So. Over the past couple weeks I have been emailing (via facebook, my new favorite addiciton, I mean, WEBSITE) with an old friend from high school, Kris. We have been talking about having a high school reunion. Believe it or not (it's hard for me to believe!), next year it will be 20 years since we graduated from Plumstead Christian School in 1989 .... 20 years. Our class has never had a reunion. But now, in the age of facebook and the internet, it just seems much more feasible that we could find many of our former classmates. As it is, I have found about 10 of our 58 former classmates just on facebook.
HOWEVER, I have a few problems.
1. My partner in crime, Kris, lives in British Columbia, CANADA. As in, the province between Washington State and Alaska. Pretty far away to be helping me much with the planning here. Although, I do have a couple friends from high school in the area who could help ...
2. Although facebook and the infamous "google search" are helpful, there are still those who will be hard to find ... especially those who have married names like "Amy Smith" .... you couldn't find me on the internet if you wanted to...
3. What the heck do you do at a high school reunion? I don't want to stand around in uncomfortable clothes with everyone trying to act like they have it all together ... I'd rather keep it real. But I would want it to be fun too ... but I don't feel like I'm a fun party planner type person....
4. The other major problem is ... umm, well, I don't want to be in charge of it. Yeah, I guess that's a problem.
SO. My question to any readers out there is: Have you been to a reunion? What did you do at your "reunion"? What did you like about it or not like about it? I am looking for your help here so anything you could add would be great ...
Thanks in advance!!
PS - Sure wish I could post some old pics from my high school days ... but I don't have a scanner or the right technology to do so! You would, like, totally LOVE my big 80's hair and "totally awesome to the max" clothing!! EEK!
5 comments:
No advice. Hope all goes well. I haven't even been to a Cedarville Reunion. Not into that kind of thing. Family reunions are tough enough to deal with. We were in charge of my Mom's side, the Moyer's for several years since we've been married. Getting people motivated to be in charge and keep things going is not easy. So, there has to be interest from many.
I prefer getting together with friends from college and 2 from High School instead. (1 a neighbor and one didn't graduate and I really need to call her.)
Ack. I skipped my 20th, which was just a gathering at a sports bar in Schaumburg, but did go to my 15th. There were two get togethers...a sports bar/restaurant where we all stood around looking for familiar faces, and then a fancy appetizer & cocktails only "dinner". As I recall, some people were nominated as having the most kids, moving the farthest from home, etc...and there was a slideshow of current and past pictures. I think that if you give people a little something to eat, a place to sit in groups & chat, and some loose structure to the evening that calls on some nostalgia of days-gone-by, you will be fine. But my vote would be against the "fancy" thing...our Lake Park cheerleaders were all in glittery gowns (gag--how predictable), while the friends at my table were in comfy sweaters, etc. That just illustrated that some things don't change over time...
I went to my 10th high school reunion. There was a planning committee made up of alumni in the area, so the burden didn't fall on just one or two people. They rented a large meeting room in a local hotel. There was party food, and lots of alcohol (I went to a public high school). Mostly, people sat around and talked, and then at the end, there was a big group picture taken by a professional photographer--you could buy one if you wanted.
I don't remember how I was tracked down, but I remember getting the invitation email while in a shabby computer lab in the Himalayas! I think generally word of mouth works well for this kind of thing. Facebook could really help.
I haven't been to a reunion, Ours was right after I had Kaitlyn, so didn't want to go looking just post-prego.
My class and years before or after are planning an informal meeting at Molly McGuires, which I probably won't be attending....not into the whole bar/drinking scene. So I'm afraid I can't help much either. I remember getting an e-mail about the first one though, the planner pretty much sent e-mails to those she knew and asked people to pass along to anyone they could find....it ended up getting to pretty many people. This next informal meeting was just put together via facebook.
Well, seeing as this was a "Christian" school, I doubt we'll have a reunion at a bar (although wine/beer with dinner is fine with me)... but my friend and I were thinking of having a "dinner" one night (not formal, but nicer than McDonalds) and then maybe having a picnic at a park the next day that includes kids, for whomever might be interested. Some people would be coming a long distance and might want to hang out more. But we were thinking the picnic thing could just be BYO and optional. I have had a few people say they would help, so if I can get my act together and form a "committee" then it would be do-able. Thanks everyone for your feedback. Like I said, I'm clueless about this stuff.
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