So from what the movies have told me, when people hear 'high-school reunion', they usually scream and run for the hills! Being only a year out from the institution, I was looking forward to my first year reunion so when I received an invitation to help organise the event, I jumped at the opportunity.
While at school, I didn't have much contact with our Alumnae department; there never seems to be the perfect time to meet the people you won't see until after high-school! When I got the email from the wonderful S, a member of our Alumnae department, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into.
Plenty emails back and forth later, we had settled on a date and sent out a mass text message save the date to my year level. Educated in the age of technology, we used a Facebook poll to decide which date could have the most people attend and planned accordingly.
Next step was the invitation; to be simple, aesthetically pleasing and audience appropriate. I originally designed three proofs and had a personal favourite, featuring the official Pantone colours of my school's logo. This mock-up ended up being everyone's favourite and was the invitation sent out. I removed the details, but here's a good look at the final product...
Next was the decorations. With a budget of $50, I managed to score balloons, streamers, napkins, two table runners, balloon clips and pipes and hot glue sticks. The table runners were glued together and I fashioned hot balloon centre-pieces from various recyclable materials. The Alumnae department has a perpetual banner, featured below, and a banner is printed for the associated year level. The food was catered, from a nearby cafe and including hot food, sandwiches, fruit platter, dessert platters, drinks and a gluten free and vegetarian alternative, it came to around $10.50 a head. Have a look at the end result...
The night went really well! Something around 35 people turned up, not including staff from the school. The girls all loved it and could not stop talking to each other. Some girls who left before year 12 were even in attendance. We all laughed over slideshows and photo videos and highly out of the ordinary for our year level...there was no drama!
This experience has been one in a million. It reminded me how much I enjoy event planning and budgeting and how much the little details matter.I even had a chance to let my creative juices flow. I managed to do all this during the peak of the semester so my time planning skills were out of this world!
Working collaboratively with S has been such a learning opportunity and I cannot thank here enough for allowing me this opportunity; I can't wait for the next big event I am part of. The following is a copy of the reunion report written (by me) for the Class of 2012's first year reunion to be featured in the school newsletter and /or yearbook...
Looking ahead, I can't wait for the next reunion and hopefully, I will be able to assist again!
Have you helped organise an old school event?
What's your experience with reunions?
What did you think of our handiwork?
Fill me in!
Miss Tracy xx
