i co-ordinated our 20th several years back-if they are using a company like great reunions there is a nominal charge for their involvement (and when you consider they do repetative mailings, keep track of the rsvp's, front all the money for deposits, pay for the decoration, dj's...it's was'nt bad-but i heard they ended up going out of bsns. cuz they lost money overall). using a reunion company or not the overall cost breaks down to-
repeated mailings to announce/locate/remind people
deposit for location, caterer, dj, bartender
any door prizes (we got all ours donated and kept it very low key)
decorations (and if they get in large size photos it can be $$$$)
memory books
photographer (even if they charge you to buy photos they usualy charge a per hour minimum to the committee)
the stupid little name badges
it can be higher if the reunion committe is comping themselves tickets (we did'nt, we paid the same as everyone else)
if a picnic or other outside event is being held there may be usage charges or insurance charges for the facility
but one of the biggest factors in what gets charged can be the number of expected attendees-if a huge number sez they want to attend you end up booking a higher cost large venue, if far less end up showing up you're unlikely to be able to size down the room so that's money lost. most banquet places or caterers charge less per person for larger groups-if you reduce the number of attendees they up the per person price so you have to kind of figure out a middle ground price to negotiate dropping your numbers if necessary without losing money.
we did'nt have a 25th and likely won't have a 30th because while tons of people will say they want to help they usualy bail and leave a handfull of people to do all the work (and unless you use a reunion company or have a school/class that actualy has funds for your reunion-private individuals can be looking at laying out over a thousand dollars of their own cash for the mailings and non refundable deposits-none of which they recoup if the event falls apart or operates at a loss).
repeated mailings to announce/locate/remind people
deposit for location, caterer, dj, bartender
any door prizes (we got all ours donated and kept it very low key)
decorations (and if they get in large size photos it can be $$$$)
memory books
photographer (even if they charge you to buy photos they usualy charge a per hour minimum to the committee)
the stupid little name badges
it can be higher if the reunion committe is comping themselves tickets (we did'nt, we paid the same as everyone else)
if a picnic or other outside event is being held there may be usage charges or insurance charges for the facility
but one of the biggest factors in what gets charged can be the number of expected attendees-if a huge number sez they want to attend you end up booking a higher cost large venue, if far less end up showing up you're unlikely to be able to size down the room so that's money lost. most banquet places or caterers charge less per person for larger groups-if you reduce the number of attendees they up the per person price so you have to kind of figure out a middle ground price to negotiate dropping your numbers if necessary without losing money.
we did'nt have a 25th and likely won't have a 30th because while tons of people will say they want to help they usualy bail and leave a handfull of people to do all the work (and unless you use a reunion company or have a school/class that actualy has funds for your reunion-private individuals can be looking at laying out over a thousand dollars of their own cash for the mailings and non refundable deposits-none of which they recoup if the event falls apart or operates at a loss).
