Okay people.....
So now is the time I guess that we start bouncing some ideas back and forth for our 10 year Reunion.
Any ideas??
Of course our class has to do things differently. So think OUTSIDE the box. Not the norm.
Rough ideas:
So Brett initially had a couple ideas...one being hold it in a Barn and the other being hold it in a huge tent in Teaque Park and somehow incorporate donating money (that is collected from tickets) to the park or schools for using the park.
Then I talked to Meg Irving and she mentioned that she might be able to get a Quonset hut (sp?). I believe that is what it is. (Correct me Meg, if I am wrong)
I can SO picture hanging strings of lights with the really big clear bulbs....zig-zagged across the area.
Have kind of a rustic look.
Also what do you guys think about doing 2 days?
One night being the Ice Breaker (drinks & apps, mingling). Then the second day being a family day. A picnic/barbeque type thing. So that we can incorporate our families??
I think that is enough to ponder for now.
Please leave comments on your thoughts and ideas.
Thanks!
Fallan
The first steps are to see how many people are attending by collecting the entire class list (from the HS), then gathering the addresses. I have quite a lot of addresses I could supply. Then, we'll need to send out some sort of notification that we are starting to plan and to give out all of the information (the blog, contact people etc.)
ReplyDeleteAs far as the ideas go, the only thing I would be worried about it liability on both accounts. However, the Class of 1975 just had their reunion this summer and they had classmates offer their home/camps and celebrated there. (I think one home was for the ice breaker, they did family day somewhere else, and then the St. Peters camp was the third event.) This might be an option for our ice breaker considering the low cost. Most classes do an ice breaker, a family event, and then a formal night with dinner, dancing, etc. Of course we don't have to follow this, but I do think we should consider all options. Some people will come to the ice breaker but not the formal thing, and vice versa.
We also need to consider a date. Long weekends are great because it allows people to travel if needed. Reunions are typically in the summer.
I'd like to see the cost stay reasonable so that as many members can attend as possible. These days, money is tight and that's important for most people. I believe we were only allowed to keep like $1000 from our class money to do mailings for our reunion. This reunion will probably take most of that fund.
That's all I have for now!
Very interesting! Thanks for that info! I agree, we should keep the cost down as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteDo we have to do all the mailings in paper? What if we were able to get a good chunk of that info online, through email or Facebook. Then send a paper mailing to the people we can't get a hold of online as a second step. Might save some money.
What kind of information should be included in the mailing? Just asking if they think they will attend? Is it too early to do that? Or just as a rough estimate?
Now about liability....wouldn't it be harder to do at someones personal home because of the liability that will be on them? As opposed to a business place, since that is what they do?
To keep costs down, maybe do 2 days instead of the 3. We can combine the ice breaker & dinner (like the class of 1990 did this year). Then have a casual day...so people can go to one or the other or both. We can also put this sort of thing to a vote to see what people would rather do. I try to put a poll on the side of the blog to ask little things like that.
Maybe we can start collecting email addresses and then mailing addresses or both. Might as well get both if we can.
Hey there folks! Thanks for setting this up Fallan! And great thinking Lex. I agree that the first task is to see who is interested in getting involved in the planning process and to start building our contact list - thankfully we are the generation of facebook/technology, so that should make things a bit easier as Fallan suggested. We prolly will want to define roles too since there are a lot of us type A's involved. ;)
ReplyDeleteMaybe a group of us could have a conference call (I can set this up) to discuss what we need to do to get the word out that we are planning? I have ways of coordinating the best date and time for the call. What do people think about a call in February or March? Here's an example: http://doodle.com/5nn4hhmgkbcghz8p
I'm happy to help with the data organizing (collecting people's address, phone numbers, email, facebook, etc) and have skillz when it comes to fundraising (should we need to approach individuals or businesses to keep costs low for everyone else). I do this for a living now (who would have imagined - i thought i would be tap dancing) and am happy to help from Portland. I'm also able to set up online surveys to see what are classmates are hoping to see in our 10-year reunion, best dates, fair/reasonable costs, etc - should we want something like that.
Already looking forward to this! Thanks for getting this started.
Go 2002,
Andy
Thanks for commenting Andy! You always know how to get things organized.
ReplyDeleteI tried sending a group message on our class Facebook to let everyone know about this page and for them to please give us email addresses & home addresses. But I haven't heard back from anyone. Getting contact info is going to be a little harder than I thought. Any idea on how to collect these? I can try to get some emails from going to peoples FB pages...but that will only be a portion. I think once we get email addresses, it'll help some.
We do need to define some roles and things like that. So...someone please do that! haha....
I can tell you, that personally...I am not a phone person. I really hate talking on the phone, especially to more than one person. I'm more of a visual person, would video chat be possible? Or I am fine with discussing things on here. Deidra was setting up a forum for us, that will be easier to have longer discussions. We'll add the link on here.
I really don't know the "steps" in planning a class reunion. I figured I would just start doing something. I don't really think there is a right or wrong way, especially since our class likes to think outside the box.
Hey all,
ReplyDeleteYou all have great ideas and comments so far. I live in California now but wouldn't miss this for the world. I agree with Lex that cost is something everyone is going to consider especially if they live outside of Maine like myself. I love party planning and would love to help. If we got email addresses we could do evites to see if people are interested rather than waste tons of money on postage. For those people who we can't get email addresses for we will have to mail but I don't think it will be that much. There's only 150 ish of us. I think one night of ice breaker/dinner/drinks is very important. The family day is a great idea but since I am single and have only a dog I would definitely want something without the family the night before. The next day is great for family day, even though I don't have children I still haven't met a lot of my old friends little ones and would love to. I am a visual person to Fallan but I think it may be easier to do a conference call for the first go around to touch base. If anyone can find video chat that doesn't cost and arm and a leg that would be awesome. Even though I am in California, thanks to the world wide web I can help in many ways so please just let me know what I can do. Very excited!! Amy Dubay
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ReplyDeleteOh nuts. I meant to only correct my last post.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've set up a forum for discussion. If you think it would be a handy tool to use, this is the address: http://sad-machine.com/CHS2002/index.php If not, that is fine. This blog working. :)
I was also recommending Skype for video-conference calls.
I don't have any ideas or opinions about the event planning, but if you need any help setting up stuff online, just let me know!