Planning for 25th Anniversary--Need Ideas

Cutie_Hootie · #1 03-31-2008, 10:33 PM

My initiating chapter is starting to plan for its 25th Anniversary. As an advisor and house corp member, I'm on the committee, and I want it to be a very special occasion. I know you all have a ton of suggestions (not to mention experience!), so I would like to know:
If you have planned an anniversary event like this, what worked? Why?
What didn't work? Why?
Of course, any other words of wisdom you care to share will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Cutie_Hootie

jwright25 · #2 03-31-2008, 10:58 PM

When is the anniversary/big event you are planning?

I was on a committee that planned a 50th, and we did lots of fun stuff.

- Plan a whole weekend with some casual stuff too. I think we had Friday night a group that went out to eat (this was a smaller group). Saturday morning initiation of that fall's Alpha Class (and invited all alumnae). Saturday brunch with new initiates and alumnae. Saturday afternoon tours of the suite (other chapters opened their suites as well). Saturday evening big banquet. There was something on Sunday, but I can't recall.

- Invite all the International Officers in your area, as well as your Grand Council (or whatever it's called).

- We started sending out reminders and requests for money about a year out. We had a list of "lost" sisters and were able to find a very large number of them through others.

- I put together a "directory" of sorts that included everyone's contact information. We also asked members to send in favorite memories or what they've been doing and incorporated those stories into the directory. I organized it by initiation year. Everyone who attended got a copy.

- We did tshirts as a favor and also got umbrellas with the sorority logo on them. The umbrellas were a huge hit - they were unexpected, practical, and good publicity.

- I went to the campus library and pulled out all the old yearbooks. The archives scanned the ADPi pages for me and all the pages that had ADPis on them as "Class Beauties," Homecoming Queens, etc. We also asked alumnae to send in photos or memorabilia. We created a video with all of these images of 50 years of the chapter and played it while people were coming in to the banquet. We had songs from each decade playing in the background of the images.

- In the lobby area of the banquet hall, we set up tables full of memorabilia: old rush costumes, scrapbooks, composites, tshirts, photos, etc.

There was more, but it was 3.5 years ago and I can't remember it all right now! If I think of anything else fun, I'll post. I'll also try to think of what didn't work....

FSUZeta · #3 04-01-2008, 08:17 AM

the florida state chapter of chi omega will be celebrating their 100th anniversary this month and they have a portion of their website devoted to this. you might take a look at that. it looks like fun!

navane · #4 04-04-2008, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwright25

When is the anniversary/big event you are planning?

I was on a committee that planned a 50th, and we did lots of fun stuff.

Our chapter is going to be celebrating a 60th anniversary next year - thanks for all of the great ideas!

.....Kelly

Cutie_Hootie · #5 04-05-2008, 11:39 PM

We are actually four years out...early, I know, but we don't want it to be some sort of half-done affair. We are really looking to make a weekend of it, so many of the ideas have been helpful in that regard. Plus, if some of our ideas take off, it could take some major time to get them all going (like collecting photos, old newspaper articles, etc).

Anyway, thanks for the help and the good ideas!

SnowLady · #6 04-11-2008, 09:47 AM

Our chapter celebrated our 25 years when I was in college and unfortunately we didn't have the luxury of internet or email. (gasp!)

We had a president's picture and asked each president ot give an overview of her year in the sorority.

We had all of the scrapbooks out. - Now you might want to include a picture slide show. What a hoot the hair will be.

We introduce sweethearts that were there in attendance as guests (husbands / boyfriends / SO).

And I agree, you can never plan too early - way to be proactive.

AOII Angel · #7 04-12-2008, 02:27 PM

I just got back from my chapter's 50th anniversary. One thing that was helpful to get a good turnout was assigning someone in each pledge class to find her pledge sisters. You should have seen the number of women from the 70's that showed up! I found my pledge class (21 women.) This took a lot of time so finding 25 years worth of sisters would be daunting without a lot of help. One thing about the celebration that I wished we had more of was time with sisters from our era. Mostly, I just got a hug and "you look exactly the same" from my sisters. We just didn't have time for a heart to heart with very many people. I guess you can't have everything, because the program was fabulous! The women on the committee put a lot of work into it, and it showed.

Kedzman · #8 06-16-2008, 08:39 AM

My fraternity had a re-chartering event in which we sought to bring several men back for the event. We had a "Commander's reception" for past presidents of the chapter. (Sigma Nu calls their presidents "Eminent Commanders")

This was a cocktail reception with finger food. It was an exclusive little forum that made these former presidents feel really good about their service to the fraternity. It served to introduce men across the generations. Most importantly, it was a vehicle to get all of these leaders back to the event, and since they were most influential in their eras, they were able to attract many other brothers from their time, also.

