Recruitment Horror Stories

yogiPhi · #1 04-15-2003, 02:05 AM

Okay, so we've all talked about our best recruitment stories... how about some awful things that seemed like good ideas at the time but BACKFIRED big time. I think we could all use some humour these days!

The worst I can think of off the top of my head was back when theme parties were at their height. (Does that give my age away?) We decided to do a Jungle Theme and rented about 50 tropical plants from a local florist. We stayed up late the night before decorating the room and it looked great. We didn't really think about the fact that the moisture these plants gave off, combined with our broken heater that gave off constant, unregulated heat, would create more of a Jungle atmosphere than we wanted. Man was it TROPICAL in there! It was hot, humid, and smelly!!! The rushees came in the room and wilted. It was all they could do to stand the hour or two the party length was.

Needless to say we switched themes the following year.

Like I said, seemed like a good idea at the time!

Let's hear yours!

TechAPhi · #2 04-15-2003, 03:10 AM

I don't know if it would be a horror story but I, too, was a collegian during the "theme-party" heyday (Disney-themed events were extremely popular).

Anyway, we did a "Sound of Music" theme, which we called "Sound of Alpha Phi." The songs were beautiful and moving, which is more than I can say for our Maria Vontrapp-inspired costumes. If you recall, Maria used drapes to make outfits for herself and the kids. Staying true to the storyline, our dresses looked like they'd been made from drapes. At the time, it seemed like a cute and fun idea. In retrospect I think we might have come across to the potential new members as bag-ladies.

astroAPhi · #3 04-15-2003, 02:36 PM

I thought everyone still did theme parties. Are we behind the times or something?

SATX*APhi · #4 04-15-2003, 02:45 PM

We don't have themes for our recruitment.

APhiRattlerGal · #5 04-15-2003, 03:54 PM

We have a theme for the first night. Its mardi gras. We're going to keep it the same for the next few years since we havea lot of decorations and we can save money by just using the same stuff. Its really cute

SATX*APhi · #6 04-15-2003, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by APhiRattlerGal
We have a theme for the first night. Its mardi gras. We're going to keep it the same for the next few years since we havea lot of decorations and we can save money by just using the same stuff. Its really cute

I'm so smart! Doh!!!

Aphigal · #7 04-15-2003, 08:28 PM

Not my chapter but I was the recruitment advisor for a chapter in 1996 that did LITTLE MERMAID. Girls never dress your sistere as Ursala!

Other not so great ideas I have heard....Survivor (hmmm starvation, backstabbing, yeah I want to join THAT group -not)

TechAPhi · #8 04-16-2003, 03:08 AM

Ha! Aphigal! My chapter was theme-o-rama! The same year we did "Sound of Alpha Phi" we, too, did "The Little Mermaid" (known to our chapter as "Alpha Phi Under the Sea")!

I must say that one came off much better than "Sound of Alpha Phi." We filled hundreds of blue and green balloons and let them rise to the ceiling. We covered the walls in iridescent, shimmery paper to make it look as if it was "under the sea." It looked amazing. And, we had some super singers and actresses in our chapter. Where we always seemed to go wrong were the costumes for the chapter as a whole. I am too embarrassed to show you the outfits we wore. Suffice it to say, we looked like whacked out waitresses (think: "Mel's Diner" and the sassy waitress Flo) and crazed flight attendants. (We really had no advisors at all during this period and really could have used one at least.)

For the younger gals who don't know: In the early 90s everyone did mega theme parties -- Many variations on Disney animated movies and such. I think those have fallen out of vogue now. The skits -- at least in my observation -- tend to be more sophisticated.

bruinaphi · #9 04-16-2003, 02:24 PM

One of the worst themes I've seen is a pajama party night. PJ parties might make great sisterhood events but they do not make good rush themes.

The costumes were a big part of the problem with themes. We did Safari Day as our last "real" theme when I was a collegiate -- we had cool decorations and wore kahki shorts with sleeveless white button downs and white new tennis shoes. Our skit was lame though.

