Back in the day . . .

[SWTXBelle]

Okay all you "oldsters" - what activities, traditions, clothing rules, etc., did you have back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and you were an active?

Back in the mid eighties when I was in school -

- Fridays meant TGIF at Slutz - I mean Strutz. All the GLOs went and had certain areas they always staked out. Everytime I hear "You Spin Me" by Dead or Alive I am instantly transported back . . . the location is now home to the San Marcos WIC program. There's a joke there somewhere . .

- Stiff Stuff. It was required for those amazing, gravity defying bangs.

- We had to make our own little/big gifts. Dot lettering was a necessary skill. Paint pens were a girl's best friend.

- PNMs who went to pref received little gifts. What you were supposed to do with the gifts from the chapters you didn't pledge was never discussed.

- We used real candles for candle passes, intiation and rush. How the Stiff Stuff avoided going up in flames is beyond me.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

- Fridays meant TGIF at Slutz - I mean Strutz. All the GLOs went and had certain areas they always staked out. Everytime I hear "You Spin Me" by Dead or Alive I am instantly transported back . . .

I'm transported to a much more terrifying place by hearing that song...

Give a frat-wave if you know what I'm talkin about, FH and Old Rowers.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

I'm transported to a much more terrifying place by hearing that song...

Give a frat-wave if you know what I'm talkin about, FH and Old Rowers.

Two fingers up.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

- PNMs who went to pref received little gifts. What you were supposed to do with the gifts from the chapters you didn't pledge was never discussed.

OK, I hope no one gets offended by this one. The ASTs gave out notepads with "Alpha Sigma Tau" on the top. After I joined ASA, I crossed out the "Tau" on all the pages & wrote "Alpha." Every time I gave someone a note they cracked up laughing.

We did not have a lot of fashion options in town that wouldn't break the bank. Consequently we all ended up shopping at Fashion Bug (it was nicer back then) and you would go to a party and see the same top in all 6 different colors that it came in.

Zip at the ankle jeans. If you didn't have to point your toe to get them on, they were too wide.

$5 all purpose party shoes - basically, white Keds but bought from GC Murphy's or K Mart because you were going to get all kinds of alcohol and crap on them so it was dumb to pay more.

The last songs at the Roost on Thursday were always "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever" and "Hard To Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" w/ "Get Away" played like 10 times.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by 33girl

OK, I hope no one gets offended by this one. The ASTs gave out notepads with "Alpha Sigma Tau" on the top. After I joined ASA, I crossed out the "Tau" on all the pages & wrote "Alpha." Every time I gave someone a note they cracked up laughing. Hey, that's cute. As long as you didn't give a note to an Alpha Sigma Tau.

$5 all purpose party shoes -

Now why didn't we think of that? My personal rule of thumb was I would stay at a mixer until the first drink was spilled on my shoes - then I was gone. (I was dating someone seriously, so mixers weren't high on my list - I went because we had to!)

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

- We used real candles for candle passes, intiation and rush. How the Stiff Stuff avoided going up in flames is beyond me.

I think I've mentioned this at GC sometime recently, but one of Ms. MysticCat's sisters went through a can of hairspray a week, and her hair did go up in flames during a candle pass. (No one was seriously hurt.)

What I remember is shagging with a beer cup in your hand -- you and your partner both had to be smooth shaggers to avoid spilling any. She, of course, would have been wearing the de rigueur add-a-bead necklace; somewhere nearby would have been her monogramed (because everything she had was monogramed) bermuda bag. (The "in-thing" now is a monogram decal on your SUV.) Bright pink and kelly green were everywhere.

I would have been wearing chinos, a buttondown and weejuns (without socks, of course). Grosgrain watchbands were common, as were leather/web belts with grosgrain.

The music would almost always have included hits by groups like The Tams, The Embers, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, The Showmen, Bill Deal and the Rhondells, The Drifters, The Band of Oz, and General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board. "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" (The Tams) was sort of the unofficial anthem, although the girls all flocked onto the dance floor for "Carolina Girls" (General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board); the guys preferred "Sixty Minute Man" (The Dominoes).

Yes, much of what was in the Official Preppy Handbook seemed quite commonplace to us, LOL.

[BBelleADPi]

From MysticCat:
The music would almost always have included hits by groups like The Tams, The Embers, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, The Showmen, Bill Deal and the Rhondells, The Drifters, The Band of Oz, and General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board. "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" (The Tams) was sort of the unofficial anthem, although the girls all flocked onto the dance floor for "Carolina Girls" (General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board); the guys preferred "Sixty Minute Man" (The Dominoes).



Oh, my yes! Along with "Mrs. Grace," "39-21-40 Shape", "Myrtle Beach Days,"
"Johnny Dollar," "Monkey Time", "Far Away Places", "Rainy Day Bells","Little Red Book,"etc. I still listen to this music when I run! Billy Stewart, Georgia Prophets. (And BTW, this was still the music for all of us when hubby was in medical school. We still shagged, and still do to this day. Weddings are always fun!)

And gold and cloisone add a bead necklaces-completely forgot about those, though I know I have saved mine somewhere.

