15 Bid Day Theme Ideas Your Chapter Will Love

Bid day themes get chosen the way most chapter decisions get made: someone finds a Pinterest board and everyone agrees it looks nice. That works right up until the shirts arrive in a colour that clashes with the backdrop, or the theme turns out to need decor nobody budgeted for. Here are 15 themes that reliably work, plus the practical filter to run them through first.

Choose the theme before you order anything

Bid day is unlike your other events in one important way: the date is fixed by recruitment and cannot move. Everything either exists by that morning or it does not.

Merch is the long pole. Design, approval, printing and shipping all take real time, and rush fees are steep. So the theme needs locking around six weeks out, because it determines the shirts, and the shirts determine everything else. Full sequence in the bid day checklist.

The filter to run a theme through

• Does it work on a shirt? This is the real constraint. A theme that needs six colours or fine detail is expensive to print and often looks muddy.
• Does it give you a backdrop? Most bid day photographs happen in one spot. The theme should suggest what that spot looks like.
• Does it work outdoors, in heat? Bid day is frequently hot and sunny. Themes needing heavy layers or indoor lighting fight the conditions.
• Is the palette photographable? Bright, high-contrast colours read in direct sun. Pastels can wash out completely.
• Can a new member who owns nothing take part? She joined an hour ago. If the theme requires an outfit, it excludes exactly the people the day is for.

That last point is the one chapters get wrong most often. On bid day the members dress to the theme and the new members receive the shirt. Any theme demanding more from them is the wrong theme.

Throwback and decades

• Y2K — metallics, butterfly clips, low-rise everything.
• Disco / Studio 54 — sequins, gold and a mirror ball.
• ’80s neon — bright colors and windbreakers.
• VSCO / 2010s — scrunchies, Polaroids and pastels.

Print note: these give you strong two-colour designs, which are cheap to print and hold up in sunlight.

Bright and colorful

• Tropical / beach club — palm prints, inflatables and leis.
• Coastal grandmother — blues, whites and lemons.
• Cowgirl / space cowgirl — denim, hats and stars.
• Barbie / dream house — hot pink everything.

Why these work outdoors: saturated colour is the whole point, and saturated colour is what survives direct sun on camera.

Fun and playful

• Greek goddess — togas, gold and laurel.
• Carnival / fair — games, balloons and treats.
• Under the big top — red-and-white circus energy.
• Game day — jerseys, foam fingers and school colors.
• Euphoria / glow — glitter, neon and UV lighting.
• Cloud nine — pastel clouds and dreamy backdrops.
• Mamma Mia — Greek-island whites and blues.

Two cautions: Euphoria and glow themes rely on UV lighting, which does nothing at 2pm in sunshine, so save it for an evening event. And carnival themes carry the highest decor cost on this page, because games and structures are real spending.

Themes to avoid

Anything built on a culture, ethnicity or religion. Chapters lose recognition over this every year, and the harm is real regardless of intent. The test: if the costume is a group of people, pick something else. Eras, colours, places and concepts are all available.

Also avoid themes that require new members to have brought something. They have not.

Execution is most of it

The theme is roughly a third of the day. What turns a good theme into a bid day people post about:

• One strong backdrop. Better than decor scattered across a lawn, and it is where the photos happen.
• Merch that matches. Shirt colour, backdrop and decor palette agreed together, not separately.
• A run of show. The reveal, photos, food, tradition, and a clear end.
• Shade and water. Unglamorous, and the most common practical failure of the day.
• A wet-weather plan decided in advance, not in the rain an hour before.

Common questions

When should we pick our bid day theme?

About six weeks out, because the theme determines the merch and printing plus shipping is the longest lead time in the whole event.

What makes a good bid day theme?

One that prints cleanly in two colours, suggests an obvious photo backdrop, survives heat and direct sun, and asks nothing of new members who arrived with nothing.

Which themes should we avoid?

Anything based on a culture, ethnicity or religion, and anything requiring new members to supply an outfit.

Do new members dress to the theme?

No. Members dress to the theme, new members receive the shirt. Anything else excludes the people the day exists for.

Want the whole thing produced?

Tell us your vibe, your recruitment dates and your new member count and we will handle merch, decor, the backdrop and the run of show.

See how we plan bid day →