It’s the most wonderful time of the year. If you attend an SEC school, you know everyone is celebrating Christmas In The South — aka Bid Day. If you are unfamiliar with Greek life, Bid Day is the final day of sorority recruitment that concludes rush week, a process where girls are getting to know all the sororities in hopes of finding their perfect match. At The University of Alabama, in true southern tradition, Bid Day is something many girls wait for their entire lives, making it a pretty important day in the town of Tuscaloosa. The streets are filled with thousands of people ready to watch their daughters, sisters, or friends run home to their new sorority. This year, I documented my Bid Day experience as a sister, from start to finish.
I was one of the 2,500 girls going through primary recruitment at Alabama in 2021, the first official year of the Bama Rush craze on TikTok. I was lucky enough to have the picture perfect Bid Day experience (that everyone on TikTok can’t get enough of) when I ran home to my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta. They call it “Bid Day, Best Day” for a reason! It is, by far, the day I am most proud to rep my sorority colors and welcome our adorable new members into the house I am so proud to call my forever home. Here’s my 2024 Bama Rush Bid Day diary.
7 a.m.: Wake Up
Time to wake up for the best day of the year! I woke up and immediately started getting ready because I was just way too excited. I wanted to get to sorority row as fast as I could! At Alabama, our Bid Day theme is very formal. All active members wear heels dresses in their sorority’s color. Pretty fancy for a college event! After I did my hair and makeup for the day, I put on a pink dress (Gamma Phi Beta’s color) that Windsor sent to me to wear for Bid Day! (They sponsor my sorority’s outfits.)
7:50 A.M.: Head To Sorority Row
I got my friends and headed over to my sorority house to start getting ready for our new girls to run home! If you are in Tuscaloosa during this time, you will see the streets are filled with literally thousands of people waiting to see the new members run to their new houses. By 8 a.m., roads were already closed, and plenty of people were out on the town ready for Bid Day!
8 a.m.: Check Out The House Decorations
Everything about this day is formal, from the outfits to the traditions, and even the already-fancy sorority houses are dressed up for the occasion. Bid day banners are hung on every house, and when I got to my own sorority house, I got to see our decorations for this year. Our sorority flower is the carnation, and our grand staircase was lined with them. It looked like something out of Bridgerton!
8:15 a.m.: Personalize decorations with our New Members’ Names
We got our finalized bid list, which is a list of all of the girls running to our house later in the day. In Alabama tradition, when the new members run home, they are greeted with their name on a sign specialized for that sorority. The Gamma Phi Beta sign is the crescent moon, one of the symbols of our sorority. We make sure each sign is looking picture perfect, and we all help out by writing each new member’s name on a sign (in calligraphy, of course).
9 a.m.: Picture time
We had our professional Bid Day photographer come to our house to capture some last-minute shots of our whole sorority, and each individual pledge class, for the last time before we welcome 140+ new members to our house.
10 a.m.: Bid Day Begins
This time marks the official start of Bid Day, when each potential new member goes into Bryant Denny Stadium to open their bids. At 10 a.m. on the dot, they all are seated in the stadium with their bids in hand, and they can finally open them to see which house they got. During this time, I was back at my own sorority house waiting, but sounds of the girls screaming with excitement in the stadium can seriously be heard all over Tuscaloosa.
10:15 a.m.: Time to run home
By this time, the new members of Gamma Phi Beta run home! And I mean that literally. Once they open their bids and leave the stadium, they literally run as fast as they can to get to the house. We also welcomed home all of our members that served as Sigma Rho Chis for the week, and had to temporarily disaffiliate to assist PNMs (potential new members) with their recruitment process. Some of my friends served as Rho Chis this year, so we were all so excited to have them back home!
This is by far the sweetest part of the day, especially for the freshman and sophomore girls. Sophomores are the ones holding the crescent moon signs for the new members. They serve as “Bid Day bigs” and get to show the new girls around. I will always cherish when I officially met my Bid Day little, who became my actual little and best friend on Bid Day two years ago. It was by far one of the best days I have had at The University of Alabama!
10:30 a.m.: More pictures
All of our new members got to sit on the stairs of our house and take their first official picture as a whole member class! It is so cute getting to see how excited they all are! They all were gifted jerseys for bid day with our letters on it, so you can easily spot which girl is a “baby moon,” our nickname for our new members! After this, all of the active members got to jump in for a whole house picture. With 400+ girls, this is usually the only time we get to do this each year, so it is extra special!
11 a.m.: Bid Day Bags
It is called Christmas In The South for a reason! All the new members got to open their Bid Day bags, with all their new goodies. Hello Molly sponsored our house this year, and gave us some extra gifts for the new members. I loved getting to see all their faces when they saw all the gifts they got!
11:15 a.m.: Bid Day Brunch
I was personally so hot from the Alabama heat — and pretty hungry after all the activities on Bid Day morning — so we finally got to go back inside our house and get our annual Bid Day brunch. I had so much fun sitting with all of my friends and meeting their new Bid Day littles!
12 p.m.: Mingle With Members
It was my last Bid Day being an active member, so I was soaking in every second and taking as many pictures as I could! I spent the rest of the morning walking around the house and seeing all of my friends for the first time after summer break. For the rest of the seniors, it was a bittersweet day. I guess you can say it was the first of the lasts for us, but I’m really trying to avoid thinking about that — I do not want it to be over at all. Do I really have to graduate or can I just stay here forever?
1 p.m.: Wind Down
For the active members, Bid Day was pretty much over for us. The new members got to go on their Bid Day retreat to bond as a new pledge class. My friends and I walked back to my little’s apartment to hang out for the rest of the day. To cool off from the Alabama heat, we spent the day by the pool. Of course we spent hours looking through all of the pictures we took, and watching the last of the Bama Rush content for this year!