[Indy-Guy]

Help me with my highschool 50th reunion. Your suggestions would be great.



I am part of a group that is starting to put plans together for our 50th Highschool Class reunion. I would like to know what has been done at class reunions that you have attended or heard of that were successful, interesting, and enjoyable. This is the third class reunion that we have done in the last 15 years.

We graduated from Madison Heights Highschool in Anderson Indiana in 1963 and our school was closed around 15 years ago.

We have been told by many classmembers that that our previous class reunions have been very succesful. In the past we have not had any entertainment and everyone mixed and visited the entire evening. Many of our classmembers have stated that they like this format as we are the entertainment. We would like to do something special without enterrupting the mixing and visiting as we feel that is the most important part of the evening.

At our 40th we put together a booklet of bios which was great since we had not had a reunion in 20 years.

Would like your ideas and thoughts.

[graciegirl]

When we walked into my class reunion I said "Who in the heck are all these old people?".

So it helps to have their graduation picture on the nametag and both LARGE.

We skipped the entertainment, because everyone wanted to talk, talk, talk.

[Boomer]

Hi Indy-Guy,

I am not quite to the big 5-0 reunion yet but it will be here sooner than I like to think about. I have been on reunion committees a few times. Those booklets are always a hit and so much easier to put together now. There are websites for class reunions now, too. Somebody might check into those.

Like you, we don't get into entertainment because we are it. It is so much fun to see each other and catch up.

But if you decide you want a little entertainment for this one..... maybe a DJ.

For some of our reunions, we have had music from our high school days playing in the background, just from stuff we brought. 'Background' is the operative word there. Depending on how much you can spend, you might be able to hire a DJ who knows the era. Maybe you can find one who would do a little 60's patter (Is that the right word?) like whoever we were listening to on our transistor radios back then.

But somebody has to be in charge of making sure the DJ keeps the music at a reasonable level. (said Boomer who has just returned from a wedding reception in Northern Indiana where the DJ kept cranking it up and up and UP!!!! -- just like happens here in SW Ohio. And speaking of Northern Indiana, those windmill farms were not there last time, miles of those eerily beautiful things along the interstate. Good to see.) But I digress....

Back to that DJ.....depending on where you have the reunion, you might have a small dance floor for after dinner. Somebody still needs to make sure the sound level of the music allows conversation. People will leave if the music makes conversation impossible. Conversation is the most important part of the evening.

Another suggestion -- and my guess is that you have already done this -- when you do the name tags, put the senior picture from the yearbook on there. The women all look the same, of course, but the men change so much. Oh and make sure the picture is big enough to see.

There are some 50th reunion classes ahead of us who have done a weekend thing with another event like a picnic or something. But I don't know if that waters down attendance at the actual reunion.

Those coming from out of town might be staying with relatives if there are some still in Anderson, but you might want to make a block of rooms available at a local hotel at a special price like they do for weddings.

Have fun.

Boomer, Class of 196?

[kb8tpw]

One essential thing, go to MyEvents.com and set up a web site. In June my high school class pulled off a quite successful reunion and most attributed it to the 9 month presence of a web site. We had a class of 44, 4 are deceased, and our attendance was in the high 30s. Nearly all of those that did not attend live nearby. We also included "classmates", in other words, those that were in our class over the years and either moved late in high school or did not graduate for one reason or another. They were a crucial ingredient of the success. The web site mentioned above will allow you to use internet to collect and track tickets and all sorts of things. We did not use all of their features. Since you are from Indiana you might enjoy looking at the site, it is risingsun1960.com. We beat Milan Indiana in the first regular season game of 1954, but they are a mainstay of Hoosiermania, not us. We did not have entertainment, something I personally would have liked but the only thing no one liked about it was that it was too short and not enough time to talk and talk and talk. You will have a great time - guarantee.

[swrinfla]

I think a great deal will depend upon 1) how large your graduating class was, and 2) how close you all were!

My boarding school class of 35 garnered 29 alumni for our 50th. Since at least 4 were deceased, we thought it a tremendous, near-record, turnout! As a class, we had a private dinner at a favorite restaurant at a local inn that had been in business even when we were students! The school provided a remarkable full-scale drinks and dinner event for all graduates on the Saturday night! All for less than $50 a head!

Granted, this was a small event by many folks' standards! When I hear of graduating classes in four-digits, I find myself being sad that there's undoubtedly less camaraderie than our class enjoyed!

SWR

[Pturner]

We started planning 40th by creating a Northside High School Class of '70 page on FB. The event will be in two weeks!

We solicited feedback from classmates on the type of event they would like to have. Consensus was casual attire, music from our era played low so people could talk. We found a rec. center with a beautiful, large, rustic room, a stage, sound system and adjoining kitchen. There's also a gorgeous 2nd-story, tree-lined outdoor deck. A classmate's son-- who is very good-- is serving as DJ. One of our classmate's son volunteered as DJ, so no cost. We will have a small dance floor. The event is being catered and we will have an open bar. We were able to hold expenses to $30 per person ($60 for a couple).

We are also doing a classmates directory (printed and online). We used Socializr to create and send e-invitations. It is interactive, so classmates can post photos and comments. You can go to the e-invite page to see who is coming.

The online interaction has been great and has already brought people closer together. Out of 192 classmates, 92 are coming. With spouses, we'll have more than 130.

We reserved a discount block of rooms for out-of-towners. In addition to the Saturday night main event, we announced an informal get-together the night before at a popular local tavern, where food and drinks will be on your own. This did not take away from the main event at all, but gave travelers an extra reason to come.