need help w/ little!!

[Kaydee_cutie]

Hey there!! I finally got a little and I can't wait to spoil her. Only problem is that I'm not very creative. I was wondering if you guys could help me out with cute little ideas for things I can give her. Thanks so much!!!


~Steph

[babyhootie]

I don't have the most original list, but here goes:

stuffed animals of mascots;

homemade picture frames that have cute inscriptions like 'World's
best little' or 'Number one little';

a semi-huge set of wooden letters (I have a set and they are so cool!);

any tasteful jewelry;

this one is hard to explain but here goes: You take a styrofoam ball from a florist or whatever and put fake-or real- flowers all over it... so it is like a 'flower ball' and have a pretty ribbon looped and attached so she could hang it up... golly, i hope that made sense... So, I guess for KD, you would have lots of white rose buds and a olive green/pearl white colored ribbon.

okay, I hope that helps.

[aephi alum]

Do you have any crafty hobbies? You could cross stitch a bookmark or put together a little scrapbook or something.

How about a potted plant with your letters painted on the pot? You can't really do this with a rose but you could use another flower or even just some greenery.

Or a bucket with KD odds and ends? Pencils, note pads, maybe a t-shirt, flip-flops, etc. New members love to get their hands on anything and everything from their new org!

One thing that was big at my school was door decorations. Cut out your letters and her name from wrapping paper, sneak in while she's at class, and tape them to her door. (lol - I had two roommates my freshman year. We were all in different sororities. Our door and the wall next to it looked like the wrapping paper section of the local Hallmark store had exploded there!)

[Senusret I]

A Brother in my chapter got a large wooden toy chest type thing and had it painted in the fraternity colors, and also had someone paint our coat of arms on it, along with the new brother's name, nickname, etc.

Inside this box was a lot of little store bought stuff, like a mug, mouspad, keychain, etc.

[ASTLuv21]

I am very creative when it comes to making things for my little sister. Things I have made in the past that are easy and not that expensive are as follows:

Shirts with letters on it (I cut out letters outta fabric (I use the squares that quilters use and I am able to cut out 3 letters with one square), I then take the iron backing and put that on the letters and then iron the letters on the shirt, then I take pufft paint (or if I wanna take a lot of time on it I sew the letters on) and put the paint around the letters.

I make pillow cases the same way I make shirts.

I currently just made a flower pot for my cousin who is gonna be initiated into my chapter this coming friday. I had these gawdy looking bed risers to make my bed taller but they ended up being too tall so I thought "hell, I can turn these into flower pots!" Well, my dad drilled the holes in at the bottom, I painted them white and then painted on our letters, our flowers, her name and her pledge class and iniation date on it.

I have also made door hangers that that say things like "Shh, Tau Time!" and "Quiet Tau sleepin'".

Also have made picture frames, bags and many more.

Hmmm....I should open a buisness up lol

[ShaedyKD]

If you have a Michaels craft store, or even WalMart by you, they sell wooden cut out letters that you can paint, and then hang on the wall. My 2 best friends/sisters made ones for their room in the house, one painted hers green with white polka dots, the other's is white with green dots. They both have KD's above their bed. You could do it to match the decor of her room also, or also just get her first initial. One of the same girls bought a little rack with pegs on it to hang on the wall, it could be used for hats, purses, etc. It's wooden, and she painted it white, then took the wooden cut out letters and glued them to the top of the rack. She used AOT instead of KD because there were 3 pegs and it lined up just right, and painted the letters green with white polka dots.

This sister is really crafty, and I'm lucky enough to have her as MY little, so I get cute gifts every now and again. She made her little this past year 3 picture frames. They were wooden 5x7 frames that she got at the craft store. She painted them one color, then took little wooden cutouts like cowboy boots, a sheriffs badge and a lasso, and painted them and glued them onto the edges of the frame, then wrote "KD Hayride" on it, which is one of our biggest functions. She also made one that was a beach theme, and then made one with moons and stars for Formal. You don't have to paint them in fine detail, she added a little bit of detailing with a fine paint pen or permanent marker.

Do you have a Build A Bear by you? That is always a very popular gift in our chapter. You can dress the bear up to match your little's special interests, like if she plays IM sports or something, or you could just go with a little t-shirt and puffy paint KD on it!

You could also buy a candy jar of some sort, and buy stickers to decorate it with, including alphabet ones so you can spell out "KD" "Love, YBS" "I love MLS" "AOT" etc. One of my sisters made a really cute one with Suzy's Zoo stickers, and Suzy Spofford is a KD! Hope this helps you out!

KD Love,
Shae

[tunatartare]

What my chapter always does is have Bigs decorate the doors of their littles the first day of Big/Lil week. In terms of gifts, go to Michael's or the craft section of WalMart and go nuts! Some things I gave my little were Big/Lil frames, a candy jar, candles, a small white tote bag that I had a friend paint our flower on, a lot of candy, a piggy bank that I decorated, candles, baked her cookies. I also bought her a dry erase board from Paddle Tramps and I bought our letters and painted them and put them on it. She loved it. Then I got her a lot of "presonal" stuff. She's Irish and she's really big on Irish pride so I got her a lot of shamrock stuff, then I got her Timon and Pumbaa beanie babies because her favorite movie is the Lion King. Another thing I did was I bought blank greeting cards at Michael's and every day, to go with her gifts, I made her a card and put quotes in it.

