How to organize an alumni reunion evening?

School is long over, the years fly by, the faces of our classmates are forgotten, and sometimes their names. And having accidentally met on the street a person with whom you spent your school years, a lot of questions immediately arise for him - how does he live, what does he do, what is his life like? And, of course, I really want to chat, remember interesting moments from school life, favorite teachers and classmates. The best way to realize this is to gather your classmates all together and experience a feeling of nostalgia, plunging into a happy and carefree past...

Organizing a reunion of school or university alumni is not so easy. How to do this?

Meeting preparation stage

In order to bring everyone together and immerse yourself in the memories of school time, and even hold an alumni meeting in a way that will be remembered for many years, some effort should be made.

It is quite difficult for one person, the organizer and initiator of the meeting, to prepare everything, since many details and trifles need to be thought through.

Therefore, it would be nice to call one more active former classmate for help, or better yet two. This will help speed up the preparation process for the event.

Let's try to streamline the actions that should be taken at the preparatory stage of the alumni meeting:

It is important to decide what kind of composition you will gather - will it be just the class or the entire stream? The location of the event depends on this, since not every room can accommodate a large number of people.
How to gather everyone? The task is difficult, but doable. We continue to communicate with some of our classmates for many years after school, and they, in turn, maintain relationships with someone else. You should start with this list of participants, and on its basis you can build a further chain. Social networks can also help you. Most classmates have accounts on popular social networks. It is enough to remember the person’s first and last name and finding his page will not be difficult. Former teachers who may have contact information for their former students can also help.
Plan a scenario for the evening and calculate the material part. Consider the costs of purchasing food, drinks or paying for a cafe or restaurant. Also, if part of the event will be held within the walls of a school or university, include in the estimate the amount for the purchase of flowers and gifts for former teachers. If desired, you can organize memorable gifts for each participant in the evening. The amount is distributed among all participants in the celebration.
Many years after the last call, each of the graduates has his own interests and hobbies, so such a diverse audience may not find common topics to maintain a conversation and the evening can turn into a boring eating treats and drinking alcohol. Therefore, if your budget allows, invite an experienced animator who will help direct the meeting evening in the right direction.

What options are there for holding the event?

Invite classmates

Gathering the whole class is a dream come true for anyone trying to organize an alumni reunion. But unfortunately, this is difficult to achieve. Classes are not always friendly, so even after several years, not many people feel nostalgic for their school years. People simply do not want to return to those walls, the graduation from which became one of the happiest moments in their lives. Therefore, such people do not go to alumni reunion days as a matter of principle. There are other individuals who were not very sociable. During their school years, they were not well acquainted with their peers, and after 10 years they have no desire to get to know them again. You also need to take into account the fact that there will always be those who have no one to leave their child or dog with. But still, most people will be able to put everything aside in order to meet with those who were dear to them once every 5-10 years. After all, you must admit that even for the sake of curiosity it is interesting to go to an alumni reunion evening. I would like to see who became who, what fate turned out for whom. Many people even manage to raise their own self-esteem due to this. In general, if you decide to gather your classmates, make sure to notify everyone at least a month in advance. Today this is easy to do, thanks to social networks. Create a VKontakte group and invite everyone with whom you studied in the same class.

Alumni meetings: how are they held and is it worth going there?

A reunion is both a joyful and a sad day. It makes me happy to see family faces who were close to me throughout my school years. And it’s sad, because time goes by quickly and it’s impossible to slow it down. This day goes differently for everyone, but it leaves vivid memories in the memory of most. This is a meeting with childhood and youth, with classmates and teachers who not only gave knowledge, but were also there in difficult or happy moments.

The school can choose the date, but traditionally the event is held on the first Saturday of February. Beautifully decorated school corridors, balloons and flags - everything reminds us of our school years. Many alumni pop into classrooms and share stories and advice with teens. On this day, adults indulge in memories, tell news, show creative performances, in a word, have fun.

Usually schools prepare in advance for the reunion of graduates. We asked the teacher-organizer of the Novozybkovsky Vocational Pedagogical College Oksana Anatolyevna Petrova about how preparations for the alumni meeting are going:

“First of all, we monitor social networks: we create a survey in the group and look for guys who are ready to help in the search. We pay special attention to anniversary issues: five, ten, fifteen years. It’s nice that many students come from different cities, even from other countries, to see school friends and acquaintances.

I always take charge of the script. It is important to make the program unusual and original. We invite teachers who have long since retired to each meeting. They are always looked forward to. It's nice when graduates themselves make surprises. For example, in 2019, the anniversary editions brought out a huge multi-tier cake in a soft blue color. I cannot express my surprise in words. Such meetings charge me with optimism and positive energy!”

It is no coincidence that they say that you truly appreciate something when you lose it. Only at an alumni meeting do you realize how nice it is to hug school friends, teachers, and the director, talk about various topics and remember this wonderful time!

