Alum, your fave "frill rush" memories?...

violets · #1 09-07-2002, 11:19 PM

Okay, I loved having 2 skit nights! The second and third nights were both "skit nights". The first skit would be cuter and funnier, and the second skit was the most elaborate.

I remember GPhiB doing a "salute to Hollywood" with a "HOLLYWOOD" sign that said "GAMMA PHI BETA." And that was only the 2nd night of Rush! GPhiB were also famous for their elaborate ice scuptures at pref, amazing.
Also, I liked actual candles during pref ceremonies. At the places I've advised they've been outlawed because of insurance costs. but I've read about them on this board.

This is my least favorite memory: Did anyone else get Preference gifts? Okay, this was a big Panhellenic no-no well before I rushed, but our campus alumnae advisors turned a blind eye about this for a long time. I actually thought it was really stupid, who would join a sorority because they gave you a brandy sifter with their name on it? (that's the kind of gift you would get) ...but some alumnae were really tied to the "tradition."

Don't get me wrong, I agree with all the Panhellenic recruitment agreements! But it is fun to indulge in a little nostagia every once in a while...
violets

carnation · #2 09-07-2002, 11:31 PM

Oooh, I remember the pref gifts--totally legal at Auburn! Pi Phi gave arrow drops and I always wondered what the girls who didn't pledge did with them!

My favorite rush memory is the Pi Phi Heaven pref party that I think we all give. That chapter room looked as close to heaven as anyplace ever could!

violets · #3 09-07-2002, 11:52 PM

Carnation,
Yes, the gifts were really strange to have the day after preference if you didn't pledge the house!
I'm really glad they don't do that anymore!

"Pi Phi Heaven" sounds just like that. Beautiful.
I love these "frilly" memories.
violets

Peaches-n-Cream · #4 09-08-2002, 12:51 AM

I was given a lot of purple and gold and silver and bordeaux candy and balloons. I loved those purple jellybeans.

My roommate and I rushed together and we both got bids to DPhiE and Alpha Phi. When she and I went our separate ways, I gave her all of the Alpha Phi stuff and she gave me all of the DPhiE stuff...except for the candy which of course was long gone.

APhi · #5 09-08-2002, 01:43 AM

Wow. I just remember the joys of decorating. Under a full "frills" rush we did an "Under the Sea" theme that involved filling the ceiling of our entire house the helium filled ballons covering the celings and aluminum and cellphone covering the walls. It was a long hard week decorating the house but we sure did bond while working that hard. Also, I remember the feeling of absolute awe walking into a house that you'd visited the day before and seeing it so decorated you don't even recognize it.

KappaStargirl · #6 09-08-2002, 08:16 AM

We only got flowers at the end of Recruitment, but I have a funny story to tell about that:

I went to two pref parties, Kappa and Theta, and enjoyed them both. I knew that in either group I would find friends and be happy. After pref, all the PNM's went to the student union to sign pref cards. I had both flowers in my hand, and this is in the middle of January in Wisconsin. On my way down the stairs, the stem on the flower the Thetas had given me, apparently frozen on the walk halfway across campus, snapped in half and the top half of the flower fell down the stairs. The bid that came the next day was from Kappa.

aephi alum · #7 09-08-2002, 09:08 AM

My freshman year, sororities were still allowed to give out flowers at pref, and you could tell exactly who had preffed where by what flowers they were carrying around. I always wondered what women did with the flower they got at their first pref house when they went to their second house...

My favorite memories are all the cute skits the various sororities did, and using actual candles at pref. Every year the sororities were strictly enjoined not to use candles... fire hazard, blah blah blah... and every year, every sorority used them anyway

AOIIalum · #8 09-08-2002, 12:13 PM

What memories!!!

We had a pretty frilly recruitment until the mid-late 80s. I think we called the first night either intro or theme night. We decorated in an island theme that night and sang a bunch of fun welcome and introduction type songs. The next two nights were skit nights, my all time favorite AOII Kindergarten skit (hey, it was the 80s, it worked back then

) and then the Alice in AOIILand skit. Each one with more and completely differerent decorations. If you've lived it, you know what it's like to be decorating half the night, only to rip it all down and repeat 5 days/nights in a row

Thank heavens for our alumnae, some nights I'm not sure we'd have made it without them!

