Pledging Activities

[LiveLovePhiSig]

I am looking for some sorority pledging activity ideas. I am in a small sorority of about 20 girls. I've come up with a few ideas so far, but the more the merrier!

My pledging experience wasn't that great, so I need to spice it up for the new girls.

My list so far (build on these ideas or new ones!)

1. Scavenger Hunt
- things like, obtain another greeks letters, a pair of signed underwear of a frat's president, give a stranger your number and say call me maybe, etc.

2. Carry a bucket of candy around for an entire day and only give to Greek members.

3. Pledge entertainment night - skits, songs, etc.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Also, they are all optional so we do not get in trouble for hazing.

[Xidelt]

Even if they are optional, they are horrible ideas. Just because they are optional, doesn't mean you won't get in trouble for hazing. The point of a new member period is to learn about your org and encourage bonding between actives and pledges. It isn't meant as a time to humiliate new members by having them do stupid shit around campus.

[Xidelt]

PS it's super easy to locate your chapter in 3 seconds.

[AlphaFrog]

I wonder if this is someone (former pledge) setting this up? It's too trollish.

[kateee]

I wholeheartedly agree with Xidelt. None of those activities sound fun. They all are borderline hazing. Pennsylvania's anti-hazing laws can be found easily online. If there is a question in your mind that an activity could be mistaken for hazing, then when you ask yourself "Should we do this?" the answer should be no.

Your new member period is a time to learn about the organization, the values and histories that you will now represent. It is also a time to learn about the sisters and yourself. It should be a time of growth as a sister and as a human.

Some activities I did as a new member last semester included:
1. New member retreat: all the new members and our new member educator met at our NME's apartment. She bought us pizza and pop. We sat in her living room, and we played Just Dance and did a few ice breakers. Then she let us get to know each other a bit. This was nice because there were four girls who got COB bids that I did not know at all! When there was an hour left in the retreat, she started teaching us some chants and we picked one we wanted to show the actives at our sisterhood retreat. We picked one we had never done before and taught the actives. We also watched youtube videos of our schools greek week, to give us an idea of what it was all about. I really enjoyed the new member retreat. I left knowing my new member class much better.

2. New Member meetings were made fun. We learned our histories and traditions, but we also learned about the sisters. The week we preffed for big/little, our NME gave us a slideshow showing each sister, with her major, interests, hometown, etc.

3. Owl Pals: Every week between Bid day and big/little, we were given a different owl pal. These girls wrote us notes each day and left them in our mailboxes, with clues as to who she was. At the end of the week, they left us a small gift and revealed who they were. The notes sometimes included information about them, but also could just be a "Dear XYZ, I hope you are having a great day! Study hard, you're pretty, etc" It was sweet, and I felt so spoiled!!

PENNSYLVANIA ANTI-HAZING LAWS:
http://www.stophazing.org/laws/pa_law.htm
Please take special note that if you are found guilty of hazing, you could do time in jail in Pennsylvania.

[Xidelt]

Really hope it's a troll.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Originally Posted by LiveLovePhiSig

I am looking for some sorority pledging activity ideas. I am in a small sorority of about 20 girls. I've come up with a few ideas so far, but the more the merrier!

My pledging experience wasn't that great, so I need to spice it up for the new girls.

My list so far (build on these ideas or new ones!)

1. Scavenger Hunt
- things like, obtain another greeks letters, a pair of signed underwear of a frat's president, give a stranger your number and say call me maybe, etc.

2. Carry a bucket of candy around for an entire day and only give to Greek members.

3. Pledge entertainment night - skits, songs, etc.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Also, they are all optional so we do not get in trouble for hazing.

QFP .. just 'cause

[LiveLovePhiSig]

I wasn't making this as potential hazing. most of these ideas came from this website back in 2004... I understand the process is for getting to know your sisters. These werent going to be new member only activities, it would be as a bonding for everyone, something fun to do to make memories. I sat in a room and learned everything I needed to know for initiation, there were no fun activities involved so I was trying to make it more active. We don't have housing at my school to host a sleep over, and we meet in a classroom three times a week.

[kateee]

Attitudes about what is hazing and what isn't have changed as time goes on. For example, anti-hazing laws are somewhat new. Before then, there were no consequences for hazing outside of what your school determined there would be. Now you must be careful.

You do not need chapter housing! We have a very small house. For big/little, some families went to our chapter house and some went to resturants and other rooms on campus. Our campus has rooms we can reserve for retreats and meetings. See if yours does too!

[AZTheta]

I call shenanigans.

The ideas the OP listed are risk management/FIPG No-Nos. Can't get FIPG to load; is Phi Sigma Sigma a member?

[kateee]

AZ Theta, phi sigma sigma is not a member of FIPG.

[AZTheta]

Thanks, kateee!

[Xidelt]

Maybe you could have Captain Obvious come and do some risk management awareness programming for your chapter.

[TPA85]

Originally Posted by kateee

AZ Theta, phi sigma sigma is not a member of FIPG.

I didn't even know that was an option for NPC orgs.

eta: just looked at FIPG's Member List. Only 16 NPCs are members. Learn something new every day.

[greekdee]

There are plenty of things you can do that don't come within a hundred miles of hazing. My university did not have sorority houses either. We had suites (which I know are more personal and private than classrooms) but it was never a challenge to come up with bonding activities.

Consider doing a social service project together. We used to visit an area nursing home/retirement center during its "social hours"...omgosh, we had a blast. (The little old men could be the biggest flirts and would always try to get our phone numbers, but they weren't serious -- it was all in fun.) We also got together and made Valentine cards for patients in the children's ward at an area hospital. One year, we combined forces with a fraternity and went Trick-or-Treating for Unicef. See what organizations in your local community need, or offer in the way of group fundraising ideas or ways to donate time. I was Social Service Chairman one year, and believe me, to "do unto others" is a great way to unite your chapter -- you're doing something highly positive and good feelings about each other and your organization are really enhanced.

Are you allowed to bring refreshments into the classroom where you hold meetings? As initiation approaches, have a study session/pizza party where you quiz pledges on the history of the chapter and other things they have to know. (Of course, make sure the door is tightly closed. ) We used to do that in our suite, and it was always fun and relaxed, helpful to the pledges and always good for laughs when we'd wrap up with crazy things like trying to recite the Greek alphabet backwards.

You want to encourage togetherness and bonding. You know, scavenger hunts actually put pledges in the position of competing against each other, so I'd avoid activities of that sort. Why not have an optional Sisters Night Out every few weeks for both actives and pledges? Catch a movie, grab a bite to eat, attend a sporting or cultural event on campus. This encourages friendship, is fun and puts your sorority "out there" for others to see, which can be positive for future recruitment.

Well, these are just a few ideas. I am sure you will get many others. Have fun!