[skylark]

Coming from a chapter that always had budget issues, here are some of the things we would do for I-week:

- Kore group potluck dinners: This can go two different ways. Either everyone in a Kore group can make a dish and the Kore group could eat together, OR every Kore group makes a dish to feed the whole chapter and you have a chapter dinner. The key is, when it is home-made, it can be done inexpensively (think pasta as main dish, salad, garlic bread, dessert).

- Not everything has to be an event! A lot of times the best stuff are the things that are small. For instance, one of the things that was done for my pledge class was the chapter members all wrote a Kappa quote or memory on rectangles and they were arranged into interlocking rings so that every day before initiation (for like 2 weeks) I could take one down and read it. So cheap, but memorable years after graduation.

- Some years, each member of the Kore group takes a turn in doing something one-on-one with the new member, whether lunch, coffee, shopping, campus event etc. We tried to make it so that the last day (day before fireside) was with her big (key) sister. This doesn't affect the budget at all and it makes the time committment for the active members minimal, while keeping the new member focused on the importance of I-week.

I'll try to think of some more, but I'm interested to hear how other chapters do things, too! My chapter (that I advise now) could always use new ideas, as well.