Organising a reunion...

[ancientbird]

It is nearly 20 years since I left school () and I have been chatting to a couple of old friends about arranging a school reunion. The problem is we have no idea on where to start. Have any of you lot ever done this? How did you go about it and what were the pitfalls? TIA for advice!

Hi there ! I di this a few years ago !

I used Friends United mainly - emailed everyone on there from my class and asked them to either contact anyone else they were in touch with, or give me their email addresses. The school also gave me an alumni list - but to be honest it was quite out of date - but had quite a lot of parents addresses on - and I tracked a few down via their parents.

I also used the electoral roll (online) - but tbh the ones I tracked through that weren't interested on the whole. I concluded that they had vanished because they wanted to !

Pitfalls - well I asked for payment up front as I am cynical and fully expected some to say they were coming and then not turn up. On the day 5 didn't show - but had paid so I wasn't out of pocket. Some people were also really keen when I rang them or emailed them - but for whatever reason never came back to me. I heard that a few were really nervous about it and just too scared to come !

We had a great time on the night - loads of talking and catching up - there were about 45 of us out of a year of about 60 - so good turn out rate.

I booked a dinner/dance at a hotel that we used to frequent quite close to the school - and I think the nostalgia thinbg worked well. A few people stayed in the hotel and I hear there were all night revelries - although I had to go home as dh was tired !

Not sure what else - go for it !

Oh yes - no-one danced as we were all too busy talking !

And - ask people to bring their photos - of their families/kids etc and also any they have from school days ! Photos were very popular at mine !

I did mine with partners - but a lot didn't come ! TBH I kind of wish I hadn't taken dh as he was a grumpy sod all evening ! We were all being 18 again - and he was being 36 !!

I went to a 10 year reunion. Really glad we didn't bring partners. I would have felt I had to keep looking after him rather than getting all the goss.
If I was organising a reunion I would send out a list of e-mail addresses of attenders a couple of weeks before hand (with permission obviously). It can be really daunting walking into these things alone, and I was glad to meet up with friends before hand. Once we got there it was great and I wish it had gone on longer.