Have any of you ever planned a high school reunion? Advice, please.

Don't know if this would be better in the Lounge - I am hoping to get as wide a variety of responses as possible.

I am the class VP, and next summer will be our tenth year since graduation. My best friend is the Prez, but she's in the UK and therefore cannot realistically help plan very much. The Historian is also a good friend, who wants to plan it (he's REALLY great at it), but he's in NYC. I am the only permanent officer who is in Texas, as far as I know, so, even though I have a love-hate relationship with my hometown and my former peers, and I myself am about 400 miles away, it looks like I am going to have to take over most of the on-the-ground-planning. I should add that I used to be a literary events planner for a national bookseller in the UK, so I have some experience. I am pretty good at events.

I am looking for advice from people who have done this as to how I go about finding out how much money our class has (I know we had about $4,000 at the time of graduation), how to raise more money, how to get the word out, the decision-making process (e.g. who decides where it's held and when, etc.), ideas for the actual reunion (length, time of year, events, etc.), and how to get the best turn-out.

At the moment my friend in New York and I are planning to probably hold it at the local "heritage hall", a converted historic warehouse near downtown and next to our amazing former Santa Fe railroad station, now the Chamber of Commerce and local history museum. We'll probably have it in May or June, on a Saturday, and have like a brunch for ladies and maybe some kind of outdoor event for men, then an evening banquet with a buffet, live band, slideshow, etc.

The problem is, as it's only our tenth reunion, I am still (and I'm sure most of my classmates are, as well) working on getting my shit together. I'm in school working on my second masters while working two jobs. I have NO money. I mean, I can't pay for things up front with my own money and then be reimbursed by the class fund.

Should we contact all the members of the class and ask for donations??? I assume they will have to pay a per-head ticket fee for the banquet, so they will likely resent offering up extra money. What are some good fundraising ideas (considering I no longer live in my hometown?).

I was thinking I would place an article in the local paper (I'm sure they'll write up a little blurb for us for free in the society section) announcing that we are forming a planning committee, then contact any respondents and split it up into subcommittees for various aspects of the planning (e.g. fundraising, marketing, decorations/food) and then also sending out a bulletin through our myspace alumni network (which I am not a member of, as I don't WANT most of those people contacting me! haha).

Have I waited to late to start trying to get this together? Would it be better to do it at homecoming 2007?

Any ideas, insight, experiences VERY WELCOME!

Thanks!

help you, lots of people to help you.

if you have some lead time you could send out a survey to known members and see what they want or will support.

catering costs are based on numbers of attendees so you will not get estimates until you get an idea of how many are coming.

I would say a year of planning sounds reasonable.

around here in CA there are companies who specialize in reunions. advantages to this, but they are good if you can get them to personalize it enough. and they will.

Msongs

hear our song demos
www.msongs.com/msongsdemos.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_135373_organize-high-school.html

So you've been crowned organizer of your class reunion. Sure is different from homecoming queen or king, isn't it? It's time to celebrate life's successes and renew old acquaintances. It's also time to start losing the pounds, covering the gray and planning a reunion to remember.


Steps:
1. Form a committee (see 373 Plan an Organizational Meeting). First try contacting the class officers from your year. Then find local classmates. Assign one person to keep track of the master list and update it as responses come in. Delegate other tasks such as securing the site, maintaining the budget, invitations, food, music and decorations to other committee members.

2. Develop a detailed budget. You'll need to figure out how much each attendee will pay in order to cover the venue deposit, printing and mailing of invitations, and long-distance phone calls.

3. Start sleuthing. Call your high school to ask if it has contact information. Use Web sites like Classmates.com, Reunion.com and Switchboard.com. Send out an SOS e-mail message asking for the whereabouts of missing classmates. Check phone books on the Web or in libraries. Call local alumni from other classes. Check your yearbook for people's full and maiden names.

4. Shop for a venue. Find out if a favorite hangout from back then is still operating. Contact clubs or banquet halls. Ask what's included and shop around. Inquire about discounted rates at hotels for families of alumni attending the reunion. .... more at link....

Here's an outfit that DOES it FOR YOU: http://www.greatreunions.com/

take out newspaper ad
send out mailer to all classmates with addresses you have
form committees
make a website, or get someone to
see how much interest is generated
set a date
have a reunion

I don't know

good luck!:hippie:

I do know that classmates.com isn't a bad place to start

of my hs class. first, get some help. you will need people to help find other classmates . . . they might also be able to help with finances until you get some money in.

once you have located some classmates, you can send info to gauge interest and start receiving money. we have always been able to put on a reunion by charging $50 per person for the weekend (excluding airfare and hotel rooms, of course!) and selling advertising in the directory we produced. nowadays, you can do most everything by computer so your initial outlay will be for paper, ink and postage. once you know how many will be interested, you can decide how fancy you can get. keep in mind that some classmates may have kids and will find it hard to attend during the school year. plan for a summer reunion.

we usually do a cocktail party (cash bar) on friday night and a dinner on saturday. we quit doing the sunday picnic but you may be able to do that too if you get enough money. we found that out-of-town people liked to use sunday to visit other friends and relatives. you may also want to sell tickets at a discount for people who only want to come to the saturday night dinner. it is the biggest night.

the committee should be calling different venues to find out where they can get a good deal on hor's d'ouvres for friday night, the dinner on saturday and possible catering of a picnic on sunday. also, think about getting a dj instead of a band . . . unless your class produced one that will play for cheap. we used the same venue for saturday and sunday one year and it worked out well.

btw, the committees i have served on did not include class officers. you should be able to find enough classmates to help plan this party.

enjoy it! the planning and partying are fun.

good luck.

ellen fl

2002. I live in a different state than where I graduated, so the computer is invaluable. I have found that a smaller committee is better than a larger one because with a large one, there are too many differing opinions. We only have 4 people and we work so well together. When starting our reunion in 2002, we had an informal get together with our class members who still lived n the area. We met at a local restaurant and asked everyone to kick in $20 to help us with deposits, postage, copying costs, etc. These were donations. Your first job is to find the best place for the price to hold the reunion. Nail that down first. Remember, you will have to make the contract legal with a deposit. Then go from there booking a DJ, photographer, etc. Based on your costs, decide the price of your ticket and then add a little more to it. We sent an early mailing trying to get a ball park figure to see who would be attending. We asked to please send a deposit of $10 per ticket if someone said they would be attending and this would be subtracted from the amount due when the formal invitations and RSVPs were mailed at a later date. This gave us more working capital. Also, we asked each classmate to send a stamped, self addressed envelope along with the $10. This helped to cut down on the cost of the next mailing. Besides the reunion, we also had an informal pizza party at the K of C hall the night before the formal reunion. This was fun and very casual. It also gave those who could not attend the reunion a chance to come and see other classmates. Most people attended both. There were two separate prices.

After our reunion in 2002, we had over $2000 left over. We put that money in a savings account (be sure to have a couple of names on the account) and that is what we are using for this reunion. I was able to send out address verification letters, deposits on the venue, deposit for the DJ, deposit for the pizza restaurant, and deposit for the photographer without having to ask for donations. We will still request a $10 advance ticket purchase when the time comes because that should give us a fairly good head count. Hope this helps.

A really great way to find lost classmates is zabasearch.com The birth year of the name you are looking for is often there, so if there are 10 people with the same name, the one whose birth year would be correct for your age group just might be the person you are looking for. Also this site lists the female as well as the male, but with the married name.

It's not too late to get started, but don't wait much longer. Good luck!!

For the invaluable info and personal experience!!!

I need to find a rich classmate to help me out with the initial stuff.

:hi: