Big/Little Sister Traditions
NEW Big Sister/Little Sister REVEAL IDEAS
POST UPDATED on March 31, 2009---
I received the following letter of request:
"I am the Sisterhood Development Chair of Phi Sigma Sigma the ** chapter. I was wondering if you also had any ideas for ways to find out who your big is. Our chapter doesn't have any special tradition, and since I am in charge of it I would really like a good surprising way to find out who your big is! Any ideas you have would be great, like decorating the littles room or something. Let me know, I would greatly appreciate it! A Sorority Sister Reader
Some Ideas for Big Sister Reveals:
Each Big Sister can decorate a cute picture frame and include a picture of herself in the frame. Then the personalized picture frames can be wrapped and given to each Little Sister, who will not know her Big Sister until she opens her wrapped picture frame.
Matching Caps: Each Big Sister can decorated two baseball caps, one for herself, and one for her Little. The caps should match in color and design. The design can include Greek letters, Names, mascot, or anything that relates. So at the Reveal Ceremony, the Big Sisters are all wearing the caps that they have made. At the proper time, the Big Sister walks around the group and finally stops beside her Little and places the matching cap on her Little's head.
I love this balloon idea. Get enough balloons for each Little Sister to have one. Each Big Sister's name is written on a small piece of paper. Scrapbooking paper in your sorority colors works great. You can cut one sheet of pretty paper into the number of pieces you need. The small paper with the Big Sis names are each inserted into a balloon, one at a time, so that you can be sure to write the name of the matching Little Sister on the balloon after it is blown up and tied. Use a Sharpie marker for that. The Little Sisters come into a room full of balloons. Each sister has to find the balloon with her name on it. Then she pops her balloon to find out who her Big Sister is. This would be even better with helium balloons.
Pajama Idea: The Big Sisters buy two pairs of matching pajamas, one for herself and one for her Little. The Littles are given a present which is their new pajamas. In the present is a note that tells them to put on the pajamas and the note has the first clue for a hunt that will lead them to another place and another clue. Each clue tells something about their Big as well as telling them the next place to go. At last, the Littles end up at a house or place where their Bigs are hiding. The final clue tells the Little which room to look in. There she finds her Big wearing the same pajamas that she is wearing. All this is topped off with a visit to the icecream shop in their pajamas. What fun to see people's expressions when this crew of girls traipses in for icecream in their pajamas! (this is a fun idea, but it may be too expensive- you could do the same thing with a t-shirt or cap or how about a certain color of nail polish--anything that connects the Big Sister and Little Sister so that it is clear who belongs to whom.
Poems or Quotes are a very sentimental way to conduct a Reveal. Each Little Sister reads half of a poem chosen by their Big and their Big Sister finishes it.
Reveal with a String Hunt. Each Little Sister is given a clue, that leads to another clue, and another. She finally is led to a string. She picks up the string and follows it until she finds out who her Big is at the end of the string. The fun part is that the string winds all over the place, back and forth. Be creative and think of other ideas for the end of the string. It can end with a plastic cup with her Big's name on it or it can end with a tiny "present" that is really just her Big's name written in a fancy or crafty way, and wrapped up like a gift. You could even do a balloon to be popped as mentioned earlier in this post.
It seems that many sororities are not allowing candles due to liability issues, but perhaps candles can still be used if you plan the Reveal outside. Of course, windy or rainy weather would ruin it.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT if your chapter has tried any variations of these reveal ideas. Almost 300 people visit this website everyday who would love to hear your ideas.
**************
Calling all sorority sisters. I need your help for ideas for Big Sister reveals.
Does your chapter have a special tradition that you can share with us? Please leave a comment below. Thanks so much!!!
(Thanks to http://www.greekchat.com for sorority reveal ideas.)
