You’re on your way to enjoying a fantastic High School Reunion.
High School Reunion: Dress Up, Catch Up, Time to Impress!
The high school reunion is a unique event. You get to see and interact with people you
grew up with that you haven’t seen in 5, 10, or even 50 years! It is always fun to see how
people have changed whether it be in their looks or personality. Someone once said that
people go for one of two reasons: to impress their former classmates; or to catch up with old
friends. Whatever the reason, it does take a lot of planning and coordinating to get this event in
line, so here are some tips from Gig Salad to help you do so.
First Things First
Before you can send out any invitations, you must choose a venue to hold the reunion. You
will want somewhere that has ample space for people to mingle. Some restaurants have party
rooms that would be good for this; holding the event at a restaurant is convenient because you
don’t have to worry about providing food and drink. Depending on the size of your class, you
may want to hold it at a convention center or banquet hall. Other options include your high
school gymnasium or a banquet room at a hotel. If most of your classmates are coming in from
out of town, the hotel banquet room may be a good option.
Now that you’ve found a venue, it’s time to set the date! Since many of your classmates
will be coming in from out of town and have weekday jobs, schedule the reunion on a weekend.
Now comes the tricky part: finding out everyone’s current mailing address. With resources
like Facebook, it’s easier to keep in touch with former classmates; however, that doesn’t cover
everybody. If you have an alumni newsletter, use that mailing list because it is usually kept
up to date. Other options would be to send the invites to their former home address which will
still be on file. In the invites, you should create an incentive to RSVP early so you can give
the venue and caterer an accurate headcount. An incentive could be something as simple as
a cheaper cost for RSVP-ing early. The invitations printer may also be able to make some customized name tags.
Instead of having just plain Jane stickers with a name, have the printer make name tags that
include the person’s senior picture.
10 Years Later...
At the reunion, you will want to share who’s done what since high school. In the invites,
include a questionnaire that covers some basic topics. Have questions like how many kids
do you have, how far are you travelling to the reunion, and what has been your strangest
experience since high school. These questions leeway into a fun game that allows you to give
out some superlative awards like, “Most Children," “Traveled the furthest distance to get here,"
and “Strangest Experience." This gives people some talking points since they haven’t seen
each other in a long time.
Be sure to have some entertainment at the event as well. If you choose to go with a
band, get a good party band
that will keep things hopping. You can also theme the band around the era you were in high
school. If you graduated in ‘76, get a 70’s band, same goes for the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s. Another option would be to go with a DJ. A DJ can play almost any song you want, and he or she can also
act as an emcee for the event. Another form of entertainment could be a photo booth. This
is a fun option, especially if the photo booth company offers props, and it gives your classmates a fun souvenir to
take home with them.
Show Some School Spirit!
Next up is food. This is where it is important to have an accurate head count. You’d
hate to order enough food for the entire class and only have 60 percent of the people show
up. If you’re having the event at a restaurant, then that’s a quick and easy option for food.
However, at other locations, you may need to hire a caterer to provide the food. You will also need to get a bartender to serve up drinks. Lastly, you will
need dessert. Hire a cake
decorator to create a delicious cake that resembles your high school building, the football
field, mascot, etc. If the cake isn’t big enough to serve all, get some sheet cakes as back-up.
You will also want to make sure the venue is decorated accordingly. A nice way to incorporate your school colors is to
hire a balloon decorator to
create balloon columns or archways with balloons in appropriate colors. Have your table linens and chair covers
match the colors as well. You can then top the tables with party centerpieces. Check with
the venue before hand if you want to use confetti for the tables; some don’t allow it because
is difficult to clean up and can damage vacuums. Also have some pictures on display around
the event. You can use blown-up senior pictures, team photos, or other group photos. You
may even want to have a photographer on hand to take pictures that you can use for the next
reunion.
A high school reunion is a difficult event to plan, mainly because everyone is scattered
in different locations after so many years. If you want some help, hire an event planner to help with the venue and any
vendor bookings, while you work on getting in touch with everyone. Best of luck and have a
great reunion!
