Sisterhood 'Retreat'

[iris0113]

Hey all! I am looking to conduct a sisterhood retreat this upcoming semester. One hasn't been done in my chapter for years, so I am completely unfamiliar with how one is done. Ive read up on them, however, and have seen that it is normally a weekend long event held at a cabin of some sort with rope courses and other fun outdoor activities. Since this is not able to happen for my chapter I was wondering if anyone had any fun indoor bonding ideas. Our 'retreat' will most likely only last 4-6 hours...just a short and sweet kind of day but i want to make it a memorable one!

Thank You!

[Fleur de Lis]

Our chapter played bonding games. One was like "Never Have I Ever" where you are sitting in a big circle with one sister standing in the middle. She says something like "never have I ever..." (usually something embarrassing or funny) and every other sister who has done that gets up and runs to another seat. The person stuck in the middle then says "never have I ever..."

We also split into pledge classes and were given letters on 8.5 by 11 paper. We had to spell something that represented us as a pledge class. You could also incorporate something crafty with your symbols/colors, etc.

[ScarletBlueGold]

One exercise that I really like is called a "Dream Circle"

One person starts off standing in the middle of a room with their arms at their hips. They then proceed to tell everyone in the group their dream for your organization. If someone else in the group shares their dream, then they link arms with them and they tell everyone in the room a dream of their own.

You keep going on with the exercise. Every time a member shares her dream with the group another member with the same dream links arms until the circle is complete.

When you get done with your last link. Make sure to remind everyone in your sorority that no matter what happens or what kind of petty arguments that you all are "linked" together by your love for your chapter.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by ScarletBlueGold

One exercise that I really like is called a "Dream Circle"

One person starts off standing in the middle of a room with their arms at their hips. They then proceed to tell everyone in the group their dream for your organization. If someone else in the group shares their dream, then they link arms with them and they tell everyone in the room a dream of their own.

You keep going on with the exercise. Every time a member shares her dream with the group another member with the same dream links arms until the circle is complete.

When you get done with your last link. Make sure to remind everyone in your sorority that no matter what happens or what kind of petty arguments that you all are "linked" together by your love for your chapter.

I really like that idea. It gives each member an opportunity to voice their own thoughts about the future of the chapter, as well as a chance for them to see that others share their opinions.

We used to do Roses at our sisterhood retreats. Each sister would decorate a paper bag for herself to use as a "mailbox." During the course of the retreat, sisters could drop little notes, anonymous or not, into other's bags with compliments, inspirational messages, etc. At the end of the retreat, each sister would have a nice memento from the day.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ScarletBlueGold

One exercise that I really like is called a "Dream Circle"

One person starts off standing in the middle of a room with their arms at their hips. They then proceed to tell everyone in the group their dream for your organization. If someone else in the group shares their dream, then they link arms with them and they tell everyone in the room a dream of their own.

You keep going on with the exercise. Every time a member shares her dream with the group another member with the same dream links arms until the circle is complete.

When you get done with your last link. Make sure to remind everyone in your sorority that no matter what happens or what kind of petty arguments that you all are "linked" together by your love for your chapter.

We did something similar. Everyone sat in a circle with a piece of paper. A stapler was passed around and as each person got the stapler, they said what made them a strong link and what made them a weak link. Then they attached their link to the chain. When everyone was through, the chain was stapled into a circle. It showed that everyone's strengths as well as their weaknesses were what made our sisterhood.

[caitmase]

At our last Chapter Retreat, we did an activity called "Standing up for Our Sisters." Each girl got a list of statements with a blank check box next to them. The statements ranged from things like "I used to take dance classes" to "I used to have an eating disorder" to "I have gossiped about a sister" to "I have been sexually abused" to lighter things like "My favorite color is Pink." They were 50 things on the list. Each sister anonymously checked off the things that applied to her. The lists were collected and re-distributed to different sisters. The girl in charge of the retreat read each statement off of the list, and any time the sheet you were holding had a check next to it, you stood up, because you were "Standing up for a sister."

It worked really, really well and definitely put everyone on the same page.

Hope I helped!

[DSTRen13]

For OPhiA, we played a game with beach balls a couple times where each person had a beach ball with their name on it, and we threw them around and whenever someone's ball hit you, you wrote something - a positive thought or memory, etc. - about that sister on it. After a set number of minutes, everyone stopped writing and throwing and each person got their beach ball back. I still have mine (deflated for storage) in my OPhiA trunk.

[Matsimela]

Originally Posted by caitmase

At our last Chapter Retreat, we did an activity called "Standing up for Our Sisters." Each girl got a list of statements with a blank check box next to them. The statements ranged from things like "I used to take dance classes" to "I used to have an eating disorder" to "I have gossiped about a sister" to "I have been sexually abused" to lighter things like "My favorite color is Pink." They were 50 things on the list. Each sister anonymously checked off the things that applied to her. The lists were collected and re-distributed to different sisters. The girl in charge of the retreat read each statement off of the list, and any time the sheet you were holding had a check next to it, you stood up, because you were "Standing up for a sister."

It worked really, really well and definitely put everyone on the same page.

Hope I helped!

Thats a cute idea. i may have to bring that idea to our next retreat.

to the OP- aside from the team builders, we usually do some sort of craft-making. Usually either making para for ourselves or as a gift for another sister.

[RaggedyAnn]

We did an exercise at our Junior League Retreat last year that was like telephone. Everyone put their name on a piece of masking tape. Then they told something unique about themselves to the another person (think dined at the White House, cliff jumped in Jamaica) and handed off the masking tape name to that person and the other person did the same. Now you basically switched "identities" and masking tape names. You went up to the next person and introduced yourself as the new person with your new story. At all times you had to remember one story and hear a new story (but these were only 1 lines originally).

At the end, it showed how stories morph. Everone got into a circle and the first person starts with her new story. The actual person with that name comes up and tells the real story. Then she says her "identity" and their story, etc.

It would be a good one to demonstrate gossip and communication. I was amazed at some of the extra details that got thrown in there.

[33girl]

Spammer, do you even know what a retreat IS??? Shut up.

[GeorgiaGPhiB]

Our sisterhood retreats are always like the weekend or two after bid day, but we always do lip-sync. I personally dislike it but I know most (to all) of the other girls love it.

[xomanadaxo]

This year my chapter came back a week early from winter break for Spirit Week/Recruitment prep. All of us stayed in the house (60 girls living in a house built for 20...oh my!), which was a bonding experience in itself! If you're just doing a single day retreat that obviously wouldn't work, but it was such a good way to bond with everyone at once I just had to mention it!

Since it was recruitment prep, we talked a lot about our own recruitment experiences. I loved when we went around and shared each of our stories about recruitment, memories of sisterhood, what being a KD meant to us etc. It was amazing hearing how all of the different stories somehow had such similar aspects, plus it boosted our pride in our house.

In addition to the recruitment stuff we did throughout the week, we also had random sisterhood activities. One of my favorites was a confidence exercise we did midweek to boost morale. It's similar to some stuff that's already been mentioned, but might be a little easier to execute depending on your location. You wrote your name down on a piece of paper, then passed it around the circle. Sisters wrote down qualities they liked or admired about you, along with the occassional inspirational/sentimental message. (Our chapter used sheets of paper due to space limitations, but I've also seen it done using half-sheets of posterboard scattered on the floor so people can walk around to leave notes, or hung up on a wall throughout the retreat so people can write at their leisure). It was a really powerful exercise that definitely boosted our morale in the middle of the week and brought us closer as a chapter!

Hope that helps! Good luck!