A Week of Inspiration and Sisterhood
On Saturday our lovely new member are going to be initiated! It is a very exciting time for all of us sisters and because we love to spoil our new members we had events every night this week. We also had an inspiration week when we were initiated and when the COB class in the spring was initiated. It is a time when the new members can reflect on their journey through their new member process and if they still want to be Theta. We also do some fun stuff like reveal Bigs and Littles and give some fun gifts. The week was themed T-H-E-T-A, one letter for each day of the week.
Monday, T for Team: Zumbathon!
Usually, we don't do an event on Monday but there was a Party In Pink Zumbathon on campus that was being held to raise money for breast cancer. Most of us wanted to go to it, so we decided to make it an official part of inspiration week. For those of you that don't know, Zumba is a fun and energizing dance class that requires little to no dance experience. There are no breaks during the class, so that you keep your heart rate up. The point of it is to have a fun work out, and it is fun indeed.
We all showed up in our pink and rocked to dance floor with our sisters. It was a lot of fun. They had a whole bunch of different instructors who alternated leading songs. The music kept going in and out so that was frustrating but we still has a great time shaking it and goofing off together. We also got some Theta sunglasses as swag. It was a great first night of inspiration week.
Tuesday, H for Heirloom - Family Heirlooms From Bigs.
Since we are such a new sorority on campus this is our first time having bigs and littles. For those of you who don't know what that means, it is pretty much just pairing us up with the newer member. The new members are little sisters and us existing members are the big sisters. We get to spoil our little sisters and exchange gifts. We got to find out who our littles were on Sunday evening while the littles didn't get to find out who there bigs were until Thursday night. This leaves four days of mystery for us to have a little fun.
The littles are paired by twin, so Rebecca and I share one. On Sunday night we went to Walmart and bought some fun stuff to give her. We got a card for each day of the week as well as some sour patch kids, a yellow sock monkey, and a bag with Snow White on it. All of her favorite things.
We secretly taped a card on her door each day. We also had completely different people write each card to try and throw her off. She got her first card on Monday, and another Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday night she got her Heirlooms. We each made an heirloom for our littles, a gift from us that they can then pass down to their littles, who can then pass it down to their littles, and so on and so forth.
This is our heirloom:
Rebecca painted it black and then I decorated it. I love the way it came out. Us existing members didn't get to go to this night of inspiration week but since I am Rebecca's helper I stopped by after work and got to help hand out the heirlooms. It was really exciting to watch everyone get their heirlooms and first official cards from their bigs.
Wednesday, E for Edibles - Cookies and Pumpkin Decorating.
Remember those pansy cookies that Rebecca and I made a few weeks ago? Well, this is what it was practice for. We made 104 of them for edibles night. They turned out pretty well, the sizes of each cookie varied a lot but every one really loved them and that made me very happy.
After the game we broke into 10 groups and had a pumpkin decorating contest. Since we were inside we couldn't actually carve the pumpkins so we just painted them. We painted, ate cookies and drank apple cider. There was a witch pumpkin, a cupcake pumpkin, and some Theta pumpkins. Everyone was so creative that it was hard to pick a winner. But we did and they all got Theta pins. It was a great time.
Then we kicked out the existing members and gave the new members the second card from their bigs. They also all got Theta pins. Our little could not be there so we stole a pin for her.
Monday, T for Team: Zumbathon!
Usually, we don't do an event on Monday but there was a Party In Pink Zumbathon on campus that was being held to raise money for breast cancer. Most of us wanted to go to it, so we decided to make it an official part of inspiration week. For those of you that don't know, Zumba is a fun and energizing dance class that requires little to no dance experience. There are no breaks during the class, so that you keep your heart rate up. The point of it is to have a fun work out, and it is fun indeed.
We all showed up in our pink and rocked to dance floor with our sisters. It was a lot of fun. They had a whole bunch of different instructors who alternated leading songs. The music kept going in and out so that was frustrating but we still has a great time shaking it and goofing off together. We also got some Theta sunglasses as swag. It was a great first night of inspiration week.
Tuesday, H for Heirloom - Family Heirlooms From Bigs.
Since we are such a new sorority on campus this is our first time having bigs and littles. For those of you who don't know what that means, it is pretty much just pairing us up with the newer member. The new members are little sisters and us existing members are the big sisters. We get to spoil our little sisters and exchange gifts. We got to find out who our littles were on Sunday evening while the littles didn't get to find out who there bigs were until Thursday night. This leaves four days of mystery for us to have a little fun.
The littles are paired by twin, so Rebecca and I share one. On Sunday night we went to Walmart and bought some fun stuff to give her. We got a card for each day of the week as well as some sour patch kids, a yellow sock monkey, and a bag with Snow White on it. All of her favorite things.
We secretly taped a card on her door each day. We also had completely different people write each card to try and throw her off. She got her first card on Monday, and another Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday night she got her Heirlooms. We each made an heirloom for our littles, a gift from us that they can then pass down to their littles, who can then pass it down to their littles, and so on and so forth.
This is our heirloom:
Rebecca painted it black and then I decorated it. I love the way it came out. Us existing members didn't get to go to this night of inspiration week but since I am Rebecca's helper I stopped by after work and got to help hand out the heirlooms. It was really exciting to watch everyone get their heirlooms and first official cards from their bigs.
Wednesday, E for Edibles - Cookies and Pumpkin Decorating.
