High School Reunion

I heard once that it was "tradition" for the president of the senior class to be in charge of organizing a high school reunion. Is that still true? Who's expected to spearhead the planning?

The class officers organize the first one, usually, and from then on it is whoever wants to spend the time and energy. It is usually a thankless job. If your class had more than 20 graduates, you need a committee.

In California, at least, the economics are discouraging. If you want to rent a banquet hall for a catered dinner-dance, the facts that

Each table gets used just once that night, instead of the three to five times it will get used in a normal restaurant;

No one will tip the wait staff, so their tips have to be included in the dinner price;

The DJ has to be included too;

means you have to charge $50 to $100 per person, for a meal they could get for $30 - $60 in a restaurant. This makes the guests feel cheated.

Added to that, about half of the people will want to dance the night away to loud music, and the other half will want to sit and talk without having to shout over the music.

It isn't much fun, and no one will thank you, usually.

2009-02-20 13:42:46 by Cathy

Hey guys, Here is a quick clip that you won't see in my special, it's only on my DVD "I'm Not Fat...I'm Fluffy and here on ...

I'm going to my 10 yr high school reunion. I'm just wondering if hugging people is appropriate if I wasn't really friends with them in high school. I would guess it would be fine but I was kind of a bully in high school but I'm looking forward to showing my former classmates that I've grown up and am no longer as ignorant as I used to be.

I would consider if you picked on a particular person or not. If you were at my reunion and had hurt me or bullied me I wouldn't want a hug from you. I would be civil, but even though I wouldn't hold a grudge, I wouldn't want a hug from someone who might have scared me or punched me or called names that hurt me when younger unless they had apologized.

I would play it by ear and see how it goes. Maybe if they don't seem like a hugger type you could just tell them it was nice to see them again, and pat their back, or shake their hand?

2008-10-17 17:30:56 by herewego

Price: $14.99

my classmate and i are planning a high school reunion and we're trying to come up with a theme, we do not want to use the same one we had in 2003 (One In A Million) so your ideas would be highly appreciated.

"As Time Goes By" suggests itself. So does "Older but Wiser".

Here is some advice you didn't ask for that I paste every chance I get, as revenge on the World's Stupidest Disk Jockey.
(See http://www.tedpack.org/cvhs/whyvirt.html for details.)

The single most important thing you can do to insure a good time is talk to the DJ before hand. The people who never left town and see each other every week at PTA, soccer practice, poker night etc. are going to want to dance. The ones who DID leave town and flew 1,500 miles to attend are going to want to catch up, and they are not going to want to shout over the music.

The ideal solution, if you can afford it, is to hire two rooms. Unless you are from Beverly Hills High, you won't be able to do that. Having the music "on" for 30 minutes, then off for 30 would be a reasonable compromise. Promise the DJ the same amount of money as if he played all night. Impress upon him the desire of half the audience to talk. Reunions are not the same as dances or concerts. People don't go to concerts to talk. They do go to reunions want to talk. Keep hammering that home to the DJ. If necessary, tattoo it on his forehead backwards and give him a mirror. Appoint a "Quiet time" monitor.

I hear "It was a nice reunion, but the DJ ruined it" a dozen times a year from friends and family.

2008-05-03 15:55:12 by shalema s

Price: $1.99

I moved couple of years after I graduated from my high school. I was wondering how can I know when my high school reunion would be? Do I contact the school and tell them that I moved?

It's 8pm on the 25th of November. Come early to get a parking space.

2008-10-18 19:40:02 by

I am on the planning committee for my 10 year high school reunion and would like to know what kind of decorations would be good? The reunion is nothing fancy, just a pig roast. Anyone have any ideas?

What we did at ours that was a big hit:

We looked through the yearbook and racked our memories for trivia facts. Then we typed them up in Word, printed them out on card stock weight paper, and put the questions as a tent on each table. The answers were on the back.

Things like: Who was Captain of the football team our Senior year?

Who was Homecoming Queen our Senior year?

Who did Steve Smith take to the prom our Junior year?

It wasn't so much that everybody had to come up with the right answers as much as it was a conversation starter. I mean, you come back for your 10th reunion, sit and chat for awhile, and then sometimes you don't have a lot more in common to talk about! These were great conversation starters.

We also scanned and printed out yearbook pictures of the senior class and scattered them around on the tables. We also scanned and printed the same pictures out and put one on a card with trivia questions about that person (nice questions only!)

We found that people would actually move from table to table so they could see what was on the others and see if they could answer them!

As far as centerpieces, we didn't worry too much about those, except if you want to do large candles in your school colors. Everyone looks better in candlelight!

Good luck, and HAVE FUN! That's the main thing. By our 30th one, we didn't care what we looked like or how much money we had made....we were just glad to be there!

2008-05-13 13:04:07 by junobug88