posted by Adelphean1851
PATA! is an adpi spirit buzz word, its a western thing, ADPiUCF, I dunno if the Cali girls do it but the Las Vegas ones did and I met an Arizona alum who's chapter started it. It has actually evolved from a simple acronym spirit word to having it's own cermony no one outside of adpi is supposed to know what it means and in my chapter Alphas couldn't know either but it varies from location to location. The alum I met said that it wasn't so involved when her chapter made it up but it's still a fun way to spread adpi spirit. We used to write it on everything. if anyone would like to know the profound meaning of PATA! PM me and i'll be happy to tell you, and if you would like to "initate" your chapter i'll e-mail some of my sisters from EP and see if they can't get me a copy of the ceramony.

I appreciate the spirit in which this post was made. A clarification. PATA is NOT ritual. The only things that are ritual are in our ritual book. PATA was something said in a keynote address made several conventions ago. Our Grand Pres at that time created an acronym. PATA-- which she said stood for "Pi's Are Totally Awesome."

A few chapters then went back and made up their own hidden meanings for PATA, or heard about this keynote address and PATA. "Patience and Truth Always" is one of my personal favorites.

Again PATA is not ADPi ritual. It's a fun word if you want to use it, it's public, Alphas may know it, and flame me all you like for disclaiming it. Claiming something to be ritual and holding it ove the alphas is wrong. One can't be faulted if her older sisters taught it to her as ritual, but now that you know the real history behind it, please educate one another that PATA is a funny story, but not an ADPi secret, nor an ADPi ritual.

Sisters, when we begin making up our rituals, we get away from the true meaning of our ritual.

Again, I'm not trying to start a war. PATA's a fun spirit word if your chapter wants to use it. But it's not a secret and it is NOT an ADPi ritual. Chapters may not make up their own rituals.

[Adelphean1851]

I never said PATA was ritual. thats just how things were in my chapter, notice I said the tradition varies from place to place. Just because we had a cermony for it dosen't mean it was "ritual" we have a pref ceremony during recruitment and it most certianly is not secret nor is it ritual either, and last time I checked it was made up by the individual chapter.