Remember those pansy cookies that Rebecca and I made a few weeks ago? Well, this is what it was practice for. We made 104 of them for edibles night. They turned out pretty well, the sizes of each cookie varied a lot but every one really loved them and that made me very happy.
Also, on this night, we played this really cool game called Touch Someone Who. We all sit in a circle with our eyes closed, a few people stand in the middle. Then, Rebecca calls out different things like, touch someone who makes you laugh, or touch someone who inspires you, or touch someone who has a good heart. Then, you do just that, tap someone on the shoulder who you think matches what is said. It is really meaningful and makes you feel good about yourself. It is my favorite game.
After the game we broke into 10 groups and had a pumpkin decorating contest. Since we were inside we couldn't actually carve the pumpkins so we just painted them. We painted, ate cookies and drank apple cider. There was a witch pumpkin, a cupcake pumpkin, and some Theta pumpkins. Everyone was so creative that it was hard to pick a winner. But we did and they all got Theta pins. It was a great time.
Then we kicked out the existing members and gave the new members the second card from their bigs. They also all got Theta pins. Our little could not be there so we stole a pin for her.
After it was all over Rebecca and I did some secret, big sister, fun stuff. We took the pin we got and pinned it to the sock monkey. Then, we arranged the sock monkey so that he was holding a block I had painted an owl on and her card. We got Rebecca's roommate Megan to walk with us to McKay to deliver it to her. We knew she would be there because she is an RA and was on duty. While Megan went into the building to find her Rebecca and I found her room and put a giant sign on her door.
After we had reconnected with Megan and were walking away we heard a scream. We turned and saw here standing in front of her door looking at the sign. We walked away so quickly so that she would not see us. It was so much fun!! We love doing fun surprise things.
I had told our little earlier that I would try and get her a pin, and then, to throw her off, I told her that I was unable to get her one. I also made the bad decision to go and visit her. Which means she showed me her sign and sock monkey. It was really hard to keep the secret. I really should not have gone.
Thursday, T for Togetherness - Big/Little Reveal!!
Thursday was the best day!! It was the day that we revealed ourselves to our littles. The entire day was filled with anticipation. Rebecca and I put another card on her door in the morning and then spent the whole day really, really excited. We really hoped that she didn't suspect that it was us. We weren't as mean as some people though. Our president told her little early in the week that she didn't get her. The poor girl was so mad that she didn't talk to her all week.
Nikki and Kellie walked right up to their little with a present and told her that they knew her big and that the present was from her. Apparently she was so devastated that she couldn't even be excited about her present. But it was all to throw them off to make them more excited for reveal!!
We all met in plant park at 8.
Here are all the lovely new members!
We all got candles and sat together in twin pairs in a really big circle. Then, after singing a quick song, the ladies started to walk around the inside of the circle, in single file, four at a time. When they got right in front of their bigs, their bigs would blow out their candle! It was the cutest thing to watch, people would jump up and hug each other and scream. The girls who were sitting at the entrance to the circle, who were passed first by the new members made their girls walk all the way around the circle until they got back to them before blowing out their candles.
Rebecca and I were watching some groups across the circle and some of them were blowing their candles out way too early, before the girl got to them. We decided that we were not going to do that, that she needed to be right in front of us. So, when we saw that she was coming around the circle we did not even look at her. We both looked down and the other direction and waited until she was directly in front of us. As soon as she was we blew out the candle and she started screaming. I tried to stand up to give her a hug but she tackled me to the ground. We were hugging and laughing and screaming. I had been holding the previously lit candle so my hand was completely covered in wax. It was amazing. She was so excited that she got us.
We watched the rest of the girls get their bigs and then we headed over to the community room in Austin to eat ice cream and give our littles their presents, they got pin boxes. On the way we talked about the cards and presents we gave her and how she suspected us but didn't want to get her hopes up. Once we were inside in light we realized that the entire back of Jill's shirt was covered in wax:
I told you her attack on me was pretty violent, but that made it more fun! Here is the wax covered candle:
Our new family!!
After eating our ice cream we went back to Rebecca's room and gave Jill her last few presents. Then, since neither Rebecca nor Jill had eaten we went to stadium and got burritos. While they were eating we saw the trailer for In Time come on the T.V. We all said that we wanted to see it and realized that it came out on friday which means that we could go and see the midnight showing. And so happened our first family outing! We went to see In Time at midnight and it was so worth it. It was a very, very good movie. I recommend it to everyone. It was the perfect beginning to our family.
Friday, A for Adjective - Mocktail Party
Unfortunately I had to work on this day, so I did not get to go to the party. But from what I am told it turned out pretty good. Everyone got dressed up and there was food, and a slide show and good conversation. I am sad I missed it but I am glad that it went well, Jill couldn't go either so that makes me feel better but I like supporting my Twin at her events. She was wearing a really pretty dress too. I am planning on 'stealing' it from her.
Saturday - Initiation!
Saturday was the reward after all of the hard work. I got up at 5:45, the butt crack of dawn, to help Rebecca move all of the stuff to Plant Hall. We had a-LOT of stuff, it took us multiple trips, though it helped that more and more people started showing up to help.
We set everything up and were ready by 9:30. We started at 10ish and after 5 groups of girls and a lot of waiting around, we were finished at about 2!!
We then went down stairs and had a really nice reception to celebrate the girls becoming our official sisters.
Our new Theta family!
It was a really long day, and we were all exhausted after it was over, but it was so worth it. We finished the day off by going to see Dance Happening that night. It was the perfect end to a perfect week. I am so proud of our hard work, it payed off!