Many people are interested in knowing how the meeting of classmates goes. Graduates of past years shared their impressions:

— Of course, it’s nice to return to my native lyceum, walk through the classrooms, talk with teachers, talk about my achievements, find out what other guys are doing. It's a pity that not everyone could come. Our class, in principle, has always been friends, even outside the lyceum, so we chatted about absolutely everything

: about universities and admission, about everyday life in school, about student life. The lyceum has a special energy that is recreated by music in the morning, noise, laughter, and the smell of buns from the cafeteria. After the meeting, only warm memories remained! (Elizabeth, graduate of Novozybkovsky Vocational and Pedagogical College in 2019)

But what if the school doesn’t hold an alumni reunion, but you want to remember your youth and chat with classmates? You can organize the evening yourself; you don’t need any special skills or abilities, the main thing is to be patient while looking for all your school friends.

— We organized the meeting ourselves:

the head girl wrote to me on VKontakte, together we found other guys, created a conversation and met.
We thought about the premises for a long time, there were many proposals and ideas, but we could not come to anything common. Some people live far away and it’s inconvenient to get there, others are not happy with the staff or the food in this establishment. A few days later we finally decided on a place. We talked about families, exchanged contacts so that we could call each other more often. The Internet, of course, allows you to communicate with everyone, but nothing can replace live communication.
What I remember most is how Sashka, our classmate, brought an album of our old photos together, and we looked at each photo with trepidation. It seems that childhood itself freezes in the depths of your soul when you look through old photographs. (Nadezhda, graduate of school No. 10 2021, Yekaterinburg)

But it turns out that alumni reunions are not always a pleasant event.

“I thought for a long time whether to go to the alumni meeting, but I decided to go so as not to be an outcast. Did I like it? No. We didn’t really find anything to talk about, it was clear that everyone was bored

, the gaze is directed not at the interlocutor, but at the clock, I want to go home as soon as possible. The atmosphere was uncomfortable: very few people came, the food in the cafe was tasteless, and topics for conversation quickly dried up. We talked for two or three hours and went home. Funny. (Anna, 2001 graduate of school No. 6, Bryansk)

However, for many, the alumni meeting is an event that invariably remains interesting and long-awaited. After all, this is not only delicious food in a restaurant, but also an evening of live communication, good mood and relaxation among familiar people:

“It all started with a solemn official part in the assembly hall: dances, songs, poems. There were many fun competitions and performances

, for example, one year's graduation against another, funny memories of teachers.
We also prepared a gift for the school: we made a video, a newspaper from joint photographs, and presented gifts to the teachers. After the official part, we smoothly moved to the restaurant to remember our school days in a friendly group. It's sad that we have already matured, and everyone has their own destiny. Of course, not everyone comes to the meeting. For one person this day means nothing, for another there are things to do and it is impossible to cancel them. It’s funny that I couldn’t even recognize someone: it seems like the same boy who pulled your pigtails is standing with you, but you doubt whether it’s him
. After the meeting, only warm memories remained. The attitude towards certain people is also changing: before the person was unpleasant, but now it’s nice to talk to him and exchange contacts. It’s sad that in the constant flow of things we forget about such wonderful meetings, because this is a good opportunity to create a holiday for yourself! (Irina, 1991 graduate of school No. 1, Novozybkov)

An alumni meeting is like a book that you flip through and experience emotions that are dear and important every time. This is a long-awaited event, filled with warm memories, funny stories and slight sadness about the past years. Such events are necessary: they bring warmth and kindness. This is a small opportunity to once again feel like a carefree child who did not have the problems and worries of adulthood.

Invite teachers

Of course, at the alumni meeting it is interesting to look at your peers. The teachers will also be interesting to look at. It's one thing when you look at the older generation through the eyes of a child, and quite another thing when you look at your mentors years later. Yes, your teachers have hardly changed during this time. But you have changed too. You have formed a clear life strategy; you perceive what is happening around you in a completely different way. Old idols might have faded, so it wouldn’t hurt to look at those people who played an important role in your development as a person. Be sure to invite teachers to the alumni reunion evening. Yes, perhaps many of them will not be able to come. Maybe some won't even be alive anymore. You should find out all this information in advance. Come to school, find your class teacher and talk to him. He will tell you how things are going at school, who is feeling great and who is sick. Write down the names of those who could potentially attend your event and print out invitations for them. Don't forget to give this paper to your class teacher. By handing out invitations in person, you can collect information regarding whether the teacher intends to attend your evening or not. Based on this data, you will order food and seats in the establishment.

Mini-scene

You will need elements for the images. For example, for a grandmother, a scarf on her head, for a grandfather, earflaps. For a bunny, a headband with ears, etc. In this case, it is possible to do without costumes at all.

