High School Reunion

plainjane0415

My high school class has their 10 year reunion coming up.  We are trying to come up with ideas on what to do and how to organize it.  Does anyone have any tips on how they organized theirs if you have already had one?  How did you keep it cost efficient?

JennyColada

I didn't go to mine. It was at a bar with limited appetizers. If it had been dinner I would have gone. But at 28 I felt 0 interest in getting "omg turnt up!!!!!" with people that I didn't even know in high school.

emmaaa

I'm in charge of planning our 10 year reunion which is like 4 years away. We went to a very rural high school. So our reuinion is literally going to be in the barn at my dad's house on our farm and a bon fire in the field. Everyone will have to contribute money (Like $10 per person) for alcohol and food that I will purchase. Any money remaining will either be donated to the scholarship fund at our high school or put in an account for a super fancy 20 year reunion.

[Deleted User]

Didn't go so I can't offer any advice... like Jennycolada I had no interest in hanging out with people I never really knew.

plainjane0415

JennyColada said:

I didn't go to mine. It was at a bar with limited appetizers. If it had been dinner I would have gone. But at 28 I felt 0 interest in getting "omg turnt up!!!!!" with people that I didn't even know in high school.

Well... our class officers have been throwing out suggestions to us..... one of them is coming back to town for a tailgate/potluck (UGH... NO) at one of our high school's football games and then barhopping afterwords.  Now.... my high school was in  small town in TN, barhopping there is not my idea of fun.  Also, potluck.... we all know how bad of an idea that is for a high volume of people.

cupcait927

Mine was a few weeks ago and we didn't go. H and I graduated the same year from the same high school. We still live in the town we graduated in and see everyone on a regular basis that we care to see.

 

What I do know is this - our class was a bunch of slackers and our class officers didn't plan anything until a couple of months beforehand, when everyone started asking what the plan was. They ended up planning an informal bar crawl the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and gave out an itinerary of every bar they were going to so that you could join up any time. There was a formal dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was $50 a person. Out of my class of almost 400 people, I think only 50 people went (and that included SOs). I think it just ended up being too expensive for a lot of people, especially people who had children. H and I were not about to spend $100 on dinner, DJ and two hours of open bar to see people we didn't really care about, plus none of our high school friends went either.

 

My suggestion would be to keep it simple and cheap. If it had been $20 a person for food (like lots of apps, finger foods) and make it a cash bar, we may have gone. 

plainjane0415

emmaaa said:

I'm in charge of planning our 10 year reunion which is like 4 years away. We went to a very rural high school. So our reuinion is literally going to be in the barn at my dad's house on our farm and a bon fire in the field. Everyone will have to contribute money (Like $10 per person) for alcohol and food that I will purchase. Any money remaining will either be donated to the scholarship fund at our high school or put in an account for a super fancy 20 year reunion.

I like this idea!  I'll suggest it to the group.

arrippa

I didn't go to my 10 year reunion but I know they got an affordable package from a hotel in the area.

My 20 year is coming up next year. They are still debating on what to do. Someone wanted do to a picnic for it. That got vetoed fast. But it was cheap and she thought that everyone can bring their family and have fun. 

JennyColada

cupcait927 said:

Mine was a few weeks ago and we didn't go. H and I graduated the same year from the same high school. We still live in the town we graduated in and see everyone on a regular basis that we care to see.

 

What I do know is this - our class was a bunch of slackers and our class officers didn't plan anything until a couple of months beforehand, when everyone started asking what the plan was. They ended up planning an informal bar crawl the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and gave out an itinerary of every bar they were going to so that you could join up any time. There was a formal dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was $50 a person. Out of my class of almost 400 people, I think only 50 people went (and that included SOs). I think it just ended up being too expensive for a lot of people, especially people who had children. H and I were not about to spend $100 on dinner, DJ and two hours of open bar to see people we didn't really care about, plus none of our high school friends went either.

 

My suggestion would be to keep it simple and cheap. If it had been $20 a person for food (like lots of apps, finger foods) and make it a cash bar, we may have gone. 

Oddly, I'd have been MORE inclined to go if it was more expensive and provided me with more, well, stuff.

beethery

A few old friends had theirs at a brewery/restaurant. Looked pretty sweet.

climbingsingle

My 10 year reunion was super lame. $80 per person for limited open bar and appetizers at a local bar/restaurant in the town we graduated in. Nope! My friends and I went out to dinner, and then met up with people after the hosted reunion part was over. 

plainjane0415

arrippa said:

I didn't go to my 10 year reunion but I know they got an affordable package from a hotel in the area.

My 20 year is coming up next year. They are still debating on what to do. Someone wanted do to a picnic for it. That got vetoed fast. But it was cheap and she thought that everyone can bring their family and have fun. 