We only gave flowers at pref, and we would put the PMNs flowers into vases at the entrance, so the 'rushers' wouldn't necessarily know which chapters the 'rushees' had been to first. Yes, we all wore matching red dresses at Pref too! There's nothing like entering a room for pref with the lights dimmed, flowers everywhere and more candles than the eyes can see. Our prefs were beautiful!

Having said all that, I do think the NPC recruitment resolutions are strong and I wish every chapter on every campus complied with them. My least favorite recruitment memory was as an adviser, seeing a complete disregard of release figures by a couple sororities on that campus. It was as if those groups didn't care about anyone else, the PNMs or the other chapters at their school, as long as they got quota. I'm talking a chapter having 3-4-5 times quota at their pref parties when recommendations were 2.5 times quota invited to prefs back then. Yes, it happened and no, it's not pretty for anyone in the big scope of things. It's not fair to those young women who wish to join sororities, and I hate that it may still be happening in places today. However, that's a different rant for a different thread so I'll shush now.

Christin

violets · #9 09-08-2002, 12:45 PM

Oh, the joys of decorating...I remember building a skyline as a back drop for one of our skits, it too forever, but it looked amazing. And the ballooons! When I was Rush Chair I had to be physically restrained from blowing my whole budget on balloons---I'm a balloon addict if there can be such a thing. On our first night we built beautiful blue and white balloon arches for the rushees to enter through...it looked great if I do say so myself!
The matching dresses...Sigma Kappa on my campus had a seamstress make a deep purple dress for each sister for preference, it looked gorgeous.

KillarneyRose · #10 09-08-2002, 05:24 PM

I still have the beautiful Swarovski crystal owl the Chi Omegas gave me at pref. Over time, I bought my little owl a friend; a Swarovski DZ turtle

I remember the custom made black strapless dresses with matching bolero jackets we had made for our pref parties my sophomore year.

The crystal vases we had painted with the rushees name and pink roses - they were beautiful!

I miss frilly rush; it just isn't the same nowadays

MoxieGrrl · #11 09-09-2002, 01:38 PM

The "Angelos" had a story about "frills" rush.....it talked about chapters giving girls gold ID braclets for pref......a Cali chapter renting a pirate ship from a movie studio to sit in their lawn.....over the top, but definitely neat!

violets · #12 09-09-2002, 01:45 PM

Yes, one of my good friends is an ADPi from a chapter in California, and they used to rent antique 1920s cars for their "flapper night". The cars would drive the sisters from the back of the house around to the front where they would hop out (in their hand-made, beautifully beaded flapper dresses) and meet the rushees.
Keep in mind the rushees only saw the cars for a good 3 minutes before they were ushered into the house, but the impression was worth it, apparently. Oh, and of course, this was on the second night of rush...not even the "main" skit night.

Jhawkalum · #13 09-09-2002, 02:15 PM

My chapter, and a lot of other chapters, are still able to skirt the no frills rush policy -- the rush chairman writes letters to every member's parents asking them to send a bouquet of flowers to the house on preference day. Imagine a housed decorated with more than 100 bouquets of roses, lilies, tulips, etc... It was very impressive!

violets · #14 09-09-2002, 02:23 PM

Quote:

the rush chairman writes letters to every member's parents asking them to send a bouquet of flowers to the house on preference day. Imagine a housed decorated with more than 100 bouquets of roses, lilies, tulips, etc... It was very impressive!

Yes, that does sound gorgeous. Do all the houses do the same thing...?

Jhawkalum · #15 09-09-2002, 02:33 PM

Not all of the houses do it (I'm and ADPi). But I do know that Theta at KU does it (I heard about it from a Theta when I was a Rho Chi and suggested it to our rush chair). It was amazing what a difference the flowers made - it transformed the house into an indoor garden. I'm not sure if they still do it, but I hope they do!

Frankly, if there is a farmer's market nearby your school, you can decorate really cheaply. At most farmer's markets two dozen long stem roses run about $10 - a steal compared to local florists who up their prices during recruitment.