Full frills vs no frills bid days

[KatieKate1244]

I was active in the mid-aughts and I feel like we were maybe like half frills? I remember themes and decorations (some balloons, flowers) but nothing too crazy. What I really remember was seeing the custom Vineyard Vines and Vera Bradley tote bags that some chapters got on Bid Day.

These days I feel like the decorations are a lot more elaborate but the Bid Day gifts have gotten smaller. This year my chapter did tanks, fanny packs (excuse me--"belt bags"), and a few little odds and ends like a pen, a few stickers, pin for their new fanny pack.

[SigmaCat]

Originally Posted by KatieKate1244

I was active in the mid-aughts and I feel like we were maybe like half frills?

Same for us in the mid-90s. We had flowers, balloons, and some pretty extensive scenery, costuming and decor for our rush skits and themes, but we didn't serve food, give pref gifts, or buy identical outfits, and our bid day was pretty chill. There wasn't any big offsite party or retreat. Big sister gifts were nice but purposefully limited, too. We didn't have a tshirt for every game day/mixer/invitational/Friends viewing party/bathroom break on chapter record, either.

[anongreek]

I would definitely say our recruitment was "full frills" to the max. Every girl in the chapter looked identical (hair, makeup, shirts, pants, etc) for most of the nights. Their skit was, as mentioned before, a mini-broadway production. Having attending pref nights @ 2 sororities, I can say it was the same way for both as far as frills. All of the sisters really put their WHOLE heart and soul into recruitment. I don't even want to know how much they spent, although I will say this, in every chapter there was always some VERY talented sisters that banded together and did a lot of DIY projects for recruitment to cut down on costs. Thank God for talented sisters! I think if you would have told them that you painted a mean banner/ wooden block letters during rush, they would have given you a bid on the spot (kidding -- but the demand for talented sisters was pretty high because it really did help the sorority out with costs). Some sisters from sisters from different sororities would even help their "neighboring" sororities with painting their signs, etc. We went to a smaller school where a lot of the greeks were REALLY good friends, even though they all wore different letters. They really only shut down and got competitive when we were put against each other in some sort of "greek wars" festivities. Other times, it wasn't uncommon for say, Phi Mu's to be helping out Chi Omegas. All of our 'neighbors' houses were literally all a few hundred feet from each other on the row, so we did a lot of labor-swapping for our big days. Which, I still find really special! But, that played a HUGE factor in regulating costs for everyone. The more you could do yourself, the more money you could spend elsewhere.
As for our bid day, I wouldn't say it was FULL frills, but it was somewhere in between. All of the girls had on their matching bid day shirts standing out in front of the house in a big mob, emblazoned with face paint and glitter, each holding a hand-made sign with your name on it. They gave every girl a bag, a cup, a matching bid day shirt, and a paper crown with their mascot on it!
We didn't immediately have a retreat. We had one several weeks later as a "NM bonding" trip. But, the night of Bid Day, we hung out, ate spaghetti and watched a movie at the house. There was cake!

Recruitment/ Bid Day (for me) was such a great experience! It was incredible to see how much work each sorority had put into their festivities for every night.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by KatieKate1244

I was active in the mid-aughts and I feel like we were maybe like half frills? I remember themes and decorations (some balloons, flowers) but nothing too crazy. What I really remember was seeing the custom Vineyard Vines and Vera Bradley tote bags that some chapters got on Bid Day.

These days I feel like the decorations are a lot more elaborate but the Bid Day gifts have gotten smaller. This year my chapter did tanks, fanny packs (excuse me--"belt bags"), and a few little odds and ends like a pen, a few stickers, pin for their new fanny pack.

This is my experience as well. We were the transitional years of no frills (2004-2006ish) in which we'd only recently stopped having skits, and were moving away from exact matching outfits or the exact same pref dress.

As far as Bid Days, they are definitely more elaborate now. The NMs do not get as much in the way of gifts, but the day itself is more of an event than in the past.

Typicall Mid 2000s Bid Day: Run to your chapter. Get shirt. Go back to house. Have cake maybe. Take photos. Hang out a little. Take more pics. Go home. New Member gets bag of goodies to include a cup, a bag, a pillowcase, notepad, pens.

Bid Day Now: Elaborate theme. Ex: A chapter this year did The Greatest Show/Chapter. Decorations are all circus themed. Everyone wears super fun make up with their circus themed shirt. NM gets shirt. Comes back to house. There is a DJ. Popcorn machine. Food trucks with funnel cake. Kona shaved ice truck. Bounce house. Pictures. NMs get some small things like pens, keychain, etc. Focus is much more on it being an overall fun event v. just cake and hanging out and gifts.

It has pros and cons I'm sure.