High School Reunion Planning Tips and Ideas

So you've been crowned organizer of your high school class reunion. Sure is different from homecoming queen or king, isn't it? It's time to celebrate life's successes and renew old acquaintances. It's also time to start losing the pounds, covering the gray and planning a high school class reunion to remember.

High School Reunion Planning Tips:
Form a high school reunion committee. First try contacting the class officers from your year. Then find local classmates. Assign one person to keep track of the master list and update it as responses come in. Delegate other tasks such as securing the site, maintaining the budget, invitations, food, music and decorations to other committee members.

Develop a detailed budget. You'll need to figure out how much each attendee to your high school class reunion will pay in order to cover the venue deposit, printing and mailing of invitations, and long-distance phone calls.

Start sleuthing. Call your high school to ask if it has contact information. Use Web sites like Classmates.com, Reunion.com and Switchboard.com. Send out an SOS e-mail message asking for the whereabouts of missing classmates. Check phone books on the Web or in libraries. Call local alumni from other classes. Check your high school yearbook for people's full and maiden names.

Shop for a venue for your high school class reunion. Find out if a favorite hangout from back then is still operating. Contact clubs or banquet halls. Ask what's included and shop around. Inquire about discounted rates at hotels for families of alumni attending the reunion.

Select a date for your high school class reunion. Start publicizing the reunion as early as possible so attendees can make travel plans. Thanksgiving and summer reunions allow alumni to plan their vacations accordingly.

Decide how your high school class reunion event will be structured. It can be anything from a one-night banquet to a weekend-long event. Some classes host an informal cocktail party on Friday night, a sit-down dinner on Saturday night, and a Sunday family barbecue.

Set up an account at a bank or credit union with two people required to sign for transactions. If you have a large number of attendees or an expensive high school class reunion paid for in installments - a grand cruise or limousine services, for instance - this is a must.

Decide to go with a band or a DJ, then shop around and book one for your high school class reunion. If you recall a good high-school band, ask those alumni if they'll play a couple of tunes.

Ask classmates for information about their lives (including contact information). Compile it all into a booklet and mail this out to alumni before your high school class reunion date so they can be ready to pounce on old friends as soon as they walk through the door.

Overall High School Reunion Planning Ideas:

Invite a mystery guest - maybe a student who became a celebrity, or a stand-out teacher.

Hire a professional high school reunion planning consultant who can take your event every step of the way, from locating classmates to contacting local media to hiring the band. Contact the National Association of Reunion Managers at Reunions.com.

Make your high school reunion invitations fun, incorporating your school mascot or prom song. (Still know all the lyrics to Hotel California, don't you?)

Create collages from your high school yearbook photos and newspaper articles (on microfiche at your library) to transport classmates back in time.

Overall High School Reunion Planning Warnings:

Be prepared to recognize your friends' parents. That's right - your friends may now look exactly like their parents did when you were in high school. Don't laugh, pal - you're in the same boat.