Perhaps ten years have flown by or maybe it’s only five; but it’s time to start planning a high school class reunion. A good party may take a year to organize; but to start planning longer than that is not recommended. Here’s a few steps to take to help keep that planning machine running smoothly.
First thing first, is to contact the school from which the graduation class came from. Find out if there is a reunion committee already designated, if there is a class reunion secretary, and if there is any funds available. Most graduating classes have accounts made for them to be used for prom, graduation activities and party; many times the money left over after the class leaves is put into a special reunion account.
If these are prepared, great! If not, then a committee must be formed. Try to find class officers if you can and contact fellow alumni in the area. A reunion secretary must be appointed if there isn’t one. A bank account (savings & checking) must be established with the secretary’s name and one or two others on the account. The person who accepts the position of secretary will remain in that position for a very, very long time therefore must be willing to make such a commitment.
Duties of a Reunion Secretary
1. This “chosen one” will be in charge of monitoring the money for the reunion, kind of like a treasurer. Some banks have special accounts just for reunions; otherwise a small non-profit business account works as well.
2. The greater responsibility is that of overseeing and maintaining a list of all graduates. This job continues on long after the party ends. It is recommended a database computer program be designed for this purpose. The secretary should be accessible to all graduates anytime via email, phone, and snail-mail to report address changes. A newsletter is a great way of keeping classmates in touch, but only if funding is available. There are websites like Classmates.com and classreunion.com that have an up to date data base and are great for making reunion announcements.
3. The secretary needs to register with the alumni association of the high school. A list of deceased classmates needs to be organized and maintained. At the time of the reunion it is always nice to know if any alumni are in the armed forces serving overseas; this list may be hard to maintain.
Duties of a Reunion Committee
A committee is formed of alumni who are willing to work. Elect a person to be the one to delegate (many times this person was a class officer). Find out what each person can easily do such as get estimates, make phone calls, and who may have “connections” to people or services that are needed in the planning. Set up a meeting place/s and schedule. The committee members should be publicly available for classmates to contact. Many of those out of town want their voices heard in the planning stage.
How to Plan the Party
1.Find all available funds and plan to use them for the first mailing going out to alumni. If funds aren’t available check with local alumni and alumni who own businesses for donations. Put funds into an account.
2.Check with the high school for the Graduate Class list. This is different than the actual class list because it has record of only the students who graduated; it includes those who graduated in the spring, after summer school, and those in December of the graduating year. Limit your list to these alumni only.
3.Determine the type of party. Will it be a sit-down dinner or a buffet? A band or a DJ? A canoe trip, rock climbing, camping event? A three day, two day or just a single day event? A three day event is fun for first time reunions, but be sure all events except the dinner optional so the committee doesn’t have to charge. When having a dinner and hall, this is what sets the price of tickets.
Examples:
Three day event in the summer may start on Friday night with a Pub Crawl in a favorite nightlife part of town. Check in advance with bar and restaurant owners for special events and discounts for classmates. For Saturday morning a shopping trip, golf outing or a day trip to a tourist attraction may be planned. The dinner party may be held on Saturday night. On Sunday as everyone prepares their departure, have a local park be a designated meeting spot for a family style picnic (BYO of course for food and such).
A two day event in the fall may start on Friday night at a football game. Make arrangements with the high school to have special prices, seating and be recognized. Fun optional events may be scheduled for Saturday morning and the
party at night.
For a single event, in the fall plan for everyone to meet at the high school for a football game; have a tailgate party before & pizza afterwards. Always communicate with the school on this one. In the summer, a rafting or canoe trip is a blast! Check the community calendar for ideas.
4.Determine date and location of party. Be flexible on this. Determine the size of your graduation class and plan on half attending. Many facilities will hold certain size groups at specific times.
5.Find a gift item to give to those attending the party. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just a little something with the class name and/or school colors. Try to choose something that isn’t dated so it can be saved for another reunion or sold at another reunion. Make these items available for purchase to guest in the case they would like more. Examples: can cozies, cups filled with nuts and candy, coolers, hats, shirts. Set a budget on this and stick to it. Visit OrientalTrading.com for some great ideas.
6.Set ticket prices. Determine what the most important feature is that money is needed for. Dinner, band/DJ, hall, gift items, mailing, etc. Try to set the price that is reasonable and also allows some to be banked for the next reunion.
7.Find classmates. The secretary needs to set up a data base and enter the names for all graduating members. A list provided by the school will give the address of the classmate at the time of graduation.
Original address:
This address is a good start; some alumni may still live with parents or the parents may still be at that address and can supply the grad’s current address. This is where the committee will go through phone books and make phone calls.
Personal phonebooks:
The members of the committee can give the secretary current address for all alumni they personally know the location of.
Online resources:
The secretary needs to register on classmates.com and any other reunion websites that provide information regarding alumni. These resources are very valuable at finding missing classmates, receiving feedback from planning activities and promoting the party.
Advertise in local newspapers:
Announce the planning of the reunion, the date, and contact information of the secretary or a designated committee member for alumni to reach.
Set up a missing persons list:
Once the data base is filling, a missing person/classmate list needs to be created by the secretary and distributed among committee members. This list will get shorter as contacts are found and made.
8.Invitations or announcements need to be prepared. These can be fancy ones designed at a professional print shop (check to see if an alumnus from any class is willing to donate or discount this service). Perhaps the committee has a wiz of a computer graphic artist on hand that can design the announcements. Determine the form of mailing; postcard, letter, invitation, envelopes, stamps, response cards with a deadline. Check with the post office on bulk mailing prices and weight and size issues. Invites need to be mailed three to four months prior to the event. Allow recipients enough time to plan for the event but not so much time they forget about it.
9.Check with local hotels and inns for discounts on lodging for those alumni traveling distances and needing a place to stay. Be sure to include information with invitations. (If the event is being held in a hotel, the hotel may block rooms just for the occasion.)
10.Send a missing person list with each invitation. When classmates send in their checks/money and reservation cards they can also send information on classmates the committee cannot find.
11.Advertise the event with local radio, television and newspapers. Keep contact information available. Make sure the high school knows all the information. Many alumni will call the school.
12.Once the response cards start coming in, the committee will have a better idea of then number of people attending and will need to meet with the hall or caterer to determine the final menu. A date should be set a week from the event to give the food provider a final count. The date before or the morning of the event the committee may need to decorate the location of the party. If a prayer will be said, a person (usually a classmate) should be asked to do this.
13.The committee needs to work hard, be flexible and most of all have fun!
The author of this article, Mary Quast, has been the Reunion Secretary for the Arthur Hill High School Class of 1985 since the first reunion held in 1995. She highly recommends for secretaries to register as a reunion secretary online with classmates.com and with their high school. Secretaries will receive address changes many times each year so the position is not just for the planning year and is a very important job to keep track of all the alumni.
