This is how I planned my 10 year reunion by myself from across the country. You can do it too!
Simple steps of how to plan your 10 year reunion (no committee needed!)
The key to a simple 10 year reunion is to keep it casual! Some classmates are still in school, others are well on their way to having a team of children, most are in some type of a career but no one quite has life figured out. Allow space for a simple get together for catching up with friends you may not have seen since graduation. Below are my easy steps on how I planned by 10 year reunion from across the country and by myself.
Start a Facebook Group
Get everyone in a “BOHS Class of 2007” facebook group in advance, I started one 2 years prior to the 10 year reunion year. This is the most efficient way to communicate with the masses from your high school class, chances are a few aren’t on facebook but tell everyone this is where the information will live and people can pass the necessary information along.
Lock Down a Venue
The key is to find a venue that charges per head versus a flat fee. I found a in a popular downtown spot in Fullerton (Roscoe’s Famous Deli for anyone in Southern California – highly recommend!) Back in 2017 they did $16+tax per person with the final count due a few days in advance. They were so incredible and helpful! Buffet style food – sliders, sandwiches, meatballs, salads, etc. kept everyone fed. Don’t worry about comp’d drinks. They had the inside of the venue closed down for a “private event” for a few hours and then opened up around 8pm to the public. The outside patio was open to the public still and provided a nice place to hang out. At 8pm my classmates could either choose to stay and continue hanging out listen to the band that showed up, or move on to another bar to continue partying.
Save The Date
Give everyone plenty of time to save the date. I booked a venue 6 plus months in advance because I had a specific date in October I wanted for the reunion. I told the facebook group the date as soon as I had it and then told them to look for more information on tickets closer to the event.
Sell Tickets
I used Eventbrite to sell tickets and connected it to my paypal account. I am not an accountant or attorney but you can totally just make one person in charge of finances as long as they’re responsible and won’t spend the money sitting in their account earmarked for the reunion. Eventbrite is the easiest way to sell tickets and does the processing for you. To figure out price I did $16+ tax per head (venue) plus the eventbrite fees plus a few extra dollars to try and get a photobooth if I had XX number of people buy tickets. Always get a quote on a photobooth because you can’t go wrong with a photobooth.
60 days out from the event I sold “presale tickets” for $25 and sold that for 30 days. I had 45 people buy presale tickets. The next 30 days up until the cutoff for final head count was $30 per ticket. I had 41 people buy the normal ticket price. Everyone waited until the week of the event to buy tickets. If they weren’t dedicated to the lower price of pre-sale just expect to wait until the last week. DO NOT panic until 2-3 days prior to the cutoff, then you can start hounding people. At the door folks were $40, I tried to discourage this with a higher price because headcount was already set. Still there was 5 people who payed this and showed up same day. I mostly used this money to give the bartender an extra tip as a thank you.
Last Minute Items For A Simple 10 Year Reunion
I printed out Avery nametags for everyone the day before the event. On the eventbrite event I put places for the person and any guests to write their names out (ask for maiden names as well!!). Also have a few blank ones on hand for people who show up at the door. I chose to do a streak of watercolor in the school colors on the nametags. You can also do some simple graphic design work or your school’s logo/mascot. Or keep them plain!
Say NO to decorations, seriously. No one is going to notice your centerpieces in a packed restaurant/bar. The venue had a jukebox they said I could queue up music or bring a sound system but they had music playing over the house system and that was plenty ambiance. The venue had a pool table and I paid for a photobooth to come in and that was a huge hit. Brass Street Photobooth is incredible if you’re in the Orange County/Los Angeles area.
Final Thoughts
Keep it simple. Please don’t panic when no one buys tickets and you’re a week out from the event. You should have a feel for who wants to come and if your feelers were good then people will always wait until the last minute to buy tickets. Don’t overthink things, you don’t need a team of people to pull off an event like this. This is perfect for a simple 10 year reunion, feel free to get fancier and pricier for a 20+ year reunion. Lastly, don’t give away free alcohol! That can be a recipe for disaster.
