Kristina Morgan Rose - The Recovering Sorority Girls Guide to a Years Worth of Perfect Parties

Morgan and Brooksie would like to thank the worlds most visionary literary agent Linda Konner, and everyone at Andrews McMeel, for their RSG joie de vivre and for guiding us through the publishing process.

Our beta readers, Carie Ketz, Kristen Baldwin, Ginna DuRard, and Heather Callahan Stevens,who read the good, the bad, the ugly, and the first draft.

A special thank you to Carie for taking the leap of faith and test driving our recipes at her own parties. Thank you for accepting your bid; your tiara is in the mail.

And also we have to thank Jim Johnston. Jim honestly believed in us before we ever believed in ourselves and always made time to read our latest draft. Without you, we never would have gotten this far. Youre the best unpublished author in America, and a great friend. Its just too bad that you cant be a sister .

Finally, Morgan and Brooksie have to thank Joe and Marshall. Their love and support have made it a lot easier to party.

CONTENTS

ARTICLE I.

FOUNDING STATEMENT

Our mission is to educate people everywhere in fabulous party-hosting techniques. It all comes back to one simple premiseeverything we need to know about throwing great parties, we learned in our collegiate sorority.

Sometimes, Greek life can get a bad rap. But weve found that it truly teaches many valuable lessons, both serious and frivolous. Where else can you learn how to make really great tissue paper flowers for a homecoming float, the difference between formal versus semiformal dress, and, even more important, the fine distinction between casual versus dressy-casual?

After graduation, however, you are no longer a sorority girl. At that point, Greek or independent, you have entered collegiate recovery and are eligible to rush Rho Sigma Gamma, the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls, or RSG. An RSG needs to find an adult outlet for fun. Those wild nights with the entire water polo team as your party dates and midweek beach road trips with your pledge sisters are behind you. At twenty-three, thirty-three, and forty-three such things are just unseemly, not to mention no longer practical. After all, its not easy to meet an entire water polo team once youve left the dorm behind.

The time, therefore, has arrived for you to seize your destiny and to develop the skills required to throw parties that will take you into this new stage of life with the style and elegance that an RSG member deserves.

In the end, theres nothing better than a well-planned party. Our role as the founders of the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls indicates the adoption of a wholesale entertaining lifestyle. We have, therefore, transformed our lives into one nonstop party. All our party pursuits have taught us that not everyone has developed that sorority girl instinct to please her guests. It is the goal of our organization to spread this wisdom.

ARTICLE II.

MEMBERSHIP

So how do you know if RSG is for you? A girl is ready to rush the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls when she has reached the point where she would like the option of a chair and prefers not to be ankle-deep in beer cans at the end of the night. And lets be honestnow you have even more reasons to party than you ever did in college. The boring details of work, bills, and all the other yucky stuff that make up everyday life require escape.

As many of you already know, the central point in collegiate sorority life is membership recruitmentaka rush . During sorority rush , chapters are called upon to host up to fifteen separate, well-articulated parties in one week. Parties must be entertaining and accessible to the universitys entire rush group . Under these conditions, we, your faithful founders, learned how to match decoration colors, properly present menus, and make lots of high-quality party chatter.

No sorority can survive without generating new members. The rush process of the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls calls upon you, rushee , to entice new members of your urban/suburban friendship tribe with a series of well-thrown parties. In this quest for like-minded partyers you must cast a wide net and get to know a variety of people. Our collegiate experiences taught us that your new best friend may not reveal herself through a first impression and she definitely will not reveal herself if you have invited her into an awkward and user-unfriendly social situation. As a result, you must identify comfort zones and dedicate yourself to providing a social milieu that exists within those zones.

ARTICLE III.

SERVICE

The Society of Recovering Sorority Girls is committed to public service. When properly hosted, a party is a public serviceit gives your guests something to look forward to and creates excitement within your social circle. When a party falls flat, its just a waste of time in everyones busy lives. A party that fails to articulate our principles of creating guest comfort zones is likely a bad party, and bad parties generate resentment, making people reluctant to partake of your hospitality in the future. The adult equivalent of being cut from rush !

So to facilitate your service activities, well give you important how-to guides covering crucial party topics such as:

Appropriately articulating your party theme.

Making a little money look like extravagance.

Selecting your menu and beverages without breaking the bank or sacrificing the theme.

Devising simple, user-friendly menus that wont drain your time, make you a prisoner to your kitchen, or expand your waistline.

Making the best use of technology without people wondering if you work for Microsoft.

Mixing different sets of friends with grace.

Establishing your reputation as a party goddess and generally saving your social life.

In addition to spreading the party wisdom of the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls, we have provided a years worth of sensational social events. Unless otherwise specified, every event anticipates a guest list of twenty and includes a theme, a complete menu, decorations, mood points, and, above all, the attitude and vision you need to pull it off. Youll also notice were about simplicity, and be surprised by how a little attention to detail can take an ordinary object from great to first rate. We havent forgotten that parties, like life, should be funand so is this book. Weve included some top-ten lists, helpful quizzes, and loads of insightaka rantsto help you transition from a rushee into a pledge of the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls.

ARTICLE IV.

SISTERHOOD

If throwing a party by yourself seems too overwhelming, take a page from our bookpun intendedand grab a friend whose judgment you trust to act as your rush partner. RSGs faithful founders dont go it alone; why on earth would you? So find your suitable rush partner and the two of you can divide the work and cost, while you multiply the fun, guest list, and creativity.