getting rid of bigs/littles?

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

I don't even know what twins are. Is that 2 littles at the same time? Or just 2 littles in general?

For us it's 2 littles at one time. Rarely happens.

[AlphaXi_Husky]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

I don't even know what twins are. Is that 2 littles at the same time? Or just 2 littles in general?

Yes, it is two littles at one time. I have seen this happen quite often as some members aren't able to afford to take on a little sis, or the new member class seems to bond more with certain older members.

In response to a different question from an AXiD above - in some chapters not just the sophomore class takes on littles (which it sounds like is what happens at your chapter - correct me if I'm wrong). Sometimes the new member class is very large and juniors (and even seniors) take on littles, thus enabling a upperclasswoman to have two or more littles.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

I don't even know what twins are. Is that 2 littles at the same time? Or just 2 littles in general?

In our terminology it was just 2 littles in general, who had the same big. This probably varies from chapter to chapter.

[AGDAlum]

It may depend on the chapter size.

My undergrad chapter was small. I had three sis-dots (sister-daughters), each in a different pledge class, one from formal recruitment and two from COB. Mind you, that was in the early 1970's and gift-giving most likely was less elaborate than it is now.

I maintain Christmas-time communication with all three, with some e-mail correspondence in between. OTOH, I have no idea what happened to my sis-mom, whom I last saw at her wedding in 1973, or my sis-grand, whom I last saw at her wedding in 1971.

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

Kind of a hijack - I am confused when people say how many littles they have. Like I was talking to an AXiD from another chapter and she asked me how many littles I have and I said one. She looked absolutely puzzled. I asked how many she had- she had 3. When people say they take more than one little - are they talking about taking twins or their little taking a little (which would be the original bigs grand-little)?

Did I confuse everyone with my question?

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

Kind of a hijack - I am confused when people say how many littles they have. Like I was talking to an AXiD from another chapter and she asked me how many littles I have and I said one. She looked absolutely puzzled. I asked how many she had- she had 3. When people say they take more than one little - are they talking about taking twins or their little taking a little (which would be the original bigs grand-little)?

Did I confuse everyone with my question?

I have three little sisters. But they are not triplets because they are from different pledge classes. My chapter was really small when I first joined and has grown very quickly. There simply weren't enough people available to give every new member their own big sister.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

I have three little sisters. But they are not triplets because they are from different pledge classes. My chapter was really small when I first joined and has grown very quickly. There simply weren't enough people available to give every new member their own big sister.

That makes sense. So what do you do if the pledge class size drops dramatically. Can one little have two bigs?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

That makes sense. So what do you do if the pledge class size drops dramatically. Can one little have two bigs?

No, the women who don't get littles just wait till the next pledge class or don't get one.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

That makes sense. So what do you do if the pledge class size drops dramatically. Can one little have two bigs?

my daughter has 2 bigs and 2 littles. the year that my daughter went thru recruitment quota was not as high as the prior year or the year after. to accomodate everyone in the sophomore class that wanted a little when my daughter rushed, a few pnms got 2 bigs. it worked out really well for my daughter because she was truly torn as to which girl to list as her #1 choice-little did she know that she would end up with both her favorites as her bigs.

jump forward to this past fall, more girls went thru recruitment than when my daughter did in the fall of 2006, so some of the girls in my daughters class were asked if they would mind taking two. my daughter was the first to volunteer, and then began the mad dash to accumulate enough loot for both littles. we thought we were being so smart by shopping for "little" gifts that summer, and then found out we were back to square one! we did manage to duplicate most of the gifts that had already been bought.

as to badges , in my chapter the big sister loans her badge to the little(unless the little is a legacy and they use the legacy badge) and the little gets to wear the bigs badge until hers comes in. at my daughters chapter, the chapter has 5 or 6 plain badges which belong to the chapter that they use -they take the badges back before the next ceremony.

[LΩVE]

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

I have three little sisters. But they are not triplets because they are from different pledge classes. My chapter was really small when I first joined and has grown very quickly. There simply weren't enough people available to give every new member their own big sister.

I have the same situation, though our chapter isn't SO small. It's just that due to money/time constraints and good standing requirements sometimes there are not enough eligible for all of the new members.

[Benzgirl]

My chapter was pretty big, so we never had twins. Some of the Sister-mothers (bigs) did take on 2 daughters, but it was the rule, not the exception.

[WinniBug]

In our chapter, we have a "Momma Bug" - what the "Pearl Class" calls their VP of Membership Ed.
Then, each girl has a "Ruby Sis", who sponsors her through the Phoenix ritual, and is her temporary Big until the Big Sis revealing ceremony.

Sometimes, we have true twins...when one girl takes 2 littles at a time, but I try to discourage this. Quite often, a Big will take multiple Littles during different semesters.

What's y'all's opinion on the max. number of littles a member should take?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by WinniBug

What's y'all's opinion on the max. number of littles a member should take?

I honestly think this is one of those things that varies w/ every person...one sister might be able to be a fantastic, attentive, supportive big to 3 littles, and another sister might not even be able (or should I say care enough) to handle one.

What happens a lot of the time is there is a sister who takes on too many littles, feelings get hurt, so rules get put in place to prevent it. I don't believe that if a sister hasn't had a little, she should automatically get one over a sister that has had a little - it might not be a good match. But if it IS a good match, then a sister w/ out one should definitely be at the head of the list. Sure there are going to be times where the whole class wants someone for a big...but if she's had her chance for a little already, she needs to step aside.

[AlphaXi_Husky]

-slight hijack

I'm curious - how much do/did people usually spend on their littles/daughters? And I'm referring to time and/or money. When I was in the chapter there was quite a bit of gift giving, as well hours upon hours spent on making a book full of poems and letters to be given when the little was initiated (which I realize was a tradition with our chapter as I haven't encountered many other chapters that do that). This is why some people in our chapter were hesitant or didn't want to take on littles.

<sorry if there's another thread on this and I've missed it>

[MaggieXi]

When I was active and got my little (1998) there wasn't an abundance of online greek stuff and easily accessible greek paraphenalia to be purchased in our area. Our littles usually got stuff that was passed down -- from what I can recall, what I passed down to my little was a lavalier, a teddy bear, a plaque, a some passed down t-shirts from the founder of our family (our chapter was a few years old at the time). I bought her a set of family letters, a key chain, window decal, buttons, and other small chatchkis. Our chapter was also paint pen crazy, so I am sure I made her a couple of mugs and pic frames with our family stuff on them. I probably spent about $75 - $90 total - the letters being the most expensive.

I know my grandbig and big also gave my little some little things - passed down letters and t's and made her some mugs or something.

As for time paint penning paraphanalia or making welcome little signs - I couldn't tell you. I used to do the paintpenning for my roomate because she wasn't good at it and it kind of all runs together.

[Psi U MC Vito]

In my chapter the big usually but not always buys his little a letter jacket. And of course you should spend time with your little, but it's not that bad even if teh jacket is a bit pricey.