Is this NORMAL for it to be so darned expensive?

[TheOtherVillainess]

I got an invitation to my 10 yr high school reunion today. It's like 170 bucks per couple which I think is fairly expensive! Is it normal for it to be so much?

I'm not sure if I'm going or not..if I am I have to decide soon and send them a check by like no later than June 16.

TOV

 

[Galahad]

I've been out of HS almost 35 years now and I remember our 15th was over $200 a couple. $170 seems pretty low actually.

 

[jedi_librarian]

That sounds about right. Mine was 2 years ago. Too expensive IMO. I ended up not going. It was open bar, and DH doesn't even drink.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Ours is a 'cash bar' and I'm not even sure what that means, tbh.

I don't know if I'm going..it sounds SO expensive. I also don't know if I care enough about the people I went to HS with to go to this party. I haven't spoken to any of them since we graduated and I really didn't have any 'friends' who were in my class. So why bother going?

TOV

 

[doxdogy]

A cash bar means you have to pay for alcoholic beverages.

 

[AnnetteF]

In 1996 I was on the committee for my 15 year high school reunion. At that time, we charged $50 per person. That included a sit down meal at a country club and it was a cash bar. Our school basically told us where it would be and what we would charge - it was a Catholic high school and the school said right out that they were going to benefit somewhat from the sale of tickets to it and told us that we could tell people that. I guess they wanted the alumni to think of it partially as a donation to their school. We were just responsible for contacting everyone in our class and choosing the menu, etc. I remember several people complaining to me about the price then, but it was completely out of our control. I would imagine that given how everything else has increased in the last 10 years, $170 per couple isn't outrageous these days, but perhaps your school is also getting a portion of the money? I'm coming up on my 25th reunion this year and am still waiting to hear what it will cost us. I want no part of the planning, though. Once was quite enough for me!

 

[Marseeya]

I was on the planning committee for our 20th last summer and we really had to work to keep our costs down. A bunch of stuff happened where we didn't have any money in our account, and on our 5th reunion we could only afford a kegger in a field. Then nobody was interested in a 10th or 15th, so a few of us got together for the 20th and put together bake sales and things like that to raise money for it.

We got a decent local country club in town where they hold 90% of the reunions. I think when it was all said and done we charged around $30 per person, and even then we felt like that was a bit much. We wanted to make sure to have enough in the bank when the reunion was over, so for our 25th we can do a little more for it.

We had a few complaints from a couple of people about it being sort of "low-rent," but everyone else thought it worked out wonderfully. We're in a small town, so I don't know what on earth they expected, as we chose the nicest place available!

What all is included in your $170? It could very well end up being that expensive, but I don't know what type of area you live in or whatnot, or what your reunion committee had to work with. We were able to do a lot of things at cost (like our printing), which really kept the price down.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hubby's was more expensive than that so we opted for him not to go. Honestly I have no idea how many of his graduating class would be going for that price.

Part of the expense was that a service was hired to track down as many alumni as possible for that class. The cost for that is passed onto the alumni who choose to attend.

They wanted over $100 for a cocktail hour. Honestly--I'm not even sure drinks were included. But I may have read that wrong. I was floored by the remainder of the weekend costs.

 

[redshoes]

For my 10 year reunion last year, we had a formal adults only dinner that ran $100 a couple on Friday night. Then a family picnic on Saturday afternoon that was $10 a family. The people that were unable to attend the formal night had a nice option with the family picnic. Both activities were well attended. My DH's reunion was $250 a couple for dinner and dancing, it was not as well attended.

I would assume that a cash bar would mean that you are in charge of your own bar costs, on top of the amount you paid for the event itself.

 

[jipsy]

Call the person in charge of the reunion and ask them why it's so expensive.

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

Ours was $110 a person with a cash bar. I didn't go. My friend went and she said a group was contacting greatreunions (the company that put it on) to compain. Apparently it was terrible.

A cash bar is where you pay for your own drinks.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

Our price was based on what was in our account from high school so the cost for our 10 year reunion held in 2006 was 70 per person.

 

[Aimeedyan]

DHs was this year and it was $150 a couple for the weekend. Friday night was a bar get together and they just paid for snacks, we had to pay for drinks, and then Saturday they had a picnic (BYOfood) and Saturday night was the nice dinner/dance with cash bar.

Way too expensive but how often does he get to go? So we paid for it. Sad thing was that few people came and those that did all came Friday night too so Saturday night was a big snoozefest. Everyone we wanted to see we already saw Friday night so nothing new to talk about, LOL!

His was in Dallas, after talking to people at his we learned that price was very normal for Dallas area schools. I wasn't sure if you were from that area or just living there now...

 

[figment52]

My HS had an all school reunion last summer and it was only $50/person and a cash bar.

Our school was only open for 11 years so it was the first time everyone that ever attended was invited - small Catholic HS. It was better than a class reunion becasue we were able to see our classmates, the ones ahead of us and the ones behind us and our friend's siblings.

 

[lbgraves]

That seems to be the norm. Neither DH or myself have attended a HS reunion. We graduated in 1985 & 1986 so the 20ths are finishing up this year. Noone we keep in touch with go due to the cost either. One of my friends went to the 10th & said it was VERY lame with very few people showing up.

 

[disneysteve]

I got an invitation to my 10 yr high school reunion today. It's like 170 bucks per couple which I think is fairly expensive! Is it normal for it to be so much?

A few years ago, I was really looking forward to attending my med-school 10-year reunion. We had all gone our separate ways after graduating and I thought it would be fun to catch up with everyone... Then the invitation arrived. $210/couple! I was appalled. There was no way in hell I was spending that kind of money to have dinner. I wrote a nasty letter to the alumni association and the specific folks who planned that reunion. I said that the charge was insane. Surely, they could have a nice gathering for far less than that.

By the way, I found out later that only about a dozen people showed up (out of a class of 210). The main reason given for not attending was the price. Imagine that.

 

[MosMom]

$170 is a lot of money to go spend time with people you aren't even sure you like.

 

[mom2boys]

My 25th was last year. Didn't go. It was going to be about $150 for us to attend the formal dinner. It was also a three hour drive which would have required a hotel stay. The only hotel in the area was the reunion site with rooms going for almost $300 a night.

Ridiculous. That and I went to a Catholic girls high school. There was a boys school a few miles away that my high school consolidated with about 10 yrs ago. For some reason, they feel the need to combine all reunions with the guys school.

I skipped it. Didn't take much thought to come to that decsion either.

 

[roseprincess]

$170/ couple is about average for a high school reunion. 2 yrs. ago at my 20th h.s. reunion, I paid $160/ couple when you pay in advance. The price when you pay at the door was $170/ couple. I never went to my 10 yr because I didn't even know about it and we didn't have a 15 yr one. So I was glad I did go to my 20th. Had a good time. Actually saw some old friends/acquaintances from concert choir and drama club!
Dh had his 25th reunion the week before my 20th. His was at a bar, but we didin't go because we were going to mine hte next weekend. His 25th did have the tour of the h.s., so we went to that because it was free.

I think why the prices are so high for reunions is that they use a reunion company to plan the reunion, find lost classmates, dinner, slideshow of past pictures,take a more recent class picture of the alumni that showed up.

Rosemarie

 

[Aidensmom]

Our reunion only had a charge if you did certain things, and then you paid only for that activity. If you chose to do everything over the weekend, it would have been about $200, but you also had the choice of just attending, say, a picnic, and then it was free.