Bid Day isn’t a set day, but it is the last event in sorority recruitment. With today’s social media, it’s easy and fun to look at Bid Day pictures. Once upon a time, Bid Day was a time for business attire. Today, Bid Days are a day for t-shirts and shorts. But the joy is the same. In honor of Bid Day, wherever it may be taking place, here is a list of the flowers of the 26 National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) groups. For it is my belief that while flowers, colors, songs, badges, etc. set the organizations apart, in the end, the things the NPC groups stand for and believe in are essentially the same.
The official founding date of NPC is May 24, 1902. Eleven of the first twelve NPC meetings took place in Chicago. The 1911 NPC meeting took place on November 3-4 in nearby Evanston on the Northwestern University campus. A Panhellenic luncheon was held in Northwestern’s Patten Gymnasium. There were 350 women in attendance. The table decorations were the flowers of the different fraternities, each delegation being seated near its special flower.
The composition of NPC in 1911 was a little different than it is today. The members in rotation order were: Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, Alpha Phi, Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Zeta Tau Alpha, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Delta Pi, and Delta Zeta. It is interesting, however, to note that all of the groups which were members in 1911 are still in existence. In the ensuing years, a number of national organizations would become members of NPC; some of those organizations no longer exist. The defunct organizations, for the most part, were absorbed or merged with current NPC members (to learn more about the former NPC organizations, see http://wp.me/p20I1i-23I).
The flowers of today’s 26 NPC organizations NPC are:
Alpha Chi Omega – Red carnation
Alpha Delta Pi – Woodland violet
Alpha Epsilon Phi – Lily of the valley
Alpha Gamma Delta – Red and buff roses
Alpha Omicron Pi – Jacqueminot rose
Alpha Phi – Lily of the valley and the blue and gold forget-me-not
Alpha Sigma Alpha – Narcissus and aster
Alpha Sigma Tau – Yellow rose
Alpha Xi Delta – Pink rose
Chi Omega – White carnation
Delta Delta Delta – Pansy
Delta Gamma – Cream colored rose
Delta Phi Epsilon – Lovely purple iris
Delta Zeta – Pink Killarney rose
Gamma Phi Beta – Pink carnation
Kappa Alpha Theta – Black and gold pansy
Kappa Delta – White rose
Kappa Kappa Gamma – Fleur-de-lis (iris)
- An iris from Stewart House, where it all began for Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Phi Mu – Rose colored carnation
Phi Sigma Sigma – American Beauty rose
Pi Beta Phi – Wine carnation
Sigma Delta Tau – Golden tea rose
Sigma Kappa – Wild purple violet
Sigma Sigma Sigma – Purple violet
Theta Phi Alpha – White rose
Zeta Tau Alpha – White violet
Lunch at the 1911 NPC Conference. The flowers of each group served as a centerpiece for each delegation.