Candlelights, yes, rush w/ everything, dresses all alike, pledge books we had to carry everywhere.

[SWTXBelle]

OH - how could I forget. The Gator drill. The ladies of Gamma Phi Beta would NOT watch fraternity men "gator" - as soon as the first man started "gatoring" we would turn on our heels. So OF COURSE the fraternities loved doing it, just to watch us pivot and turn. LOL. We loved, loved, loved "Shout!".

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

OH - how could I forget. The Gator drill. The ladies of Gamma Phi Beta would NOT watch fraternity men "gator" - as soon as the first man started "gatoring" we would turn on our heels. So OF COURSE the fraternities loved doing it, just to watch us pivot and turn. LOL. We loved, loved, loved "Shout!".

Ah yes. Good times, good times.

[honeychile]

Omigosh, the memories! Yes, The Official Preppy Handbook reigned supreme, which made the few Greeks on campus stand out just a little bit more! Greeks hung out at a place with an ancient jukebox - you put in your money & talked to some little old lady who played songs with dedications: Shout, Runaround Sue, a lot of oldies, I'll have to think about them.

We gave gifties at Pref, and the Phi Delta Thetas did "Kiss and Carnation" on Bid Night. They gave each pledge a carnation (their flower) and a kiss to welcome them into the Greek System.

Hair was still stiff, as were the drinks, and yes, monograms & add-a-bead were required - IF you wanted to be taken seriously.

Couples still got lavaliered, pinned, then engaged. There was no such thing as a Candle Pass for a baby.

Sorority women were thrilled to be asked to be Little Sisters, and Sweethearts were serenaded (usually). Little Sisters knew the fraternity handshake.

Alll women had at least two Anne Klein wrap dresses - very forgiving if you partied too much over the weekend!

Fraternities still had Best Dressed Sister and Pledge Awards, and insulting a sister meant that they sent flowers to the entire sorority or were permanantly snubbed.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Couples still got lavaliered, pinned, then engaged. There was no such thing as a Candle Pass for a baby.

Sorority women were thrilled to be asked to be Little Sisters, and Sweethearts were serenaded (usually). Little Sisters knew the fraternity handshake.

Candle passes for a baby?? Maybe if she was an advisor..

This reminded me- all the fraternities and sororities would go serenading, meaning usually some time during I-week you would go to the different houses and sing (similar to caroling at Christmas). The people in the houses would come out and sing back to you. I think now this is considered hazing.

[jwright25]

Mid-1990s

- Scavenger hunts at fraternity philanthropy event days. Running all over town looking for random stuff was always so much fun. Those days were also occasion to get up at 8:00 to start drinking. Nap late afternoon and go until 8:00 the next morning.

- Matching sweatshirts and sweatpants. Sweatshirts had letters on them with favorite ugly fabric. This was classroom attire on days you overslept.

- Blue eyeshadow (which I am wearing today, so I guess I can't talk too much crap).

- Preference dresses were an azure blue taffeta that hit mid-calf, had the V waistline and MASSIVE poofy sleeves. They could have easily been in 27 Dresses.

- Ditto on the dot letters and paint pens. We would decorate plastic cups with paint pens and put candy in them for gifts.

- Halloween costumes weren't even remotely as revealing as they are today. Remember Mean Girls? We all dressed like Lohan did in hideous outfits.

[honeychile]

RUSH WITH FRILLS!!!

Did anyone else play "Cardinal Puff"?

[AOIIalum]

Flashback, early to mid 80s:

We gave flowers at Pref, and our greeters would take and put them in vases at the door. Those of us Preffing didn't have to look at them all night AND it made it easy to see who our competition was based on the flowers!

Pledges either wore their bid day tee/letters tee, sorority button pin (remember those?), or pledge pin on campus.

Say it with me, Aqua Net and hot rollers! My mom said they should have bought stock in the Aqua Net company.

In addition to the other style memories, on my campus the first Liz Claiborne bags were it. So were topsiders, penny loafers, Tretorns and the first Reebok aerobic shoes.

"I Heart" ringer tees and jerseys in your own colors. None of this ADPi wearing Pink and Navy jerseys or KKG wearing white and red bid day tee shirts (note: examples used were not on my campus). For that matter, bid day tee shirts were either in the "I Heart" style, were iron-on letters only (if the sorority allowed pledges to wear letters before initiation), or the spelled out sorority name.

Ditto on candlelights with real candles and a baby candlelight only for advisers.

Ditto on little sisters and sweethearts. Fraternities were known to serenade based on which chapters their little sisters were in and would serenade after the girl's candlelight. Who still has their little sister pin?

[carnation]

I have my little sister pin!

SEC Rush= Extremely frilly rush. You got pricey gifts from the sororities you preffed and like someone mentioned earlier...what on earth did we do with the gifts from the groups we didn't pledge?

Auburn's pledges were horribly hazed by being asked to wear their pledge ribbons the whole week after rush. Eek! I'll never get over it. Likewise, no sorority let their pledges wear letters or crests until after initiation.

We didn't do hairspray in the seventies--why would long, straight hair need it?--but long hair was its own hazard with the real candles and we did have a sister's hair flame up on one side at a ceremony.