One of my favorite themes from a few years ago was "Pretty in Pink." The collegiates wore various shades of pink Michael Star shirts with black capris and skirts and we did all of our foods in various shades of pinks and reds and white (strawberries, watermelon, pink and white jelly bellies, pink petit fours, etc) and served virgin strawberry margharitas. It was really cute. Our video had lots of fun 80s music.

Laura

yogiPhi · #10 04-17-2003, 12:28 AM

That's a neat idea Laura! I can see it working very well.

Our chapter is looking at doing "Phis in the City" theme or something like that. Our campus is pretty strict with themes though so it can't 'really' be a theme... Actually I have no idea if that's still what they're doing. It's just something that was thrown around a bit.

Themes that we've done: Jungle Theme (that was the tropical plant thing), Carnival Theme (worked really well, very interactive & fun), Alpha Phi Under the Sea (aka Little Mermaid... did EVERYONE do that???), Alpha Phi-esta (totally flop.. imagine a room filled with women wearing yellow, orange, & red t-shirts... not flatering colours on the best of us!)

Our Recruitment horror stories are so many! We've had major battles between sisters in the middle of parties, rushees walk out, punch bowls tipping over onto a rushee, full nude flasher at the back door (we used to back onto parkland)... you think of it, it's happened at our parties!!!

Aphi:TA · #11 04-20-2003, 12:56 PM

I only graduated 5 years ago, but we did themes.

We had Disney-PhiTasmic!
Baseball-Take me out the the A Phi
Tropical-A Phi isle

I like themes, they were fun. the other sororities on campus never did them so it set us apart.

aphigirlie · #12 05-29-2003, 02:38 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yogiPhi
[B]That's a neat idea Laura! I can see it working very well.

Our chapter is looking at doing "Phis in the City" theme or something like that. Our campus is pretty strict with themes though so it can't 'really' be a theme... Actually I have no idea if that's still what they're doing. It's just something that was thrown around a bit.

My chapter has never really gotten into the whole theme thing, but I think it sounds wonderful! We might be doing 'Phi in the City'..if ya'll are doing it, what will you do for decorations?

ivygal · #13 05-29-2003, 11:38 AM

My chapter is doing "A-Phi in the City" It's such a cute little skit. We had to edit it a bit to fit the "aproval" of the region we are in, but it's still so cute. Last year it was "M.T.Phi" That's always been my alltime favorite. Some of our girls got to rap about Alpha Phi and it was so ADORABLE.

But still...my all favorite party is Pref. It's so beautiful and everyone cries. I love it.

aphiegirlie - Email me and I'll tell you all the decorations, songs, and dances we're doing for our Phi in the City Skit. Maybe we can swap ideas!!!!

AYE FEE · #14 05-29-2003, 04:26 PM

We almost set the house on fire! Literally!

When I was president out Pref Night chairs decided to hang white sheets from the floor to ceiling in the kitchen so that we could walk our PNM's through to the backyard and they wouldn't see all the furniture and other stuff hidden in back. To spice it up, they put rose petals and tea lights along the bottom of the sheets where they gathered on the floor (i know, what were we thinking!)

7 minutes before the doors opened for the first party, we were in the foyer when all of a sudden someone starts screaming - in 2.5 seconds the entire sheet had ignitied and was complete engulfed in flames. Our courageous house manager grabbed the fire extingusiher and put it out before the blaze got out of control, but we definitely damaged both the ceiling and the floor, while leaving the entire ground floor all smoky. We were running around frantically with fans and trying to cover the huge burn marks on the floor.

We opened the doors only 5 minutes late and still managed to pull off a wonderful evening!

APhiAngel · #15 05-29-2003, 04:30 PM

Last year, for theme night we all dressed up like Angels, wings and all. It was SO CUTE! Our theme was Luck You, Lucky Me, We're so lucky WE picked Alpha Phi. Then the year before, we did Saturday Night Phi-ver, it was great! Them for the 2nd night we do something for Foundation, like making cards for Firemen from Sept. 11, making quilts and auctioning it off.
I love recruitment so much, that I am now Pahnell Rush WOO HOO!