I like this too, it would be easy because we have a great state park in our area.

arrippa

plainjane0415 said:

arrippa said:

I didn't go to my 10 year reunion but I know they got an affordable package from a hotel in the area.

My 20 year is coming up next year. They are still debating on what to do. Someone wanted do to a picnic for it. That got vetoed fast. But it was cheap and she thought that everyone can bring their family and have fun. 

I like this too, it would be easy because we have a great state park in our area.

The problem was that alcohol is NOT allowed in any parks in my hometown. There is no way I was going to be able to stand my high school classmates without alcohol for a long period of time. There is a reason I moved 3,000 miles away from there.

plainjane0415

arrippa said:

plainjane0415 said:

arrippa said:

I didn't go to my 10 year reunion but I know they got an affordable package from a hotel in the area.

My 20 year is coming up next year. They are still debating on what to do. Someone wanted do to a picnic for it. That got vetoed fast. But it was cheap and she thought that everyone can bring their family and have fun. 

I like this too, it would be easy because we have a great state park in our area.

The problem was that alcohol is NOT allowed in any parks in my hometown. There is no way I was going to be able to stand my high school classmates without alcohol for a long period of time. There is a reason I moved 3,000 miles away from there.

Good point.  FI's high school reunion was a few years ago.  We went to the same high school, so we are talking about the same area here.  They rented a place, had catered food and cash bar for I believe $35 a person.  But, they also had a great turnout.  I think they had something like 200 people show up out of their 400+ graduating class.  I don't know that my class would have that good of a turn out and everyone is really wanting to keep costs low. I guess all we can really do is check venues, food and drinks in the area.  Come back with the price, and then start talking about possible dates.  Then once we have an idea of how many would be able to come, then we could book the venue food etc, and then have a better idea for price/person? 

labro

I'm watching this thread. Our 10 year reunion is coming up in May too. We had a small graduating class because it was a brand new high school. It'd be nice if there was alcohol and at least heavy apps if not dinner. There's a bbq place that I Love that has space for 70 with a private bar but our class was like 130 people and I feel like this like a wedding..plan for everyone to come and no declines.

Cookie Pusher

I live in a small town and we graduated a relatively small class for a public school. Our reunion was at a local hotel. I think it ended up being $35pp for beer/wine and a crapload of food. Then someone had the bright idea to get a couple of cheap cases of beer so we could play beer pong. It was actually a lot more fun than I initially thought it was going to be - especially after seeing all the jocks were bald and fat.

[Deleted User]

Although I didn't go to mine, I heard through the grapevine that someone from our class also agreed to anonymously "sponsor" about 5 people who wanted to come but couldn't afford it.  The planners took them on a first request-basis or a raffle I think.

I thought that was actually a nice gesture- I guess my HS class wasn't made up entirely of jerks.

Not sure how you can "ask" someone if they want to offer s/t like this though.

cupcait927

JennyColada said:

Mine was a few weeks ago and we didn't go. H and I graduated the same year from the same high school. We still live in the town we graduated in and see everyone on a regular basis that we care to see.

 

What I do know is this - our class was a bunch of slackers and our class officers didn't plan anything until a couple of months beforehand, when everyone started asking what the plan was. They ended up planning an informal bar crawl the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and gave out an itinerary of every bar they were going to so that you could join up any time. There was a formal dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was $50 a person. Out of my class of almost 400 people, I think only 50 people went (and that included SOs). I think it just ended up being too expensive for a lot of people, especially people who had children. H and I were not about to spend $100 on dinner, DJ and two hours of open bar to see people we didn't really care about, plus none of our high school friends went either.

 

My suggestion would be to keep it simple and cheap. If it had been $20 a person for food (like lots of apps, finger foods) and make it a cash bar, we may have gone. 

Oddly, I'd have been MORE inclined to go if it was more expensive and provided me with more, well, stuff.

There is a HUGE economic discrepancy in my town and I really think the cost drove away a lot of people that would've come if they could've afforded it/had been cheaper, particularly since it's the beginning of the holiday shopping season. H and I could afford the $100, but with no one we really close with going and such a small crowd, we spent $100 on a fancy dinner for the two of us instead. Plus with it being the weekend of Thanksgiving, everyone was doing family things and couldn't make it.

amelisha

I'm kinda shocked they even happen anymore. Isn't that what Facebook is for?

I didn't go to mine.

thisismynickname2

We went to high school in a suburb of Chicago, and the reunion was at a nice bar in Chicago.  I'd say about 40 people out of 150 showed up. We were allowed to bring significant others, but only a few people did. It was fun!  I think I paid $30 for appetizers, beer and wine from 6-9pm. The great thing was that I reconnected with a girl that I've known K-12 but had lost touch with, and now we hang out with some regularity.  