Everyone loved fairy tales back in school days. Some went to a theater club, and some actively participated in KVN. The presenter suggests recalling your artistic skills.

Roles:

grandfather;
grandmother;
goat;
bunny;
piggy.

The presenter simply reads the text of the fairy tale, and the participants act out everything that is said.

Once upon a time there lived a grandfather and grandmother. Their grandchildren rarely visited them, so they kept the household. This is a goat who was always flirting with everyone. A little bunny who hops and hops and hops and hops all day long. And a pig. She's still a lazy girl, she just yawned.

Every morning, my grandfather and grandmother started with exercises. Arm swings, leg lunges, squats, push-ups. They still had gunpowder in their flask! At this time, the pig looked at the old people as if they were fools and kept twisting them to his temple. She either preferred to bask in the sun and yawn all the time. The bunny didn’t need any exercise, because he was jumping all day like he was not normal. Jump, yes jump, jump, yes jump. Every morning the goat enjoyed her beauty and danced with joy, like a fluttering butterfly.

But one day something went wrong. And while charging, my grandfather got a pain in his back. The grandmother began to massage him. The old man relaxed so much that he remembered his youth and how he hugged his grandmother with all passion. The bunny closed his eyes. And the pig just twisted his head and yawned. The goat looked enviously at the couple and began to flutter further like a butterfly.

And the grandfather was pleased that after he hugged the grandmother and the bunny. I scratched the pig's belly. And he kissed the goat on the cheek. The grandmother began to hiccup in surprise. Yes, such that the bunny covered his ears. And the goat, in fright, began to butt the grandmother. The pig looked at everyone as if they were fools, and twirled her finger at her temple, yawning at the same time.

Grandfather realized that a boil was brewing. And also the fact that out of everyone, only he and the pig are adequate. So the old man grabbed the pig and ran away. The bunny, too, was not at a loss, but galloped away. The grandmother responded by tickling the goat. And while she was laughing, the grandmother ran away after the grandfather. The goat realized that she was left alone. She blew a kiss to everyone and rushed after everyone.

Decide on location

Once the guest list has been outlined, you need to figure out where to best host your alumni reunion. There can be many options. For example, you can agree with the school principal and hold a festive event in your home class. It will be a very atmospheric party. You can even seat your classmates at their desks without moving the tables. But not all directors will allow you to organize such an event at school. Keep in mind, there were a lot of graduations and everyone was eager to spend time in their class. You can count on such generosity only if you have an anniversary date, for example, 10 or 25 years from the date of graduation. What if it is not possible to hold an alumni reunion at school? In this case, you can rent a room. You can find a large banquet hall, and it will not be a restaurant, but just a room. The advantage of this option is that you do not have to order food and pay additionally for the show program. If, on the contrary, you want wild fun, not limited to a close circle of classmates, then you can go to a restaurant. On graduation days, establishments host entertainment events that will help make the party memorable. In this case, you won’t even need to buy your own groceries and cut salads.

Checklist with a plan for organizing an alumni evening

To make your evening a success, you need to organize it in stages. We have compiled a checklist to help you.

Decide on a date.
Select a location.
Make a list of classmates or fellow students.
Make invitations.
Send invitations to all alumni and teachers.
Agree with the decor of the room.
Choose an outfit.
Prepare an entertainment program and event script.
Solve the menu issue.
A few weeks before the holiday, call the graduates and find out if they can come.
Choose memorable gifts for graduates.
Agree with contractors (photographer, presenter, animator, etc.).
Check all the details a day or two before the holiday.
You can celebrate and have fun!

Guest seating

When you have decided on the room and the number of people, you need to think about where and who can be seated. You need to understand that those people who did not communicate well with each other at school are unlikely, years later, to suddenly become inflamed with love for each other. Therefore, sit next to classmates who communicated amicably. After all, an alumni reunion party years later is an event where you want to see your close friends, contacts with whom you have lost. Many people have this problem: should they seat everyone at one long table or organize many small “islands”? The second option will be more appropriate. The fact is that you can communicate well in a company of a maximum of 6 - 8 people. It is on this principle that you organize tables. But keep in mind that then the community of the event will be lost a little. So if you choose an “island” seating arrangement, you will definitely need to hold competitions that will help you not to lose the friendly atmosphere of the whole team.

Graduate

You will need 9 signs with letters from the word “Graduate”.

9 people are invited to participate. Each person is given a large sign with a letter. The presenter asks riddles, the answers to which must be compiled from the available letters. The participants show the guessed word to the audience, lining up in a row with signs in their hands.

