Being in the South and having attending Alabama, I can tell you that at some places, things are still extremely costly at some places. While most of the food is gone now - some do drinks but nothing else - and favors are pretty much totally gone - the decorations are insanely costly. Flowers for pref alone would rival a royal wedding. How I wish no frills would really come to pass! When a chapter spends thousands for cream roses at pref...that's over the top. And yes, all recruitment costs are in the chapter budget.
As for alums sending gifts/goodies to the chapter house on "behalf" of certain PNMs, yes, that's a fact. Nothing like a little marketing....
Location: What's round on the ends and high in the middle?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carnation
I can remember seeing massive floral arrangements in several houses that had been sent "on behalf" of rushees.
As in an alum or parents sent them, on behalf of their daughter who was rushing? Yikes.
Personally, I loved skit round. Seeing Theta portrayed in "KATS" was what sealed the deal for me when I went through. Then in years after, we did a "Broadway" theme. It was always a big hit. But I can see how it was/would be a pain if you didn't have many singers/dancers. My college no longer does a skit round at all.
I was at a VERY laid back school, and some of the chapters were still giving gifts in the mid 80s, although it was not a "must." It wasn't anything like a pearl necklace though - just little stuff like notepads with the sorority's name on, potpourri bundles, etc.
As far as cost, I'm sure there was a chapter member with parents who owned a print shop or whatever else the gift was. The gifts were nice, but they didn't "sway" me in any way.
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It is all 33girl's fault. ~DrPhil
Somewhere on GC I posted about the stuffed owls that Chi O gave out as their pref gift the year I rushed. They were handmade; a Chi O roommate years later told me that they were never sure whose bright idea that was but that they were sent home for the summer with the owl parts and instructions. Most of the girls paid someone else to do it.
IrishLake, the chapter "bribes" I knew about came from alum clubs. They often came on behalf of girls who were at risk of being cut right before prefs. Many were on behalf of rushees whose parents who were in some way influential in their town and the clubs thought that the chapters might not realize this. Or there would be 10 more or less equal rushees from 1 high school and the clubs wanted to make certain ones stand out.
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