paddles and nonpaddle paddles
 

What's a nonpaddle?

An amazing paddle would be a life size Betxi Bear polka dot dress and all. My chapter has a sister whose dad usually does them for us and they are pretty amazing. I have the following paddles: my first set of twins gave me a large Lightning McQueen from Disney Pixar's film Cars. My second set gave me a medium size traditional paddle painted hot pink, purple, and green. My final paddle from my only solo lil sis is a giant quatrefoil that is pink with a white trim and features yellow, white, and green letters/decorations. They are all adorable in VERY different ways.

Your best bet is to do something that the other person really likes or admires. For example, EVERYONE knows I am obsessed with Lightning McQueen, that is what my lils chose to make because they knew I'd love it. And then the next set simply asked me what I wanted. The last one asked her sibling whom I had already told what I wanted to some extent and she used her mind to fill in the blanks. But honestly, creativity and effort are always appreciated regardless of what it looks like!

Its usually a wooden object that could be anything besides the traditional paddle. It could be those like little boxes, a wooden heart, a little stool.

A "wall plaque"

We didn't have paddles. *wink wink nod nod*

Ahhh, gotcha. Thank you! ;)

The paddle, wall plaque, (whatever word used to describe it) I got from one of my littles was painted black and gold and had a area for a picture frame! In which was a picture of the two of us! I had never seen one like this before and I love it because it so unique!

Here's my big and I after initiation exchanging plaques/paddles. In my chapter, plaques are a requirement while paddles are optional. I thought the little paddle was cute, so i made one for my big. Because she's awesome like that :) so they're not really that amazing or anything... but I hope this might give you a bit of an idea :)

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...z/101_3010.jpg

Thanks prettyboy and phimu_lindz! I love those paddles. I think simplicity may be key to what i'm aiming to do. Anyone else want to show off?

I no longer have my paddle (not a tradition at my school after my sister's pledge semester.) I made mine since my sister had one. My chapter had previously used "Sheaf of Wheat" shaped paddles made out of plywood. Mine was painted with stalks of wheat tied by a real red ribbon with AOII written at the bottom in red letters. I think I had my name on it, as well, but I don't recall. It looked really nice and was a stylized version of our NM pin. You might consider making a quill or the shape of your NM pin. Use your imagination.

My big just gave me an arrow (our chapter does this instead of paddles) yesterday after Initiation that was a bright green with bright orange polka dots! It's very bright, but very cute.
I also made one that was teal with yellow and pink accents.

But i'm sure whatever color scheme you choose she will love! =)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...30801_2916.jpg

i wish i could explain how we do paddles here at sfa, because i know all the sororities at my school do it so different than everyone else...my chapter of dz does paddle exchanges, so that's the paddle i gave my big! the pink letters glow in the dark : ]

I used scrapbook paper for the background:
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6379/dscn0951kl2.jpg

What my lil made me:
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/4...0955hh1fa0.jpg

Our family is tropical themed, hence the palm tree.


Some others from my chapter.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8...0953po8ga6.jpg

I have more photos, so PM me if you'd like to see them - I don't want to upload a ton ha.

What's the Gamma Phi Lambda on the SK paddles? Is it a family thing since the other two don't have those letters?