Looking back, I realized I'd forgotten to talk about half the stuff I thought I had about sorority life. This semester was especially a learning experience because I was a big for the first time (didn't join until my sophomore year), so all the small details you don't think about when you're the little became apparent to me. Like making all the stuff for Initiation Day.
Initiation is basically one of, if not the most, important day in sorority life. It's when you become an official member of your organization--you learn the secrets, you are deemed worthy of learning all about the side of the sorority no one else knows, you're official. Ours came right before Easter, and it's an all day affair. After all the secret stuff I can't tell you about (like drinking blood of sisters' past!*) comes the super fun part which is celebrating with the newly initiated littles. As a big you are responsible for making all the presents, and if you screw up, wellllll....
Now here's the best part. You can make a basket on a budget. No one is holding a gun to your throat and telling you, you need to buy the $40 monogrammed container holder. No one's telling you, you need to buy everything Lilly to put in the basket. Actually, it's better if you craft everything. Can't craft? It's a lot easier than you think, and you don't need to be doing any fancy patterns or anything either! Some people go and get all the cheesy things they can think of--stuffed animals, sunglasses, etc. I wanted to get my little things that wouldn't just sit around all day gathering dust, so I made sure to make her things she could use.
BASICS OF A GIFT BASKET:
- Letters. Rule of thumb. Get your little at least the same amount of shirts your big got you. Mine got me two originals and one for the chapter, so I did the same for mine.
- SIDENOTE: If you cannot make letters by hand, don't even try. I did and wasted about twenty-five bucks in the process. Just buy them online or at a retailer. I got mine off of Jenna Benna. You can literally look anywhere from Etsy to Jenna Benna to Greek Streak, etc. Just make sure--is it of the quality you would want in your letters?
- At least ONE picture frame. Preferably one that you crafted yourself. You know your little is going to have a tone of pictures to print out by the end of the year, and she should have at least one sorority-related or craft-related frame to put it in. My big painted me a Zeta frame, and I made my little a few Lilly Pulitzer printed frames.
- Wooden Letters. Like the kind you can hang up on the wall. I used a Lilly print and switched it around a bit to make it related to something she loved--dance.
- A Pin Box. Making or buying a little pin box so they can hold their pins in them! I made a Tiffany & Co esque box.
- Some sort of treat. My little loves Reeses Pieces, so I filled a mason jar full of them.
- A decorated plaque. Besides her main plaque/paddle, make her something else cute that she can hang on her wall. I made mine a City Family Plaque and wrote our names on the back so that her little can inherit it and continue on. I also made her pink and white two-toned plaques with crowns on them and quotes on the back.
THINGS TO KNOW BEFOREHAND
*If you don't know that reference, we can't be friends.
- Her favorite color(s). This way you can do combinations.
- Her favorite food/drink/candy.
- Her habits. My big got me a wall organizer because she knows I have a tendency to be forgetful...
- Any other likes & dislikes.
- HER SIZE. Oh goodness, beware if you get your little a XS when she is an S and that T-shirt doesn't fit. Even the most levelheaded person will be uncomfortable.
Hope that helps! Get creative with your basket. Pinterest became my best friend during this whole semester, and I used a lot of the ideas, even during Clue Week (that's for another post). Also be prepared. Today is the day a lot of pictures shall be taken.
Got any fun ideas that you did or want to do?
