Have you ever wondered what happened to the captain of your football team? What about your class valedictorian? Is your “class couple” still going strong?
If you’re eager to catch up with your graduating class, there’s no better way than a high school reunion. A high school reunion is a perfect way to catch up with classmates, explore your old stomping grounds, and reconnect with a special time in your life.
Why Have a High School Reunion?
Also known as a class reunion, you can expect to catch up with former classmates, reminisce about your high school years, and celebrate the anniversary of your high school graduation. Reunions usually occur every five to ten years.
High school reunions provide an opportunity to reconnect with classmates you may have lost touch with over the years. You may even expand your professional network in unexpected ways. In some cases, old romances rekindle, or new ones blossom out of shared pasts.
Class reunions also allow you to revisit old hangouts, remember your teenage years, and see how your home changed. Many reunions include former teachers and administrators from your high school.
Getting Started
Class reunions require a lot of work, including behind the scenes planning before announcing a date and location. The pre-planning stages of a reunion are critical and require teamwork and excellent communication.
Create a Reunion Planning Committee
Many classes rely on student body officers to plan reunions, but that’s not always the case. To pull off a successful reunion, you want to build a committee of high-energy, committed people. The primary planning committee should consist of at least four people, regardless of reunion size.
- A President or Chair is the person who holds everything together and keeps track of what’s happening.
- A Treasurer is needed to track expenses and keep things on a budget.
- A Promoter or Secretary is in charge of communication, including spreading the word about the reunion.
- A Producer or Planner is the person who sets and enforces deadlines.
If you have a larger class, you will probably need support from several classmates to keep things moving. A good rule of thumb is one person for every twenty-five people expected to attend. Remember, there’s a lot to do, so you can use all the help you can find.
Schedule Planning Committee Meetings
Once you’ve gathered your team, it’s necessary to get everybody on the same page. Set a schedule for meetings that work for everybody, even if you meet virtually. There are plenty of options for online meetings to accommodate busy schedules and distance issues.
You may wish to break up into smaller committees for some tasks and arrange to reconnect at various times. For example, you may divide the tasks into setting a venue, finding classmates, and planning. Each of those three committees may choose to meet weekly and report back to the entire team once per month.
When to Start Planning
In short, you need to start planning as soon as possible. It takes at least one year to plan larger reunions, especially when you’re looking to book bigger venues, save money, and ensure a solid turnout. Smaller, more intimate reunions might come together in a few months with excellent planning.
Building Your To-Do List
There are a lot of steps involved in the reunion planning process. Your committee should establish a checklist to ensure you don’t forget anything. Though every reunion is different, there are some basic requirements to include in your initial list.
- Set the budget and arrange accounts for purchases and payments.
- Selecting and reserving a venue, food and drink, entertainment, and photography.
- Creation of a reunion website and establishing other communication methods, including tickets and location of classmates.
- Decide on food and beverages to be served.
- Create a slideshow, memory book, memorials, and gifts of any kind.
Final Thoughts on Planning Committees
Before diving into the fun stuff, like venues and entertainment, everybody must understand their responsibilities. Spread the duties around, so nobody is left holding too many jobs. Clearly define all goals, responsibilities, meeting dates, and deadlines at each meeting to prevent misunderstandings and miscommunications.
Setting the Stage
Create the foundation for an awesome reunion by setting up the most significant details first. The details may be fun, and some committee members could offer up some big deals, like food service from a brother-in-law’s food truck, but you don’t want to put the cart before the horse.
Some of the big-ticket items on your checklist, like the venue, could impact the details. Your venue could require you to use their caterer. That means you need a different site, or you won’t be able to use your committee member’s brother-in-law.
Locate Your Classmates
Don’t get too carried away with planning until you have some solid numbers. You need to know about how many people will attend, so you know what size venue to book. Locating your classmates and getting a feel for interest in a reunion is imperative.
If you’re having a tough time locating people, try social media, especially LinkedIn and Facebook. Spread the word and seek out others to help locate missing classmates.
