Big/little week is arguably one of the most exciting times during a new member’s first year in her sorority. For her, it’s a little snapshot early on of all the absolutely incredible, fabulous things to come. For bigs, however, the thrill of big/little week is, like, 70 percent to spoil this younger girl whom you’ve grown to love and 30 percent a means to show up the other bigs. I’m here to help.
Decoration Overload
Seriously, do it up big, because the bigger you do it, the more fun it is for her. If you don’t have rules against it, do a little more than just a basket. Literally, just cover your little’s room wall to wall in posters, balloons, streamers, spilled out boxes of rhinestones/beads/fake pearls, confetti, candy, frames, shirts, pillows, and literally anything else you can think of. It’s not expensive to buy a pack of streamers, but it makes everything look overwhelmingly awesome.
Image via University of Delaware, ASA
Pro Tip 1: Give each day a theme. It makes it much easier to figure out what to buy. Some theme ideas:
General Sorority Stuff – Everything comes in your sorority’s colors.
Beach – All your blue things come this day. Buy a few beach-themed decorations. Maybe buy her a fish. Or don’t. I don’t know you.
Jungle – Any and all things animal print.
Girls’ Night – Decorate half the room with slippers, movies, and makeover shit for a girls’ night in. Decorate the other half with party- and alcohol-related gifts for a girls’ night out. (Or you can split this up into two nights.)
Princess – All of your pink stuff, tiaras, cotton candy, and tutus can come through on princess day.
“TSM”-Themed – Any gifts that are pastels, pearls, bows, Lilly, sun hats, or just over-the-top stereotypical “sorority” things can be handed over on this day.
Pro Tip 2: Buy in bulk, or buy big things. A big bag of Starbursts goes further than a single Snickers bar, and it can double as a decoration. A giant box of rhinestones can easily be spilled over her bed or desk to fill in some empty space. A bag of balloons is cheap, and they’ll take up a lot of space. An inflatable pool toy can come from a dollar store and take up half a room.
Pro Tip 3: Public displays of decoration. If you decorate her car or put signs with her photo in the common area of her dorm with a caption like “My Big Loves Me,” it’ll be a tiny thing that makes her feel really special.
Pull Pranks
Nothing crazy, but pranks can be fun and they’re memorable. They’ll definitely get your little talking, and they’ll make the experience so much fun for her.
Prank Idea 1: Zip-line her bras across the common area. Before you do this, though, figure out if her RA is cool or not. You can ask any of her floor-mates about it.
Prank Idea 2: Steal all of her left shoes. Have her follow clues to get them back from the secret location you’ve hidden them, or set her up for her kidnapping later that night, where she can retrieve her shoes.
Prank Idea 3: Glitter and confetti. Everywhere. In every pocket of every article of clothing she owns. In all of her drawers. In her shoes. In her socks. If she’s not still finding confetti in her shit by senior year, you did it wrong.
Boys
While we can’t discuss boys during recruitment, big/little week is a totally different story. There should be boys. Lots of them. And they should be hot. Recruit a bunch of guys who are in love with you or withhold sex from the guys who are not, and get them involved with big/little week. Most of them secretly like the attention, anyway.
1. Deliveries and Serenades: Have a guy friend who can play guitar and sing? Of course you do. He’s the token dude who leads the chapter during courting season every semester. Recruit him to help you out. Pick a song for him to sing specially for your little when he brings her some cupcakes or ice cream for the evening. If you can’t find any guys who can sing, have one read her a bedtime story. It will be embarrassing for her and he’ll be drunk, so he won’t care. Bonus points if you left her a set of footie pajamas during the day and make her wear them for her delivery.
2. Tasks: Send your boys to your little and have her do cute little tasks like “propose to our friend Will here,” or “go outside and sing ‘Part of Your World,’ ” or “slap the bag.” Have the boys video it and remind her that her big is going to see this so she has to make it good.
3. Kidnappings and Competitions: Kidnappings are a really good activity to do on the last night before reveal, because you can generally coordinate with your family and bring all the new additions to the same place. Plus, it’s one of those things you see in movies that you actually hope you get to partake in one day, because it’s fun and exciting. The littles can do some kind of whipped cream-licking contest off the boys’ chests or play a drinking game based on your sorority’s trivia while being constantly reminded that they’ll need to know this for initiation.
4. Special Talents: If you know someone with any other kind of special talent, send him (or even her) to your little. My friend’s big knew a guy who could read palms, and he came and told our fortunes. It was the best day of our lives. You might have a friend who works at Sephora and does awesome hair and makeup. Send her over. Know a porn star? Send her over for a blow job tutorial (kidding). If your boyfriend has pledges — and yes, that’s a special talent — you can easily have one of them pick her up from class with a sign and a rose and drive her home so she doesn’t have to walk.
Convince Her You’re Not Her Big
One of the most important things to remember, though, is that you’re giving your little clues all week as to who you are. This is only fun if she doesn’t already know. If I know you like I think I do, you were a huge asshole who didn’t foresee any problems with drunkenly professing your love to her before it was time. Nice move, Nostradamus. Now you have a problem on your hands, because your little, the smarty that she is, realizes that a one-to-one match means you two will be paired. You need to undo this. She WILL cry. That means it’s working.
Step 1: Give her false clues. For some, this will be enough. For most, it will not.
Step 2: Straight up tell her you’re not her big. Something got messed up when the committee was matching and you weren’t paired together. A lot of girls are really upset, but you promise her big is wonderful and you can still be friends.
Step 3: Schedule a “See? We’re still friends” movie date during big/little week. Have your big go decorate her room while you’re with her. She’ll then realize you can’t be her big, because her big was in her room and you were in yours.
This is going to be a stressful time. Make sure you evaluate both your chapter and your little before doing anything. Is your sorority filled with a bunch of sticklers for the rules? Then don’t send her alcohol. Is your little going to be embarrassed beyond discomfort if you pull a public prank on her? Then why did you pick her? Kidding, but don’t do something that will make her uncomfortable. Most of all, make sure you’re both having fun with it..
Nice Move688
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Veronica Ruckh
Veronica (@VeronicaRuckh) is the Director of Total Sorority Move for Grandex, Inc. After having spent her undergraduate years drinking $4 double LITs on a patio and drunk texting away potential suitors, she managed to graduate with an impressive GPA and an unimpressive engagement ring -- so unimpressive, in fact, some might say it's not there at all. Veronica has since been fulfilling her duties as "America's big," a title she gave to herself with the help of her giant ego. She has recently switched from vodka to wine on weekdays. Email her at veronica@grandex.co
@VeronicaRuckh
@VeronicaRuckh
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