« New Member Education

Fraternity and sorority paddles are a Greek tradition for all to enjoy. Paddles allow brothers and sisters to display their affiliation with pride, and the gifting of paddles brings members closer together. Whether you’re making a paddle for your big bro, lil sis, pledge brother, pledge sister, or chapter alum, here are some helpful tips to ensure your paddle will be a success.

Buy Your Supplies in Advance

Whether you have five days or five weeks to make your paddle, don’t expect to buy your supplies, drive home, and finish your paddle two hours later. Plan time to buy supplies, as shopping for paint and picking out your letters and paddle can take more time than you imagine. Also, allocate extra time for those unexpected trips to the store: a forgotten letter, the wrong paint color, or you simply mess up and need more supplies.

Buy Supplies at a Hardware Store

While Michael’s, JoAnn’s, and all the various other craft stores have great inventories, they usually end up being more expensive for some of the very basic stuff. If you’re trying to save some coins, try buying your paint at a hardware store such as Lowe’s or Home Depot. Paint is paint, and you can get small buckets or samples from these stores for much cheaper.

Consider Spray Paint

Spray paint is an incredible easier alternative to painting your paddle. Not only is spray paint similar or cheaper in price to paint, its far easier in application on the larger sections of your paddle However, if you plan to spray paint the small letters, you may run into some problems such as the force of the spray blowing the letters away. If you go the spray paint route just remember to work in a well-ventilated space. Nothing is worse than painting your paddle, standing up, and passing out from the accumulated fumes.

Buy Pre-Made Words Instead of Letters

Unless you’re someone with a lot of time (and we mean, A LOT!), painting and glueing each individual letter is probably not the best option. Instead, opt to buy pre-made words rather than the individual letters. This can sometimes be cheaper (depending on the word and the store), and it saves you a bunch of time in the end.

Multiple Paddles: One Time

If you’re good at multi-tasking and decide to make a couple of paddles, or if you’re a slacker and have put off making paddles for a while, we suggest making them all at once. Even though this will take more hours of your day, in the end you’ll save time and supplies. Just set out all your materials (paints, brushes, letters, etc.), turn on some good music or a movie you’ve seen a hundred times, and get cracking! Just don’t mix up the letters.

Buy The Right-Size Letters for Your Paddle

Just as you can buy paddles of all shapes and sizes, so can you buy letters of all sizes. Be careful when selecting your letters that they’re the right size for your paddle. Large letters on a small paddle will never fit (no matter how hard you try, or how close together you place the letters), and small letters on a large paddle make the paddle look empty (and you look cheap for not filling in the paddle). If you’re not sure what size the letters should be, just ask for help. If you’re ordering online, the paddle sizes should correspond to the letter sizes (also, be sure to consider the words you’re spelling as longer words may require smaller letters and short words may give room for larger letters).

Budget Your Time Wisely

Making a paddle, like most crafts projects, take more time than most people realize, especially if you’ve never made one before. When you decide to make your paddle, make sure you have enough time. And if you don’t have time to make the whole paddle in one sitting, make sure you find good points at which to stop (for example, stopping in the middle of painting is probably not the best decision), and make sure you have time to come back and finish the job. Of course, the amount of time will depend on how big your paddle is, how much painting you want to do, how many letters you have to put on, and whatever extras you might be adding (pictures, rhinestones, etc.). Just remember: however much time you budget, add another hour just in case.

Have Fun and Be Creative

Your fraternity or sorority paddle doesn’t need to be a work of art or worthy of accolades. It just needs to reflect you, the person who the paddle is for, and the relationship you share. Don’t worry about being perfect or making your paddle look like something else. Like people, paddles are all different and unique. The best paddles we’ve seen are the ones that best depict the relationship. Have an inside joke with your big sis? Remember an embarrassing moment of your big bro? Personalize your paddle and the recipient is sure to love it even more.

Play Up the Gift-Aspect

Although your big sis or lil bro may already be expecting their paddle, don’t waste the surprise by handing it to them like you’re paying them back for the last night’s dinner. Take some time, spend a little extra money, and make your paddle look like a gift. Whether you use wrapping paper, a gift bag, or a huge deceptive box, adding the element of surprise is like the icing on the cake. After all, fraternity and sorority paddles are a big deal. And if it were you, wouldn’t you like to be a little bit surprised?

Pre-Made Paddles

Our final suggestion for paddle making is paddle-making companies. While one of the best parts in giving a paddle is the time, work and effort you put into making it, sometimes people simply don’t have the time (and there’s nothing wrong with a paddle you didn’t make yourself). When ordering a pre-made paddle, fraternity and sorority members can now customize the lettering, colors, shape and size of the paddle. Not only that, but some companies have even started offering accessories such as rhinestones and jewels on paddles (for a considerably higher price). Thus, if you find yourself with no time and no paddle, try a pre-made paddle. Order it online, make the payment, and just wait for that big box to arrive at your doorstep.

These paddle companies also sell paddle kits that include everything you need. This is another great alternative for people who have little time, but still want to personalize their fraternity or sorority paddle. Of course, you’ll need to schedule some time to put the paddle together once you receive it (time for the glue to dry, etc.), but overall, this is another great time-saving option.