Sunday, October 24, 2010

High School Reunion

Next summer will be 10 years since I graduated from High School, crazy!!! I served on the Senior Class Student Council as the Activities Chairperson, so I knew that I would be helping to plan my class reunion. However, I just found out that our class president won't be able to attend let alone plan the reunion because of graduate school. So, it has fallen to me to put this thing together! I'm a little excited, but mostly just freaking out! Especially because I graduated in Nevada and I'm living in Georgia. Luckily we live in the computer age, so locating and communicating with people has never been easier. I'm just having a hard time knowing where to start and I'm hoping for some advice. Please leave a comment and answer the following questions for me. Please. Please. If you haven't had your 10 year reunion yet, please just give me any thoughts you have about the subject.

1. Did you attend your 10 year High School reunion. If not, why? Specifically, was it because you just didn't want/care to? Or did you want to go, but scheduling and/or travel wouldn't allow you to? Was the cost of the tickets a factor?

2. Did you enjoy it? What did you enjoy and what did you dislike. (specifically things that the planning committee can control)

3. What type of party should I go for?
a-fancy sit down catered dinner at a hotel or conference center (probably around $30 a plate)
b-pot luck in the park family picnic sort of thing (pretty cheap per person)

4. At or before your reunion did they do any sort of fund-raising? What did they do and do you think it worked?

5. Was there any kind of program or speakers or activities? Was it just dinner and socializing?

6. Please just leave any additional thoughts or advice.

Thank you so much for your help!

6 comments:

Matilda said...

1. I did attend my 10 and 20-year reunions. There were LOTS of people I wanted to see.

2. I enjoyed it. I usually don't enjoy how there are two parties going on in the same room....one close to the bar and the other FAR away from the bar, but that's something that can't be avoided in order for EVERYONE to enjoy themselves, I guess.

3. Both times we had a picnic (free--bring your own lunch) in the park on a Saturday afternoon, then a fancy dinner at a hotel convention room the same evening. Our tickets were $90 this year!! One of my best friends in Nevada didn't have money to come so I paid for her and she was my date. I know that lofty price did discourage many from coming to the dinner. I went to both the picnic and the dinner.

4. To my knowledge there wasn't any fundraising beforehand. I do know they used a reunion planning website and THEY did all the work. They contacted all of us, sent flyers, and even made memory books ($20) for us. Go to www.weplanreunions.com

5. At our 10-year there was entertainment. We had a nice slide show of old photos, etc. Our 20-year had no entertainment, but it didn't matter to me. I heard a lot of complaints from others, though, who thought it was lame.

6. One thing that was fun: there was a photographer at the fancy dinner that got a nice group picture for us (again--$20). Several classmates had their spouses stand by the photographer and snap pics with their own cameras, too.

7. My favorite thing, though, was the memory book. I've looked through it several times since the reunion a year ago.. It gave short synopses of classmates lives since graduation, their spouses' and kids' names and ages, and had contact information (adresses, e-mail, phone numbers).

Have fun!!

Lisa K said...

I didn't go to mine because the HS I went to for 3 years was in Dallas and I couldn't fly there for it. The one in UT that I went to for a year I also didn't go to. Mainly because the handful of friends that I would want to see are still around and I see them on a regular basis. So I didn't want to pay to see them. =)

Melanie said...

Hi, I'm not a regular reader of your blog, but someone shared your post, so here are my thoughts. My 10 year reunion was two summers ago. The main reason I didn't attend it because I now live on the opposite edge of the country. Had I been closer though, I still don't know that I would've attended because I'm not really close to anyone from high school anymore. Cost is definitely a factor. I'd be more inclined to go to an event that I didn't have to invest in financially, i.e. a picnic, than I would for a $30, $50, $90 ticket to a fancy event.

Ann Mitchell said...

At AF High, we have a reunion every 5 years! My 10 year was at a hotel in Provo. The most interesting part was seeing who was going to the bar and drinking...the seminary president!
It will be my 35th next summer!!!

Lance and Selena Thayne said...

I wish I could help, but I have yet to go to our reunion. Good Luck Kate...you will do Fabulous!!

Bridget said...

Wanted to go but couldn't because of schedules. Originally they planned mine to be a fancy dinner thing but at the last minute they changed it to be low-key and cheap. The next day, they had a picnic at a park for people with young kids to go to to meet each other's families. That's my input!