Big-Little Gifting

[justgo_withit]

How I feel about big/little gifting:

My big, lovely and amazing woman that she is, spoiled me and a twin in the same semester and honestly it made me feel kind of guilty. Some of the gifts I haven't really used much and will recycle if I ever take a little (some picture frames, trinkets, etc), and some I treasure (a blanket, a big/little shadow box, my first letters). I enjoyed the experience "gifts" more than some of the material gifts.

In my chapter it was a common practice to spread out your big/little purchases/crafting throughout the year. So between deciding you wanted to take a little and recruitment you'd get some things from the Greek store here and there, decide which letters you'd like to pass down and set them aside, get some letters made, do crafts that were either sorority-focused or leave space to add her name, things like that. We did have girls decide they didn't want a little after all who then had sister birthday gifts on lock for awhile (or who kept them for themselves)! Then once you found out who she was you'd make/get things specific to her.

As a culture, it's something we really don't question. We always had less new members than sisters interested in taking a little, and it was just logical to us that you wouldn't take a little if you weren't prepared for the costs associated with it. Sisters who thought money was tight would craft and recycle things they got from their big more, but that was already a pretty common practice. If a sister wanted to buy out the LP sorority line and buy her little tickets a weekend trip to Disney world, I would've thought that was a bit much but I wouldn't think she was setting a new standard or making the rest of us look bad. Overall, we didn't really have any this is too expensive/I can't give what everyone else is problems. Your little loved everything you gave her no matter what; none of us would've had the indecency to be disappointed with what our big got us, that's just crazy.

I know some chapters/orgs see big/little differently, so this is all operating under the idea that when you want to take someone as your little, you're agreeing to be their mentor/sponsor/main active support during their NM processes and that being spoiled during big/little week is a luxury, not an expectation. You're going to get her first letters, sorority swag for her room, her pin box. You're going to drop everything to be with her when something bad happens, invite her to come with you when you go out, tell her scandalous mixer stories so she gets the older girls' jokes, and shield her from the glares when you show up to chapter 10 minutes late with milkshakes becuase you lost track of time together. My big had a lot on her plate my NM semester but she still always made time for me, no matter what. And that was the point- being spoiled big/little week and getting all that attention was nice, but she could've given me a shirt and a plate of cookies and I still would've been equally excited at big/little reveal.