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A couple thoughts on no frills:
The year I went through recruitment, they mandated that the PNM's wore the designated PNM t-shirt. Obviously, most of us paired it with some variation of jeans/khaki pants/skirt. So, when I walked into houses where the sisters were wearing sundresses, I felt ridiculous. It just makes sense for the sisters to be wearing something equivalent. (BTW, what other schools give the PNM matching shirts? In retrospect, it is a great idea, and Illinois is still doing it)
Yes, it was expected that most of the stuff you wore as a sister, you already had in your wardrobe, i.e. black skirts, pink tops, sundresses, etc. However, it is CRITICAL that you do a fashion show a week early and let the recruitment committee see everyone's outfits. You probably do this for pref dresses anyway, but let me tell you, there is always that one girl who thinks the slit all the way up the side of her skirt is not a problem.
If your first round lasts for more than one night (as ours does), and you all have matching t-shirts that you ordered, you better believe your rush chair is not going to let anyone wash those shirts in between. You won't want to show up on day 2 with eighty different shades of pink. Therefore, you spend about eight hours in the August heat wearing your shirt, and can do nothing but febreeze it overnight.
We went through a back-and-forth every year, because we hated doing a skit at open house. We only had 25 minutes, and when you have approximately 50 PNM's coming to each party, that is barely enough time to do an opening song, introductions, talk to the PNM, and get her back out the door. However, most other chapters did skits, and with as many groups as we had, we needed to do something that the PNM's would remember. It was even better if a chapter had a theme that they repeated for each stage of recruitment.
From the PNM's side, the skit is usually the part where you get to sit down in a real chair and zone out. If you get caught doing this, however, you may get released because they think you are not interested. It is like they've set a trap, and the more grueling the rush schedule, the harder it is to stay alert and smiling while someone dances around to "we are family".
One nice thing about decorations is that they sometimes hide flaws in older houses. Of course, if you are still allowed to hang photos and stuff like that, it can accomplish the same effect.
And finally...if you do no-frills for three rounds of rush, it makes pref that much more special. Remember the first pref you went to, and what the house looked like? I would never want decorations to overshadow the meaning of pref, but how many PNM's are certain they could only join one chapter, and pref helps them see all chapters in a whole new light? Pref night is magic, when you give the PNM's a glimpse of ritual, and it should be as special as possible.
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