Rule 5 and 6: Spread Out Your Parties

Rule 5—Spread out the socials and balance them with brotherhood events. (Brotherhood events are fraternity gatherings to boost the comraderie of the fraternity via events, such as Poker Nights, Broomball, Camping Trips, etc). If there are too many socials within a quarter, then you will burn out the guys in your house. Guys should look forward to socials during the week, so make them uniquely themed and spread out. NOTE: I will not talk about brotherhood events because these are not parties.

Rule 6—The end of your quarter should have exciting events. Try to mimic your first two weeks of the quarter with the week before finals. During this week before finals, there won’t be any tests or quizzes. At most this will be the week of papers, and most people can balance partying with writing papers.

Rule 3 and 4: When to Plan Parties for Holidays or Special Events

Rule 3—Do not plan events during or before three-day weekends or other holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, etc. People tend to leave town for a three-day weekend, so having a party or event during this time would only yield a terrible turnout of guys and girls.

Rule 4—Plan your date parties only on Sunday nights. Usually bars and clubs will make deals with you because Sunday nights are their slow nights. Also, there will be no obligation for brothers’ dates to go to another party because no one has parties on Sunday nights.

Rule 1 and 2: When to Have and Not Have Parties

Rule 1—Have events with the hottest sororities during the first two weeks of the quarter. You should probably have events on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first two weeks. The reasoning for this is that there are no tests, homework, or papers due during the first two to three weeks of a quarter. People have just come back from their vacations, and they want to party.

Rule 2—Never have a social during the weeks of midterms. Those are weeks four through six out of a 10-week quarter. Girls and guys will be less likely to party during weeks when they have to study for midterms. Instead, have an event on a Friday because most people will make Friday night their “party night,” and they will choose to study on Saturday and Sunday nights. Another option is to have a nice dinner with a sorority during the week because it gives people a chance to relax, socialize, and eat during a week of stressful midterms.

How to Create a Social Calendar: Intro

Creating and planning a social calendar might seem like a burden, but if you follow a simple formula, then you will succeed every quarter/semester for which you make your calendar. For these purposes, I will assume that your school is on the quarter system. This means that you have three 10 week periods in the academic year. At some schools, there are “invites” or “exchanges,” which occur two to three times per quarter. These events are held at a third party location, so I will not talk about them. At other schools, there are weekly or bi weekly small parties or events where sororities will come over to your frat house to party. Since the location of these events is at your frat house, I will explain how to plan these events.

Lingo 101: Social Calendar

A Social Calendar is an internal memo that alerts a frat or sorority’s members about their upcoming events in the quarter. The easiest way to make one is in Microsoft Word using a table. Remember not to show other people your social calendar, especially other frats. However, if you look at a sorority’s social calendar, then you can find out when other frat’s parties are. This information will allow you to plan around those events.

Your Social Calendar should have a variety of events. You should have weekly events with sororities, an occasional dinner with a sorority (if you have a chef), one or two date parties, and a few larger parties. The Social Calendar will change every term, so you will have three calendars on the quarter system and two calendars on the semester system.

Your Social Calendar will depend greatly on the type of school you go to. If you go to a school that has a popular football or basketball team, then you want to be careful when planning events on gamedays (Thursdays and Saturdays). Since I do not go to your school, you willl have to be the judge on which nights students go out and party. For some schools, everyone goes out on Thursday and Friday nights, but not on Saturdays. For other schools, Wednesday could be the biggest party night of the week. It all depends so adjust your calendars accordingly.