[azdtaxi]

We always do huge bulletin borads which are cool

[Kaydee_cutie]

thanks so much on all the great ideas, keep them coming!! I'm going to michaels today to see if I can get any creative ideas, but for all the KD's out there, I found the cutest teddy bear at build a bear over the weekend. It is white with a shamrock on his tummy and has green paws and a green nose, and it's only $10!!! I thought it was too adorable, so I bought one for me and one for her hehe. Just in case anyone was interested. You guys are great!!!

[chideltjen]

They're expensive... but do you have a "build a bear" store in your area? You basically pick a bear/animal, stuff it, dress it, and name it. I got my lil a stuffed dog that actually kinda looked like her dog from home. They can be pricey... so if you are on a budget, save it for a big event like revealing or something.

I second the message boards... especially the fabric ones that have the crossed ribbons. I KNOW online greek stores do custom ones.

[XOMichelle]

I like the wooden letter idea! I made a bulletin board for my little. I bought small wooden letters, glued them onto the frame, and painted them red and yellow. It's fun, because it's functional.

Another good idea is a pillow. An ADPi on the board said she bought a blue velvet pillow and glued rhinestones onto it in the shape of their letters. Again, functional.

[adpiucf]

Great gifts for your lil

1) Stuffed animal mascot
2) Letter T shirt
3) Lavaliere
4) Picture frame
5) Bulletin Board
6) Pin Pillow
7) Pin Box
8) Sorority Stationery
9) Scrapbook/Photo Album
10) Make a poster saying XYZ Loves NAME!
11) Write her notes telling her how much she is appreciated
12) Send her a candygram, using posterboard and candies to write a note: IE: Suzie is REDHOT! NOW AND LATER, she's a total SMARTIE, never a NERD, and a sister like her is worth 100 GRAND!
13) Flowerpot with flower seeds
14) Call her and take her out with you and your friends
15) Study together
16) Make her a bookmark with sorority letters-- you can make this out of paper!
17) Join a campus org together
18) Get her something with school colors and add your letters to it
19) Candy treats are always appreciated!
20) Decorate a couple of giftbags with your letters and fill them with inexpensive flashy pens, pencils and notepads from the 99cent store.
21) Totebag with letters
22) A hamper with letters on the outside. Include detergent, etc., to make laundry easier
23) Bake cookies or brownies and put them in a tupperware container that you have decorated in sorority letters
24) Buy a book of inspirations or a book you enjoyed for your "little"-- write a meaningful inscription on the inside cover

Invest in some markers and paintpens! You can add sorority letters to anything. Also, invest in the talents of a couple other sisters who have been "big" sisters before. Ask them to teach you how to be crafty.

[Adelphean1851]

I made a shadowbox for my lil, I bought one of those shadowbox picture frames from Joann ect. (the awesomest craft store ever) I traced a diamond and put our letters and open motto on it and glued that to the back, then I added silk violets, old timey stickers, a small lion and other sorority symbols and arranged them within the frame it was really cool and my other sisters soo wanted one.

A really nifty tool for decortating picture frames is a Vitrea paint pen, these pens cost a little more but you can draw on glass with them and if you put the glass in the oven it becomes peramanent. They have pens for porcelain too. So you can make all kinds of things.

I was the Adpi behind the rhinestone pillow and it by far was the easiest, all you need for that is a pillow in the designated sorority color, some clear fabric glue, a bag of rhinestones, and a wooden knitting needle or chopstick (for applying and positioning the rhinestones.) making it took me prolly 30 min.

Oh yeah and one time, I made this really cute doll for my big sis, I found a Barbie "Kelly Club" doll dressed as a lion, and I put letters down the front of her costume w/ blue glitter glue then everywhere on the box that it said barbie or kelly club I wrote ADPI in blue glitter glue. It would be cute for a KD if you could find a girl scout er something like that.

[mommag2]

how about a wooden key holder with your mascot/jewel/flower/fruit on it painted in your colors with letters at the top. that way she always knows were here keys are.

door hangers that have letters or big/ little
names and class.

a photo album decorated in sorority's colors with letters, or a picture of u and her, or a picture of her at bid day.

candles in ur colors.

how about going to a pottery place an painting a plate/mug/frame/bowl and writing sayings on it that will make her think of you everytime she looks at.
Here in Flagstaff we have a place called "Hands On Art" where we can do the pottery painting. Very inexpensive to do , check your area to see if you have something similar.

Handmade shirts/pillows/pillowcases/blanket.

I had a pledge that took an aluminum wash basin and wrote all the names of the actives in the color blue and wrote mine in silver and then filled it with stuff from Bath and Beauty Works.....Good thing she works there or else it would have been expensive. Try something like that.

In my sorority we recieve an informational sheet with all of our littles info. Her likes/dislikes, favorite song/artist/food/ candy/ sports team/color/hobbies and major. If you get one of those it makes it alot easier to personalize the gifts and it actually does make it easier to be creative with the gifts.

Ask some of your sisters that have had littles and get ideas from them and if you can or are allowed to call her mom and ask for ideas. Moms are the best resources.

Or if your mom was in a sorority ask her what they did for their littles.
Yes, I know that was a long time ago, but hey ideas may still work.


Good Luck and I know that whatever gifts/ideas you come up with for her, she will love and appreciate all of them.