Select a Date
Choosing a date may be a challenge, so try sending out a survey with a selection of dates. As a committee, select three or four dates that seem to work for you then submit them to the rest of your class. Go with the time that suits the majority.
Establish a Budget
You can’t plan anything until you know how much you can afford to spend. Start by estimating how many people will attend. Determine how much tickets will cost. Do the math to determine how much you expect to make on ticket sales to arrive at a projected budget.
Budget planning should look something like this. Say you have a class of 500, you can expect about 40% of them to attend or 200 people. About half of your classmates will bring dates. That’s 300 people expected to buy tickets. If you charge $75 per ticket, your projected budget is $22,500 for the reunion.
While your ticket sales will not represent your entire budget, they will be the bulk of it. Set aside any extra revenue to cover last minute and incidental costs. Also, your committee members should buy the first tickets to establish your start-up funding for immediate needs, like a down-payment for a venue.
Set Your Destination
Choose your venue based on your budget, hometown amenities, and the number of classmates expected to attend. The school gymnasium is a popular choice and allows you the chance to revisit your old stomping grounds, but it’s not always available or the most exciting.
Look into local amenities that have room to accommodate your class. Local bars and barns are fun, affordable, and generally easy to arrange. If your hometown has other fun attractions, like ballparks or zoos, they can provide unique backdrops and often offer additional perks with reservations.
Creative venues make for the most thrilling reunions. When there are plenty of activities and room to roam, it helps everybody relax.
- Breweries and wineries are fun, educational, and usually have event planners to help the process.
- Casinos and adult arcades ensure that attendees have plenty to do, but most have private rooms and event planners to help make the experience memorable.
- Sunset cruises are easy to organize, picturesque, and provide just enough structure to the evening.
- If it works with your budget and class size, a beach reunion is a perfect choice for a relaxing event.
Start a Website
Creating a website for your high school reunion doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It’s a great way to get the word out and build interest in what you’re planning. There are plenty of event planning and reunion sites that can help get your website up and running.
Be sure to include pictures from your high school years, information about where you are in the planning process, and encourage people to help locate missing classmates. It’s critical to keep the site updated through the planning process.
The website should be a central place where you and your classmates can find everything they need to know about the reunion.
- Set an RSVP page and sell your tickets.
- Create surveys, polls, and questionnaires to get an idea of what people want to see at the reunion, what your classmates have been up to, and gather information for a memory book.
- Establish classmate pages with lists of who will attend and who is missing.
- Share sponsors, raffles, and giveaways to encourage more people to contribute and participate.
- Include information for those traveling back home. You may end up with hotel and transportation partnerships that will help save your classmates money.
- Post a calendar with updates and deadlines.
- Include an FAQ page with any questions you’re fielding from classmates. If one person asks, it’s a good bet that others have the same question.
Filling in the Details
You’ve got the skeleton for your reunion, but the details make all the difference! The fun part of planning is filling in the theme, food, and activities.
Select a Theme
Setting a theme for your class reunion is a great way to get everybody on the same page and make the event look and feel more cohesive. Some people adopt the theme from their senior prom, but that doesn’t work for everybody.
- Choose a decade for some flashback fun, especially if you choose the one in which you graduated.
- Luau themes are fun and colorful. Have a real pig roast and drink tropical beverages, like daiquiris and Pina Coladas.
- Fiesta reunions also pack a punch with bright colors, spicy foods, and margaritas.
- A night abroad could spotlight any country or city. Choose Paris and set each table with mini Eiffel Towers and serve French wines or go with a British invasion and deck the venue with Union Jacks.
- Build on your venue. If your reunion is at the local ballpark, serve stadium foods, tall beers, and wear jerseys.
For any theme, be sure to include a dress code on your website. You don’t want people showing up in formal wear if most of the class will be wearing football jerseys. Or, if your venue is a classy restaurant, you want everybody to wear appropriate attire.
