OT- Planning 30 yr HS reunion, any ideas???

[busy mom]

We will be having a "finger food" cocktail party rather than a sit down, but we are trying to come up with ideas to keep people from just sitting at a table and talking to their spouse. We are going to have prizes for those who travelled farthest, most kids, etc. We will also have yearbooks from our graduating year and the current year, figuring that would be fun to look at.

Has anyone out there been involved in planning, or even attended a reunion and something really struck you as unique or brought fond memories back???

 

[prncess674]

Ask people to scan photos from high school days and put together a slide show.

 

[v.t.]

Make sure you have name tags that are easy to read, nothing worse than, remember me?

You could also do a ice breaker that has questions on it like....
Has more than 5 kids
Has a child the same age as yours
Has been on tv or in a movie
Holds political office
Has had more than 10 jobs
Still lives in the same state all their life
Has lived in more than 3 states

You can make up questions that you think your group would like. Our list had about 20 or 25 questions on it. And a prize was given for those who got the most signatures. That way they have to walk around, ask questions and maybe learn something new about someone they don't normally talk to. This is also great for the spouses who probably don't know many people at all.

 

[dawson5]

Make sure you have name tags that are easy to read, nothing worse than, remember me?

You could also do a ice breaker that has questions on it like....
Has more than 5 kids
Has a child the same age as yours
Has been on tv or in a movie
Holds political office
Has had more than 10 jobs
Still lives in the same state all their life
Has lived in more than 3 states

You can make up questions that you think your group would like. Our list had about 20 or 25 questions on it. And a prize was given for those who got the most signatures. That way they have to walk around, ask questions and maybe learn something new about someone they don't normally talk to. This is also great for the spouses who probably don't know many people at all.

Our nametags had our senior year photo along with our name, clearly visible. It was nice to see who really hadn't changed and helped with the ones that did.

We also had a memorial table for the ones that passed.

Some people sent in photos and one of the guys uploaded them to his pc and had a slide show going throughout the night.

Ideas for funding for the next one that took place during our reunions:

They also took photos throughout the weekend (both mine and hubby's class did this). My class was selling dvd's of these with the funds to be used toward the next reunion. Hubby's class just showed them throughout the weekend.

One of the girls in my class was a personal assistant to one of the guys in Three Doors Down, she got him to donate an autographed guitar that was auctioned off for the next reunion. I think they put a minimum bid on that though.

Hubby's class sold jello shots, proceeds to help fund next reunion.

Also, both his and mine had golf during the weekend. We had a family day on Sunday at a local park. Cookout and a baseball game with the kids. It was nice.

 

[bumbershoot]

You could copy the committee at my 20 year....make the tickets so ridiculously expensive that it priced the spouses right out of it. I remember one spouse being there.

But, and I say this being part of a class where the organizers really wanted to control everything...please don't be annoyed if people do talk to their spouses. The reunion belongs to everyone. And honestly, at a 30 year, I don't think it's that likely that it will happen... But if it does, it just means that you had a class that was interested in more personal relationships rather than talking to *everyone*.

Oh, and make sure you have someone check the sound level of the music (our music was way too loud, making conversations impossible unless you were in the back, sitting at a table), their PA system was really bad (the speakers thought they could be heard, and thought people were just ignoring them, but they truly could not be heard if you were about 20 feet from the person with the microphone), and don't SCREAM at classmates, and especially don't start swearing at them on the microphone... Then again, the yellers always yelled at us at football games too, so I shouldn't have been too surprised.

 

[seashoreCM]

Ask classmates to bring items they may have saved from school days. Class schedules, prom or play or concert programs, assignment sheets, art or industrial arts projects that everyone had to do (as opposed to your own design), class pictures, gym uniforms (if different from today), literary magazines, etc.

Someone could try to write a class history: http://www.cockam.com/whs68a.htm

 

[DreadpiratK]

You could copy the committee at my 20 year....make the tickets so ridiculously expensive that it priced the spouses right out of it. I remember one spouse being there.

But, and I say this being part of a class where the organizers really wanted to control everything...please don't be annoyed if people do talk to their spouses. The reunion belongs to everyone. And honestly, at a 30 year, I don't think it's that likely that it will happen... But if it does, it just means that you had a class that was interested in more personal relationships rather than talking to *everyone*.

Oh, and make sure you have someone check the sound level of the music (our music was way too loud, making conversations impossible unless you were in the back, sitting at a table), their PA system was really bad (the speakers thought they could be heard, and thought people were just ignoring them, but they truly could not be heard if you were about 20 feet from the person with the microphone), and don't SCREAM at classmates, and especially don't start swearing at them on the microphone... Then again, the yellers always yelled at us at football games too, so I shouldn't have been too surprised.

Wow, you must have been at my reunion last summer. We spent most of our time out in the hall talking because it was the only place you could hear anything at all. We asked the DJ repeatedly to turn it down, but it just kept getting louder and louder. Not fun at all. I could have done without he music altogether. That and the drinks being $5 each were the only negatives, otherwise I loved it.