How to Make a Paddle for a Greek Sorority

Pick out the style of paddle you’d like to use. There are many different shapes of wooden paddles you can find at your local craft store.

Decide what theme you want to go with for your paddle. The paddle you’ll be making is most likely for your big sister. Think about what she likes. Brainstorming with these questions should help you decide what you will want her paddle to look like.

• Does she like paisley or chevron?
• Does she like flowers or jewels?
• What are her favorite colors?

Personalize it. The paddle should be personalized to your big sister, but also your sorority.  Commonly, a paddle will have the greek letters of your sorority on it somewhere.  It is important to give recognition to the sorority that brought you and your big sister together. 

• Also, you should add “little" followed by your name and “big" followed by their name so it's personalized to the bond between you and your big sister.

Do some research.  If you’re not very creative it is okay.  You can browse through a website like Pinterest and look at examples of other paddles people have made for their big sisters.  Do not get discouraged by doing this because some paddles can be extremely intricate and almost like a work of art. 

• Also, make sure you do not exactly copy a paddle you see online. You want the paddle to appeal to your big sister and also be meaningful to her. No matter what, your big sister will love it because she knows you spent the time to make her one.

Brainstorm on paper. Making a paddle takes a lot of beforehand planning. Once you’ve completed the previous steps, draw out what you think you want the paddle to look like. 

• Make notes on what color, what embellishments you’ll need, and the placement of where you’ll be putting everything on your paddle. This will be extremely helpful when getting to the craft store so you do not get overwhelmed by the never ending aisles of glitter, paint, and flowers.

Get your necessary tools. You will need some basic tools when making your paddle.  These things can be found at your local craft store.

• Exacto knife
• Glue gun
• Paint brushes
• Big garbage bag to set your workstation up on to make sure you do not make a mess on your floor or carpet.

Pick out your accessories. Do this after you have figured out exactly what you want from brainstorming questions, after doing some research from step three, and after completing your drawn out rough draft of your paddle from step five. All of your paint, embellishments, and other accessories you have planned to use can be found at your local craft store. Again, do not get overwhelmed at the craft store!  If you find something you weren’t thinking of buying, but now want, buy it and return it later if you do not end up using it.