Plan a Menu
Once your team agrees on a theme, you can build out the menu. If your venue insists you use their staff, meet with them, and discuss your theme to see how they can help. In most cases, you need to decide if you want a buffet style or seated dining. Don’t forget to consider alcohol and other beverages.
Entertainment Ideas
Will you have a DJ or a band? Your budget will impact this area more than anything, but even on the smallest budget, you need some sort of entertainment. Check with your venue to see what they can handle, and they may have some suggested entertainers.
Don’t forget to make a slideshow to run in the background! Include pictures from your high school years. You may want to request photos from your classmates in advance. Be sure to include images of any classmates who are no longer with you.
Set a Loose Itinerary
Building an itinerary is not about scheduling every minute of the evening. Instead, you want to take a broad look at the weekend and what you hope to accomplish. Do not forget to arrange a tour of your high school!
Many planners arrange events throughout the reunion weekend to make the most of the event. It also helps encourage people to travel back home when there are several events to attend. Consider things like scavenger hunts, cookouts at the local park, or meeting up at your former high school hotspot.
Including informal events during the day is a great way to encourage people to involve their families in the festivities. Parents may enjoy the opportunity to introduce their children to old friends and share where they grew up.
How to Decorate
Aside from decorations that match your theme, you want to include plenty of nostalgia. Get creative but share plenty of pictures from then and now. Put a request out to your classmates for pictures they’d like to share. It’s also a great way for people to contribute even if they can’t attend.
- Enlarge the class picture and display it for all to see. You can even have everybody sign it then auction it off as part of a raffle.
- Create a memorial display for deceased classmates.
- Post a map and ask attendees to mark where they live to show how far your class has gone.
Add Awards and Honors
What is a reunion without awards and honors for the attendees? Keep it tasteful, but have some fun. Share significant achievements and small victories to bring your classmates together. You can announce weddings, children, grandchildren, and other major milestones.
Prizes can be silly, like buttons and bumper stickers from your high school, or substantial, like gift certificates. You can even let each winner say a few words about their award.
Additional Ideas for a Fabulous Event
If you have the money, time, and desire, some other options can really pack a punch. These are not necessary but add a nice touch to the event.
Gift Bags
Aside from prizes, you may want to consider a gift bag for each attendee. Include items in your school colors like candies, pencils, and notepads. Throw in some coupons from your sponsors or an item explicitly printed for your reunion. You can even provide a copy of the slideshow in each bag.
Memory Books
One of the most popular gifts for attendees is the memory book. They can be printed as books or programs, burned to a CD or DVD, or shared virtually with the class. Memory books can be time-intensive, but they are rewarding.
- Have each committee member contribute a short note about the reunion.
- Create a directory with then and now photos of each classmate along with a questionnaire. You can include people who can’t attend and memorial pages for deceased classmates.
- Include class statistics like who lives where, how many are married, and professions.
- Update the class on popular teachers and administrators.
- Allow classmates and sponsors to advertise in the memory books.
Memory books can also include information from the evening if you distribute them after the event. You can sell them or give them to attendees for free. Don’t forget to make them available for classmates unable to attend.
Make the Most of Your Money
You want the reunion to be fun, but it also needs to be affordable. Nobody wants to break the bank to attend a class reunion, and you can’t end up in a hole over the event. There are plenty of tricks to help ease the costs and make the most of your money.
Get Creative When Selling Tickets
Your ticket sales are the bulk of your money, so you need to be smart about selling them. Since your committee is buying the first tickets, you’ll have a little start-up funding, but it will only go so far.
Tiered Pricing Ticket Sales
Creating a tiered pricing structure is a great way to encourage people to buy early and get some capital. A three-tier price system uses deadlines to encourage attendees to purchase tickets early. For example, if your regular rate is $75 per ticket, you would set your tiers like this:
- Tickets purchased six to nine months before the event will be $60 each.
- Tickets purchased between two and six months before the event will be $75 each.
- Anybody who purchases a ticket less than two months before the event pays $85.