Kudos to anyone trying to plan. It's impossible to please everyone, just keep that in mind. We had a very heated argument on our Facebook group reunion page because some bitch who still lived in the home area (with one child and another on the way) said something like, "Oh, well going to Chicago is great for everyone without real responsibilities."  Shit hit the fan. 

Try to consider where the graduates migrated too. It could be wise to choose a major metro area if few people are left in the small hometown.  

Bubblegum5586

My class has a FB group and at 7 years a few people started freaking out that we never had a 5 year. Then started calling for our president's head if they didn't plan a 10 year. Since I was friends with our president I am helping her plan our 10 year with 2 other girls.

We put a vote up on our FB group for time of year and ticket costs. That way we could try to please as many people as possible. Once we collected that information we could move forward with the planning.

We used eventbrite.com to plan our event. It includes an event webpage, emailing invitations and the ticket sales. The way you pay for this service is a charge for every ticket sale that you can pay or have the guest pay (most of the fee is the CC processing). This way we have the money ahead of time and know what we can afford.

The event is May 29th 2015 and we have done some early bird specials to offer lower pricing to those that can't afford full price. We have 30 tickets sold so far (including SO's) from our class of 220. Although I would assume most of the sales will be the month before!

peachy13

My high school class just tried to have our 10 year reunion. Key word is "tried." 

Here's how it got canceled: the hosts decided to rent out a restaurant, which is fine, except that the restaurant needed a certain amount of money in hand 30 days before the event, so the hosts had to sell tickets and ask for all tickets to be bought 30 days prior to the reunion. Like, 9 people actually did this. Everyone else either a) didn't see the memo b) saw it and forgot or c) assumed you could just buy tickets at the door. So the reunion got canceled and it really sucked.

Just letting you know as a tip from a failed reunion. I think for future reunions, whoever hosts will be sure to avoid trying to sell tickets ahead of time... either make it an option to pay ahead of time, or pay at the door if you can't buy the ticket in advance.

peachy13

Also adding on to mine that the tickets were for dinner and two drinks and they cost $80 a person! Lots of people, including myself and FI, weren't sure if we could actually make it that night so that's why no one wanted to buy tickets in case you couldn't go.

Make it simple and cheap.

CMGragain

I've been to quite a few reunions.  The best ones were simple - a picnic in the afternoon with everybody's kids running around.  The worst ones were too fancy with little time to mingle and talk.  Loud music was a party killer.  Nobody really wanted to dance or drink.  We wanted to talk and catch up with people we hadn't seen in ten years.

southernbelle0915

Mine was this Fall. I didn't go. With Facebook, it's super easy to keep in touch with the people I want to keep in touch with (and even those I don't).

Anyway, they had two events: a tailgating potluck (barely anyone went and I heard it was awful) and an evening get together at a bar (which I heard was really fun). They reserved an area of the bar + the patio and whoever came, came. I think they hosted some apps and people were on their own for drinks. I have no idea how that stuff gets funded, but they didn't sell tickets.

VulgarGirl

I went to mine last August. It was at local hotel, we had to pay to go...and I'm at a loss for how much is costed but they were kind enough to provide an open bar for 3 hours and dinner.

The event itself wasn't bad, wasn't like "OMG best party ever" either though. I had fun because I'm successful and have a hot wife (FI at the time) and got to show all my previous tomentors that they didn't keep from achieving my goals.

Yes, I went to my reunion to show up the fuckheads that bullied. It's petty, I know. I don't care. Wifey also wanted to go since she won't have one to go to.

wandajune6

I tried to go to my 10 year but it didn't work. They rented out part of a bar and underestimated attendance. When we got there 30 minutes after the start (my twin, our respective boyfriends at the time), people were leaving. It was $50/head paid at the door and you couldn't even make it through the crowds to get to food or drinks. We left and grabbed dinner at a great Italian restaurant across the street. We ended up chatting with a bunch of people who did the same thing we did.

DH's 20th reunion was this summer. It was a BBQ in the park associated with the school. It was interesting.

thisismynickname2

MagicInk said:

Yes, I went to my reunion to show up the fuckheads that bullied. It's petty, I know. I don't care. Wifey also wanted to go since she won't have one to go to.

As they say, "The best revenge is living well!" 

CMGragain

@MagicInk, you may be surprised at your 20th reunion to find out how many of your classmates have matured and become really nice people.  Some of the girls who wouldn't give me the time of day back in high school are now friends.  It isn't easy to be different in high school.  The adult world has so many more possibilities.

plainjane0415

Lots of good ideas here.  I'll have to discuss with the group.  I really like the poll on the facebook group idea. That would work well I think.

VulgarGirl

@CMGragain, I'm talking about people who routinely beat me up, threatened to kill me, threatened to rape me straight (wtf?), keyed my car, and referred to me solely by Fucking Dyke. Not about popular cheerleaders who wouldn't let me sit with them at lunch.

I don't care how mature they are. I don't want to be friends with them.