How to Plan a Class Reunion

Your 10 year reunion does not just magically happen, some very dedicated people will need to step forward and plan the event. It is best to start a year in advance, gathering information, donations, and getting things done in your free time.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• yearbook
• mailing list
• internet access
• committees

1. First determine if all classmates are invited, or only the ones who actually graduated with the class. Also decide if you want to invite faculty and contact the school to make arrangements as soon as possible to include them.

2. Contact your old high school to find out if you had a class sponsor who can assist with anything, if there is a budget, if you can use any of the administrative materials (photocopier, mailing supplies, stamps, etc.), and most schools will be able to provide a list of last known addresses for your class year.

3. Find classmates: Use your old yearbooks to create a list of all the classmates (especially if you had a large class). Classmates.com may not have everyone's names, but it is a fairly good site for developing that list and finding a few of the married names for women. Create free accounts on both Facebook and Myspace - if you aren't familiar, these are social networking websites - and begin searching these sites for classmates. Send email messages to anyone you can find asking them to respond with their current contact information.
   
   Another good approach is using an White Pages.com for last known addresses/phone numbers, and call the parents of classmates to get contact information from them.

4. Pick a date: A very common date is the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Many people still come 'home' for the holiday but aren't over scheduled like they are around Christmas. Summer is also a nice time for an outdoor event, but attendance is greatly affected by vacations and many don't want to spend money traveling home just for a reunion.
   
   Contact everyone you can reach once the date is set so they can mark it on their calendars while you work out the other details.

5. Contact local businesses for cash donations, venue discounts, floral/food donations, and anything else you can get. Use cash donations to off set the price of tickets. Offer businesses an opportunity to advertise at the event. Many reunions now create small 'memory books' with current info about each alum, and you can add a business ad section in the back of the book.

6. Pick a venue and explain you are planning a reunion on a limited budget. Just as venues charge more for weddings, they charge LESS for reunions, especially if you choose Thanksgiving weekend because it is difficult to book other events. Any revenue for them is good revenue.
   
   Before setting an individual ticket price, include any price that applies: meal cost per person, hors d'ouevres, bar, bartender fees, DJ or other entertainment, security personnel, room rental, linen fees, state and city taxes, and gratuity (18%-20% is acceptable and some venues will include it in the costs). Don't forget to include cost of decorations, flowers, a memory book or a program, invitations (printing and mailing), and surveys. Once you have a total if you had to estimate a few costs add a little wiggle room, divide by the number of people you believe will attend and set that as the ticket price.
   
   How many will attend? If you contact enough people in advance and give them the date ASAP, ask them to notify you if they are planning to attend, and if they plan to bring a date. Poorly planned or late planned reunions often see just 20% of their class attend. Small classes however will sometimes see 100% attendance. Try to get a count of the maybes well in advance, and make sure ticket prices regardless of attendance will at least cover the flat fees for a DJ/Floors/room rental.

7. If you can send evites, you will save money on printing and postage, and everyone can see who is attending or not attending. Otherwise, you can print invitations as places like Kinkos; if you are lucky, they will even help with a little bit of the design.
   
   Include in the RSVP questions about choice of dinner (if there is a choice), their guest's name and dinner choice, their contact information including phone and email, and where they should make payments. The invitation should include information of the venue address, start/end time of the event, a brief summary of the program if there is one, who to contact if they have questions, and a list of local hotels where they can stay if coming from out of town.

Tips & Warnings

• If many people are traveling for the reunion, ask a few local hotels to save a block of rooms and rent them at a discount.
• Disperse assignments to volunteers based on whether they live locally or not. Local volunteers can contact businesses in person, non-local volunteers can search the internet and the phone book for old classmates.
• Many people who dropped-out or were held back still feel like a part of a certain class year. Consider this when searching for classmates and decide if you would like to include them.
• Though Classmates.com has limited tools unless you pay to join, they do allow you to post info about events on the site and to update everyone from your class year. It's a cost-effective way to send out a 'Save the Date'; though not all classmates will check the site, it does allow you to see who viewed it and when they viewed it.
• Don't try to go it alone! Request help from the start so that you don't get bogged down trying to find people, plan the details, and live your own life.
• Don't stress the negative reactions! Sadly, not everyone has recovered from the traumas of high-school politics and no matter how you plan the event they will disapprove of the venue/date/cost. Try to keep it affordable and convenient as everyone will be at different crossroads in their lives, but remember that you cannot plan around everyone's schedules and budgets.

Resources

• Facebook - social network
• MySpace - social network
• Classmates listing and linking
• White Pages - people search
• Free online Evites
• How to Reconnect on Facebook

[dbmcavoy]

on 7/8/2009 The brainstorming meeting for the 20 year reunion will be taking place very soon. Those of you who have an idea or opinion you would like considered please let me know. The sooner we get started the more successful we will be. Thank you in advance.
Diane Burke McAvoy 1990