This structure ensures you get money upfront and provides a deal for people committing to the event early. It also penalizes last-minute attendees, but not so much to discourage them from attending.
The Early Bird Gets the Worm
If you are fortunate enough to have prizes from sponsors, you can employ the early bird tactic. Establish a set prize for an early bird drawing. Advertise to your classmates (on the website, of course) that the first 50 people to purchase tickets have a chance to win the prize.
Additional Thoughts on Ticket Sales
When it comes to ticket sales, you want as many people to attend as possible, but you also need to be prepared for a set number. There are two additional tactics you can employ to ensure you have the money upfront, encourage attendance, and secure a good idea of your numbers.
Set a final cut-off date for purchasing tickets to guarantee your numbers and make sure you have the funds you need. Make sure the date is well-publicized and reinforce that you will not be selling tickets at the door.
When committees are concerned about attendance, you can offer a non-refundable deposit. Instead of requiring people to pay full price upfront, you can ask for deposits nine months to one year before the event. You have the money to get started and a good idea of your headcount without forcing full commitments.
Fundraising and Sponsorships Provide Additional Funds
You might be surprised by the number of people willing to support a class reunion. Many local businesses tend to appreciate reunions because it means more customers. Your classmates may also be willing to sponsor an ad or make a donation for publicity.
- Sell ad space in your memory books or programs.
- Request donations from local businesses and classmates.
- Negotiate with vendors for lower pricing in exchange for assurances, like advertising in the memory book.
- Hold an online auction, raffle, or 50/50 drawing to raise extra money. Even classmates who can’t attend may still want to participate.
- An open bar is expensive. You can provide one or two drink tickets and then sell additional ones for a set fee.
Small Ways to Save Money
There are plenty of little tweaks you can make to your event to save a little extra cash. When you’re creative enough with the little things, you end up with more money for the big ones.
- Skip the postage. Instead of mailing invites, save the date cards, and newsletters, use electronic versions via email and your website.
- Ask for help from your classmates. The chances are good that you’ve got a talented class with plenty of experience in useful areas (like photography). Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
- Instead of a DJ or band, make CDs with music from your high school years to play over the venue’s sound system.
- Put disposable cameras on every table for your classmates to photograph the event and then collect them at the end of the night. You can compile the photos and send them electronically to your classmates instead of paying a photographer or videographer.
- Host a joint reunion with the class before or after yours. Not only will you expand your budget, but you’ll also have a lot of help planning.
Tips to Increase Attendance
You need a good turn out to have a successful class reunion. It takes time and effort to plan the reunion, but you also have to promote it and encourage your classmates to attend.
Persistence Pays Off
Some of your classmates may not be as eager to attend a high school reunion as you are. That just means you have to work harder to highlight the appeal. Keep encouraging your classmates to reach out to friends and tout all of the great things you’re planning for the event.
Recruit Classmate Finders
Are you having a tough time tracking down some of your classmates? Make it into a competition with a reward for the person who finds the most missing classmates. You can give them a free ticket, pay for a meal, or offer up a donated prize.
Promote, Promote, and Promote Some More!
Announce your reunion anywhere alumni frequent. Put up flyers around town, publicize the reunion at school functions, and across social media platforms. Remember that you may reach some of your classmates through friends and family who stayed local.
Keep the Website Relevant
Get creative and stay active on your website. Offer teasers, trivia questions, and silly competitions (like who traveled to the most countries or who held the most jobs) to entice your classmates to keep coming back.
Add a Personal Touch
There’s nothing like a personal contact to spark excitement about an event. Pick up the phone and call your classmates who haven’t RSVP’d to the event yet. You can answer questions and put any concerns to rest. Your classmates may even have some excellent ideas for you!
Enjoy Your High School Reunion
It takes time, effort, and teamwork to plan a class reunion, but the nostalgia and connections are worthwhile. You never know what a reunion will bring to your class, but it’s sure to draw out a lot of memories and laughter.
With all planning done and the venue set up, there’s just one last step to take – enjoy your reunion!