Class reunions can be awesome. You get to reunite with old friends, reminisce about old times, and maybe even make friends with people you weren’t close with back in the day. But in order for those great things to happen, you need to plan for success. A great class reunion doesn’t just happen. There are a lot of factors that must be taken into consideration by those who have been tasked with organizing the event. From getting the reunion information out to everyone to creating an itinerary for the night to choosing the right venue and more, making a reunion happen takes a lot of work. So what do you need to know to make your class reunion planning as organized as possible? Let’s look through some tips and tricks that will help make your reunion as successful and fun as you want it to be.

Getting Started

Whether you are planning a 5, 10, or 20 year reunion, there are a few elements that you need to have a handle on before you set a date and rent out a venue. All of these elements can affect each other, so be prepared to adjust each one depending on what happens with the others.

Set Your Budget

Your class reunion is not going to be free. Depending on where you hold your event, how many people you can reasonably expect to attend, what food and alcohol availability you want, potential theme, entertainment, gift bags, hotel block reservations, and so forth, it is very easy to get lost in the weeds. By checking the pricing on potential venues and estimating the number of attendees, you can set a general budget. Then, as people RSVP and you get a more clear idea of the real numbers, you can adjust your budget accordingly.  It is a good idea to consider how to plan a successful class reunion on a budget because you will be asking your classmates to pitch in some money to cover costs and you want to make sure that you aren’t wasting anyone’s money.

Gauge Interest

When you begin planning a class reunion, it’s a good idea to get an idea of how many of your classmates actually want to attend or have the ability to attend. You can’t assume that everyone will want to or be able to participate. Fortunately, social media has made it easier than ever to connect with your old classmates. While in the past, you may have needed to set up a phone tree to try to get the information out to everyone, now you can set up a group on social media to serve as a central information hub. Creating a central social media group also allows you to set up polls that can help identify the time of year that works best for the most people and the city in which you hold your class reunion.  You are also able to create committees of former classmates that will be in charge of different aspects of your reunion. Creating a memorable class reunion experience is not something one person can do all on their own. Select a chairperson to helm the ship, a treasurer to manage the budget, coordinators for the venue, the entertainment, the catering, etc., and someone to take charge of communications with the class via socials and email blasts.

Set the Date and Location

When you have gauged interest and collected fellow volunteers to help form committees, you can start to make the decisions about where and when you will hold your class reunion. These choices will basically determine your final budget and establish a class reunion planning timeline and checklist. Class reunion planning takes time. You need to be working on this well in advance of the event itself. People need to plan for travel, child care, and time off work. So give yourself a few months to work with before the day of the reunion arrives. The first thing you need to do is decide what city will be best to host your reunion. For 5 or 10 year reunions, meeting up in your hometown typically works best. Generally speaking, people will be able to stay with family and won’t need to spend money on hotels. By the time you hit a 20 year reunion, your class and their families may be spread farther afield. In that case, meeting in a nearby city with easy air travel and plenty of hotels to set up discount room blocks can be a much better option for everyone.  Once you know what city or town will host your class reunion, you can work on finding the right venue.

Choosing Your Class Reunion Venue

The right venue for your event will depend on the number of people that RSVP, the kinds of entertainment you want, your catering and drink needs, and any number of other factors.  For many people, they associate a class reunion with returning to the old school to see how different yet the same it all looks. Maybe a few guests will check to see if a little graffiti they put up is still there all those years later. Maybe people will want to see if they are still remembered in trophy cases or show their spouses all the nooks and crannies that they made memories in as a teen. It’s a romantic notion, but holding a reunion at a school can come with frustrations. You need to bring caterers in from outside, there really can’t be any actual school events happening at the same time, and you’ll have to coordinate with the school to get permission for any alcohol your reunion brings on campus. So even though it isn’t as nostalgic as partying in the same cafeteria where you danced at homecoming, finding a venue that specializes in hosting big events can save you and your committees an enormous amount of work and headaches. An event center such as The Lumber Exchange, make sure you have a stage from which to present class reunion awards as well as provide access to top notch catering and bartending services. If you want to incorporate high school reunion themes such as class colors, a throwback to your senior prom theme, or anything else, a venue that hosts events day in and day out can help your decorations committee members to ensure they have the right amount of decorations and help get them set up. Having a venue in a location like the Lumber Exchange Event Center is also great because it allows you to set up events around the area like watching a game, doing an escape room, and so on.  And your committee’s contact at The Lumber Exchange can help you find hotels with great group rates right around your class reunion venue so that no one needs to risk driving home after throwing a few drinks back. The benefits of working with a dedicated social event center as your venue vastly outweigh the nostalgia factor that comes with going to the old school. You can get a room that fits your attendance numbers and get help with all the little details that might escape your attention.

Make the Most Out of Your Reunion

Reunions help us take stock of where we are in life. They connect us to who we used to be and remind us of how far we have come while allowing us to move past the petty resentments we may have held onto for no good reason. They can be great for rekindling friendships, networking with people you didn’t even know went into a business that connects to yours, or even discovering that you had a bigger impact on someone’s life than you ever could have realized. Plus you can have good food and good drinks while listening to the music you still love but your kids say isn’t cool anymore. But to do all this, you need a great venue for your class reunion. The Lumber Exchange Event Center has several rooms designed to accommodate groups of various sizes and needs.  Reach out to us today to see what our experienced staff can add to your reunion. Together, we can make sure your class has the time of their lives.

Read More: Choosing the Perfect Venue for Your Corporate Event

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.