Do you have any suggestions for someone putting together a 10-year high school reunion?

Question

I misworded my previous question and got no helpful answers.

I've sort of defaulted as the coordinator for our 10-year high school reunion. It was a pretty large class (over 200), and I've never been that great at planning party-type events.

Anyone who has put one of these together, do you have any advice for me?

Anyone who has been to one, was there something in particular you did or didn't like about yours?

All suggestions and answers would be appreciated. Thanks!

No, my name is not Smith.

Answer 1

You need to get in contact with your former school, and get them to give you a list of last known addresses and phone numbers for classmates

Then I would post that you are in the planning stages of the reunion for ______ school on myspace and classmates.com and reunion.com (you may find a lot of your classmates on these sites currently)

Next ask for help so you can have reunion "committee"--usually 8-10 people work, because then you each can do something different to bring the event together.

You will want to search for locations--get quotes
catering--get quotes
entertainment (music, band, DJ)--get quotes
entertainment (casino, bingo, golf, things to do)--get quotes
ice breakers (simple games to get the party started)--get quotes
raffle prizes (for like most changed person, or the most kids, who moved the furthest away, etc...)
hotel accomodations--get quotes--but don't include in ticket price
kid events--get quotes (only if this will be a kid friendly event)
drink prices--for a bar, if you are going to provide so much free, or if you will do a cash bar
flyers, postage, envelopes--cost of what you will need to get intouch with everyone

Put this all together, showing quotes for what the committee has decided to do. Estimate that if you were a class of 200 and everyone was married with 2 kids that would be 800 possible to attend---which is highly unlikely--plan the party for roughly 250 if just former students and their partner will attend, plan for 400-500 if children attend also (Make this first quote based on those numbers) divide the cost of everything by that many people and that is your ticket price

Create a general letter announcing the reunion, the "tenative dates" the ticket amt, the location, the events that will occur, and your information for feedback and responses. ( Do not put on the letter how much it costs grand total, just put what price you will charge to "get into" the event--make sure you tell them no ticket no entrance)--Include your phone number for those who have questions. Put a RSVP date on it of at least 1month prior to event.---HOWEVER ask for a quicker RSVP to let you know that they are interested and how many would join them so you can get a more accurate number for definite prices of tickets--include hotel info for those who would travel back home for the event.

Make sure in the inital letter that gets sent that you state ALL EVENTS AND PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.--that way if more people show up you can reduce ticket price, or if fewer people show up you may have to raise ticket price or drop some activities to make it affordable.

Keep in mind this can take 4-6 weeks to plan--that is why I suggest you get a committee together to help--break up the class list so you all call a few people, and each one of you research something different, meet once a week to review where everyone is at on getting their info, and discuss what you all do and don't like--make sure you think broadly though, there may be things you like that no one else does, so you want to find things that most people like to do.

I hope this all helps

Answer 2

i would say have a picnic style cook out, family friendly event for the day, at a local park, name tags for everyone. a cover charge for the meat and drinks and have everyone bring a covered dish. Also plan an adult only dance/ party without children, and where alcohol consumption is acceptable. for that evening.
By the way is your last name Smith?

Answer 3

Just a house party with blue and gold decorations would be nice. Idk rly lol