Also, I'd make an entire weekend out of it. Why? Several women will have to travel in for the event. People don't want to drive many hours or get on an airplane for a chicken dinner at the sorority house. I would make it a two-day event with several activities that allow the ladies to really interact with one another and make the trip worth-while.

honeychile · #9 06-17-2008, 12:41 PM

I'll have to think back to our 125th, but one very good hint: DO NOT have favors which adults may find "silly". One elderly alumna, thinking her donation was going towards the chapter, was absolutely horrified to find out that she had paid for everyone's favors. She had given a hefty check, because the chapter did need to be redecorated, and when one of us picks her up for AA meetings, she still talks about it!

adpiucf · #10 06-20-2008, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cutie_Hootie

My initiating chapter is starting to plan for its 25th Anniversary. As an advisor and house corp member, I'm on the committee, and I want it to be a very special occasion. I know you all have a ton of suggestions (not to mention experience!), so I would like to know:
If you have planned an anniversary event like this, what worked? Why?
What didn't work? Why?
Of course, any other words of wisdom you care to share will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Cutie_Hootie

We had our 25th last year. It consisted of a Friday night out at some local pubs (a lot of young alums attended this part), Sat "big event" luncheon at the alumni center where we showed a slide show and had a silent auction, etc., and then Sunday was a family fun day at the house-- rented bounce houses for the kids, music, food, workshops, house tours, etc.

We didn't have a lot of money to promote the event, so we relied on email, created a web site and sent out 2 postcards.

For favors, we had coffee mugs made. A lot of alums donated door prizes.

If I have any advice: keep it simple and keep costs low. You want to get people to come. A 25 year old chapter doesn't have a ton of wealthy alum-- many are still making their way up the corporate ladder. They aren't going to be interested in a $50 formal dinner... think about your audience-- and remember that this is a great opportunity for the collegians to meet alums and recruit them to support the chapter as advisers, house corp members, workshop faciliators, contribute to a special fundraiser, etc.

We had tried to do a service project, but it never came together for lack of time, so we donated some money from the silent auction, and the rest went to pay off the house mortgage!

The sunday family fun day was the best event! We had tshirts made for this day, too, and it was a great opp for alum to see the house again and show it to the "next generation" of little ones!

another word of advice-- involve the chapter... hate to say this, but our collegians either didn't show interest in this event or weren't communicated with enough. I'm not sure what happened, but the chapter didn't contribute any money to this event, and there was some tension... and not a lot of collegians attended the luncheon-- which I think goes back to costs of attending--- consider having a student rate for some of your functions and involve the chapter as much as possible. Maybe for every alum volunteer there is a collegian counterpart or a dual alum-collegiate committee.

chickenoodle · #11 02-16-2010, 08:54 PM

I realize this thread is old as hell, but I was wondering if anyone had new ideas to contribute?

mommamia · #12 02-24-2010, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickenoodle

I realize this thread is old as hell, but I was wondering if anyone had new ideas to contribute?

I was looking through this thread as well. We are planning a reunion as well, and I was trying to come up with more ideas. I have been running the reunion myself, but it is with a much smaller crowd. We are an inactive chapter at this point and the last sisters in the house wanted to reunite.

Things that I did to make it special were:

we had a bday party (way back when) that had kiddy glasses and kazoos for fun, well I found the original kind of glasses and they will be in a "goodie bag"

I made braclets in DZ colors with fresh water pearls and peridot chips. The clasp is a rose. Earrings to match are the prizes for games we will be playing.

I made all my sisters search for old pics and I put them on a DVD that will be playing the whole night to music that has special meaning to us. I will add the pics from the reunion to the dvd and send one to everyone who attends.

I found wooden roses, decorated them with green bows and then set them in a gorgeous basket. On the rose is a card with the poem DZ uses when you give a sister a rose as well as the date. Each sister will take one home.

We all bought DZ shirts to wear for the day. We have a few special activites planned that have a special meaning to us.

I made address books for all the sisters to take with them, that looked like our pledge books.

I planned some silly games that will remind the sisters of things we did in the house.

I am in search of an official ceremony to hold when we all get together, to "open" the reunion. I have not found one appropriate yet, so any suggestions there would be great.

I hope that gave you some ideas.

FSUZeta · #13 02-24-2010, 06:19 PM

mommamia, you have been busy! from the sound of it, your event surely will be a success. please let us know how it goes.

chickenoodle · #14 02-26-2010, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mommamia

I found wooden roses, decorated them with green bows and then set them in a gorgeous basket. On the rose is a card with the poem DZ uses when you give a sister a rose as well as the date. Each sister will take one home.

I really like this idea. I would like to incorporate wooden roses into a centerpiece. Where did you find them?

Your event sounds very special and fun. Please come back and share with us how it went.