Bella Kai: Reunion Party

A couple of years ago, wow, I cannot believe it has been that long already, a small committee of three women and myself planned our ten year reunion. The scary part about it, was we were the first class in about five years to actually plan and hold their reunion.

With very limited funds, actually zero to start with, we planned what turned out to be a great reunion and a fun night to catch up with friends.

Originally, we were going to mail invitations but I did not want to mail invitations, about 200, of them and get stuck with the bill. If no one showed up, I would be out the money. We decided to create a reunion page on face book, this was an easy and cheap way to gather everyone in our class. Was it 100% effective, no, but beggars cannot be choosers. We posted the invitation on the page and asked and forwarded the link to as many people as we could.

I love how the invitation turned out and the best part it was free, since we sent it out electronically.  The cost of the reunion per person was $40, which I have to say is not too bad. My one friend attended hers and the tickets were $75 a person. We wanted to offer discounts, but working with such a strict budget just wouldn't allow us. The $40 covered the cost of food per person ($28) plus tip for the wait staff and to reserve a bartender for the night, which brought the total per person to $33, the favors, the professional photographer that not only took pictures throughout the night but a group shot of all of us at the end of the night, awards that we gave out to everyone, king and queen crowns, and the name tags.

Notice our decorations were not included in there, I worked with a company that I use for balloons and things for my own kiddos parties and events and they donated the balloons for the reunion. I was also able to get our cake donated, then I found out that the event hall charged a cake cutting fee, even if we cut the cake ourselves, so we went with cupcakes instead!

I must say that I loved the way our cupcakes turned out! I didn't just want some cupcakes placed on a tray, the bakery was awesome and worked me with (especially considering they were doing it for free), they formed the year we graduated in cupcakes and made a mini cake as well.

For our favors, Amy and her husband (who didn't even graduate with us) took mini champagned bottles (one per person) and created a wonderful tag, that read Perry Traditional Academy Class of 1999, Ten Year Reunion, November 28, 2009. They were a big hit, unfortnuately people got greedy and drank theirs at the reunion and the people who actually put the reunion together, we not able to have one. Minor details.

They ended up working perfectly to help to decorate the tables. We did luck out and since our reunion was held over Thanksgiving weekend, the restaurant had already started to decorate for Christmas, and we had wonderful decorations.

To help personalize the tables a little bit more, I created table names, we didn't have assigned seating, that had to do with the year in which we graduated. They included, our yearbook cover, school Mascot, motto, graduation date, and prom theme. These ones were just my favorite, I loved how simple they were but added a personalized touch.

Our name tags had everyone's name in high school and if they were married their married name now, I also took our freshman year picture and senior year pictures and scanned them on as well. They were a blast, although some people complained they didn't like their pictures. (Like I have control over what they looked like, geez!)

Here are the professional group shots:

The List of Awards we passed out:

Most gray hair
Most changed
Farthest traveled
Most kids (prize: a bottle of aspirin)
Lives closest to the school (prize: a world map)
Most dangerous job
Most recent baby-
Lived in the most places
Most or highest degrees (who couldn't stop going to school?)
Most eligible
Most exciting or interesting job
Classmates who have served in the military
King and Queen

It was a great 10 year Reunion!

Thank you to Amy for helping me get through each stage of this event!