Related posts:
In my sorority they have all the littles line up and close their eyes then our bigs, who we don’t know yet line up behind us. They give us half of a poem and then they keep the other half. We are then instructed to open our eyes and read our poem. Our big finishes by reading the second half and we find out either by recognizing their voice or when they are done reading we turn around. It was really really cool. Hope this helps
Comment by Laurin — March 25, 2009 @ 1:35 pm
At my chapter, the littles have a scavenger hunt inside the house. It is about 5 clues and at the last clue there is a pair of socks. The little goes down to the formal room and looks for the sister behind a black curtain that has a matching pair. When everyone is there, the curtain is dropped.
Comment by Annie — September 14, 2009 @ 5:20 pm
Annie and Laurin, thanks so much for adding you chapter’s ideas.
Julie from Sorority Sisters
Comment by Sorority Gifts — September 15, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
In my sorority, the bigs make a puzzle thats says Little soandso and Big soandso. Once the little puts the puzzle together… it reveals her big. Also for a week our bigs leaves us crafted gifts with a clue.
Comment by Tyra — October 25, 2009 @ 1:30 am
Tyra,
I love the puzzle idea! If you have time, tell us what some of the crafted gifts have been. Is the clue concerning who their Big is?
Julie
Response:
Hi Julie,
You are welcome for the ideas. Well since I’m a Phi Mu, the gift giving last 5 days. Each day we get a letter, so first day is “P”. The letter stands for something, such as Picture Frame. The letters don’t necessarily have to be a name of an object, it can e an adjective, so “u” can be understanding. The letters can be block letters or wooden letters that are painted. We all get picture frames, so we can put our family picture inside. We get in and out boards for our dorm rooms. The clue is concerning who our big is.
Comment by Sorority Gifts — October 25, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
For mine, our Bigs did a clue-type hunt thing. They scattered clues all over campus on notes that led us around giving hints about our Big. Then they led us back to the main building where we were given three chances to guess our Big based on the clue. Then we also did the string game suggested above to find our gifts from our Big!
Comment by Lasha — November 17, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
For us, we had this kind of…deceiving clue thing. Throughout the first part of the pledge period, the new members are given opportunities to write down lists of who they would like their Bigs to be. Instead of the actual Big making clues about herself for her actual Little, the Big’s Big Sister makes clues pertaining to herself (in my chapter, we refer to them as the “two times (2x)”, but if she’s already graduated, another older sister who is part of her family tree steps in and makes clues about herself.) Finally, all of the Littles go around to the different rooms and read clues that have silly items with them that the Little must put on or carry with her throughout her hunt. (For example, when I got my Big, my first clue was that she loved her little Yorkie dog, so I had to wear a huge t-shirt with a Yorkie on it) These clues confuse the Littles into thinking that their Big is actually the girl who will end up being their 2x. When their done with all the clues, the pledge mom teaches them a little song about getting their Bigs that they get to perform for all the sisters wearing their silly costumes and items. Finally, the sisters send the Littles into a room all together where they are supposed to draw a picture of who they think their Big is. They end up drawing their 2x. Then the Littles are brought out one by one, show the pictures to the sisters and when the 2x sees that she is drawn, she jumps up all excited and hands her “little” a wrapped present. She opens it and see that it is her first letter sweatshirt. All the sisters are like, “Awe, yay, that’s so great! What does it say? What does it say?” In my chapter, our traditional sweatshirts have “So and So’s Little” underneath the letters…so the new Little sees her ACTUAL Big’s name on the sweatshirt and…excited screaming ensues! It’s fun to mislead them up until the very last second because then everybody gets to see when she really first finds out who her Big is!!
Comment by Rayna — January 12, 2010 @ 9:33 pm
My chapter does the scavenger hunt thing and everybody has so much fun! The littles are sent around the house with another sister who is not going to be her big and finds cluesclues everywhere, but the clues tell her not only where to go next, but also what she must do on her way there. I remember writing one for my little that said, “You’re getting so close and I can’t wait to see you…but I want to hear you first! Sing “Don’t Stop Believing” at the top of your lungs until you get to the oldest sister’s bedroom. Remember, I could be ANYWHERE and I wanna hear you loud and clear!” It makes it so much fun and everyone has a great time!
Comment by Michelle — January 12, 2010 @ 9:38 pm
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