How To Organise A School Reunion for Free

Having a school reunion can be a fun way to catch up with your old schoolmates and teachers. However, they can also be expensive, especially if you are organising it. I helped organise a meetup to mark 15 years since we had left school and I would love to have another now it is 25 years since we left secondary school!

I really enjoyed secondary school and therefore it is fun to meet up with others and find out what we are all doing and how much we have all changed! I still live in the town that I went to school and therefore I do occasionally bump into old schoolmates but it is not the same as having a proper school reunion, rather than a quick chat in the street.

How To Organise A School Reunion for Free

• Firstly you need to contact as many as you can from your school year. You might know five people and they might know another five and this snowball effect will help contact more and more from your year group. Attempt to find everyone, Schoolmates can facilitate this, as it provides a platform where you can search for old school friends by the name of your school. This reduces hours that would be spent on Facebook looking for individuals! Once you have found your year group you can share stories and even upload photos in a safe environment.  There are over 24,000 schools listed and if yours is not listed they will add it to the list! This is a great way to start planning your school reunion. Furthermore, if you were struggling to find someone using this site or if your school system maybe wasn’t supported there are more reliable people based solutions out there. Contacting a private investigation firm might sound unusual however when you consider that they are experts in the art of tracking down personal information off of very little lead it can be of great benefit when finding long lost friends. You can find out more by searching online for a reputable investigator near you who could help you find your old friends.
• Next, find a venue, this can also be arranged for free if you box clever! Many function rooms will provide a room for free in exchange for buying drinks etc. This means no hire costs but you still have a nice private area to host your get together. Ring around some local bars and see what they offer, hotels can also be worth a try as many have reception rooms available.
• Rather than paying for catering do a share a plate buffet style if you don’t want to pay out for all the food. This works well as everyone can bring some snacks and then it’s a social affair. Make sure that you cover different food groups to cater for everyone, make sure there are vegetarian and gluten free offerings so that you are fully inclusive.
• Consider a day event rather than an evening do. A picnic in the park works well especially if you want to bring families and children to your school reunion. Ask people to bring some sports stuff, a game of rounders or cricket is good fun. This can also help break down any awkwardness if you haven’t seen some schoolmates in recent years.
• Find out what skills you have between you – that boy you sat next to in French could be a DJ and happy to do a set, that girl from History maybe a cake maker. Use the talents you have and this again starts conversations flowing. It is great fun to find out the skills old friends have, some might really surprise.

Having a school reunion does not need to be expensive and as I have shown you can actually organise it for free. However, organising anything takes time, so plan a date well in advance and share the tasks out between a few willing volunteers. Facebook is a great medium to connect and find those old friends, a good tip is to search for maiden names. Do let me know how else you kept the cost down when organising a school reunion.