We are going to a Camping Resort with Cabins and Tents so girls can choose which they prefer! We have about 120 girls going, so it will be a lot of work to plan, but we have a lot of ideas so far. Here are some of them:
*All of the girls will stand around a huge sheet with a badge placed in the middle of it. Everyone grabs the sheet to start off with. Then personnel would name off certain events and activities. If girls had participated then they kept holding the sheet, if not then they dropped it. The idea was not to let the pin drop. It should really gave an idea of who had been to what events and that if you don't all support each other then the sorority will fall.
*Play a game with beach balls a couple times where each person has a beach ball with their name on it, and we throw them around and whenever someone's ball hits you, you write something - a positive thought or memory, etc. - about that sister on it. After a set number of minutes, everyone stops writing and throwing and each person gets their beach ball back.
*Everyone gets 1 notecard. Everyone writes one fact about themselves, but doesn't put a name. The cards are shuffled. Everyone sits in a circle. Someone reads what a card says, and the other sisters have to guess who that fact is about. Then they pass the stack to the next person, and this keeps going til the cards are gone. The fun part is learning so much about your other sisters.
•Scenes from a Hat is an interactive, fun activity that you can do in any setting. You'll need some volunteers and you'll need a hat and an audience. At the beginning of the program, you ask your audience to write down scenes that can be acted out. Put all of these suggestions in a hat (perhaps screening out the ones that are utterly inappropriate or bad), and then the facilitator draws scenes and announces them.
*Split into pledge classes and give girls letters on 8.5 by 11 paper. They have to spell something that represents them as a pledge class. You could also incorporate something crafty with your symbols/colors, etc.
*Dream Circle". One person starts off standing in the middle of a room with their arms at their hips. They then proceed to tell everyone in the group their dream for your organization. If someone else in the group shares their dream, then they link arms with them and they tell everyone in the room a dream of their own. You keep going on with the exercise. Every time a member shares her dream with the group another member with the same dream links arms until the circle is complete. When you get done with your last link, make sure to remind everyone in your sorority that no matter what happens or what kind of petty arguments that you all are "linked" together by your love for your chapter.
*Pair up a new member with an active and have them do traditional picnic activities i.e *potato sack race *shaving cream with balloons *three legged race *tug-of-war. It is a great way to have fun with new members and get to know each other!
*Do a Secret Santa where every girl has to bring a small gift for a girl whose name they draw, or do a "Sentimental Gift Exchange" where every girl brings something that isn't worth much, but that means a lot to them. They would draw a girl's name and present the gift to her with an explanation of why it means so much to them.
*Some kind of craft!
*Song session. A girl in our house likes to make up Phi Mu lyrics to different popular songs, so we are going to put some into a Song Book and give each girl a copy. Another girl will play the guitar and teach the songs to everyone sometime in the evening.
*Superlatives. We are making up "awards" or "superlatives" for each girl on a little painted wooden lion. They will say their names on them and then their award, such as: Best Dressed, Most Likely to Be on SNL, Most Energetic, Best Personality, etc.
Hope this helps!
LIOB,
Lauren