nostalgic display |

As many of you may know, “no” is not in my vocabulary when it comes to planning events. When our class president was nowhere to be found, I recently found myself amongst a group of old classmates from high school, working to plan our 10-year reunion. Planning a reunion can be somewhat of a daunting task, but with an organized group of go-getters, it can be done successfully.

We started by working to update every student’s address so a print invitation could be sent to each home. I designed the “day-planner” invitation using our school colors. We also created a Facebook group, a Twitter account and a website with all the appropriate information.

We were amazingly able to round-up approximately 200 people (almost half our class) to get together for this shindig. When entering the room, guests were greeted by a registration desk where they received a name tag including every student’s senior picture, designed to look similar to our old ID badges. The name tags were organized in wooden boxes painted with chalkboard paint.

The table was decorated with a table runner constructed out of old covers of our high school newspaper, The Westerner, along with scrapbook paper and yarn.

As if seeing 200 faces from ten years back wasn’t enough nostalgia for one night, we put together a display using wrapped boxes and wooden crates holding old items from high school events. Guests laughed and reminisced amongst pom poms, sports programs, phone books, playbills and other memorabilia.

Other fun additions to the evening included our senior video playing on flat screens throughout the venue and a playlist compiled of songs only from the years 1996-2000. So while rocking out to some Blink182, Puff Daddy, Eve6 and Savage Garden, we were able to put together a successful event!

Tips for planning a high school reunion:

Start early! It takes a long time to try to update addresses. We started only four months ahead of time and a few more months would have made it a little bit easier.

Pick a team with a wide range of talents. It is great to have minds of organization, technology, decorating, and people wrangling (this is not for everybody!)

Stay in communication with the invitees. Using various forms of media is a great way to assure you will relay your information to the greatest amount of people.

Have fun! You shouldn’t be on a reunion committee if you don’t have a little bit of fun doing it.

Get creative. Little touches often make the biggest difference.

Thanks to the fabulous reunion team of the Maine West Class of 2000 for such a fabulous event! See everyone in 2020! (or maybe 2015 if we get that ambitious).