Mustache is singular. (mustache)
As the cuckoo says. (ku)
A club for the cheerful and resourceful? (KVN)
Lemon is sour, pepper is bitter, banana is sweet to... (taste)
He has a grandmother. (grandson)
Male child for parents. (son)
At night we see. (dreams)
Borsch, cabbage soup, pickle. All this? (soup)
In front of the registry office, the groom is given... (ransom)
Today we gathered. (Graduates)

Room decor

To make your school reunion evening unforgettable, you need to decorate your classroom. Since it’s unlikely to be possible to do this in advance, you need to think about decorations that can be hung up quickly. What could it be? For example, wall newspapers. Everyone associates these funny posters with school. Draw a couple of these wall newspapers. You can write funny incidents from your school years on them or draw something like a comic book. If you don't know how to draw, entrust this task to someone who can handle the task well.

You can hang garlands on the walls. Lights will make your classroom a fairy tale place. But you shouldn’t take a multi-colored garland. Give preference to plain lights. The warm yellow glow will make the atmosphere in the room cozy and conducive to communication.

You can stretch paper flags along the walls. They will remind you of school work lessons. Every year, many children made streamers from multi-colored paper rings, flags and snowflakes. Of course, snowflakes will be out of place, but everything else will be fine.

If you plan to dance, you can bring disco balls from home and hang them on the ceiling. It is worth plugging in laser projectors, which will illuminate the room with all the colors of the rainbow, and with the advent of music, they will create a suitable atmosphere.

Speech preparation

How long ago did you graduate from school? About 20 years? In this case, the alumni reunion evening will become an exciting event for many. Keep in mind that not all people are masters of improvisation. So if you want your classmates to give a speech, ask them to write one for themselves in advance. But not all people see performing as part of their profession. To say beautiful words at an alumni meeting, you need to have an idea of what to say. Make this task easier for your classmates. Write them a outline in which each of them can tell something about themselves. But believe me, listening to a monotonous speech, even one that lasts only two minutes, will be boring. So write a list of teasing questions. Each of the event guests will need to answer them. This way you will learn more about your classmates, and at the same time you can laugh. Humor brings people together and helps melt the ice that may form between comrades who last communicated 20 years ago.

You can write two lists of questions. Send one of them to all guests, and don’t show the other to anyone. It will need to be given to the host of the event so that during the evening he will help the guests learn a little more about each other.

Women vs men

Two teams are invited. Of men and women. Groups stand opposite each other and take turns performing a collective dance based on songs of different genres. Who will out-dance whom is decided by applause.

Sample playlist:

Bob Sinclair - Everybody Dance Now.
Kristina Agilera - Show me how you burlesque.
Leningrad - WWW.
Jennifer Lopez - Let's Get Loud.
Christina Aguilera feat. Lil' Kim & Mya & Pink - Lady Marmalade

Russian folk “Kalinka-Malinka”.

Timati - Daring.

Verka Serduchka - Okay.

Dance of little ducks.

Armenian folk.

Come up with competitions

How to have fun at your homecoming party? Classmates must take the initiative. And in order to help people relax, you need to come up with competitions. What could they be? It is necessary to ensure that each of those present has a chance to demonstrate their knowledge, talents and skills. Therefore, make a selection of different competitions. For example, one of them may be intellectual. Remember who received a gold medal upon graduation? It is interesting to check whether an excellent student, years later, will be able to defend his title of best student. An intellectual quiz should include questions from all areas of knowledge. And in order for the conditions to be fair, there is no need to give answers in the form of tests, because you are testing people’s knowledge, not their intuition.

Hold several competitions for physical strength and manual dexterity. For example, men can compete in arm wrestling, and girls can compete in their ability to temporarily tie a tie. You can take standard relay competitions. It’s stupid to think that they are only interesting to children. Many adults would be happy to forget about their age for one evening and be children. Be sure to arrange a tug of war, because not a single school sports festival would take place without this competition.

To the blackboard!

You will need two boards. Chalk or marker. You also need rags/sponges for erasing notes from the board and writing tools (markers, crayons).

Participants are divided into two teams. Opposite each one there is its own board. Nearby are sponges/rags and crayons/markers.

Participants from each team run up to the board and write an easy example. Let's say 2 + 2. The second in line participants enter the answer after passing the baton. The third players erase everything from the board. Starting from the fourth participants, everything is repeated. Only the examples for the solution should be written differently.

The fastest and smartest team wins.

Choose music

What helps create a festive atmosphere? Of course, music. What songs would be most appropriate for a graduation party? Definitely not modern pop. Undoubtedly, there will be people who like it, but still the majority will be against it. Therefore, it is better not to install anything modern. Remember those songs that were played at school discos. Songs for homecoming evening will help people mentally return to their childhood years and once again relive the excitement that always gripped them before going to the dance. But such a retro disco will be appropriate when everyone wants to dance. And what kind of music should be playing at the moment when classmates are just getting ready or saying hello? Probably, for every person the very first day in life, September 1st, is memorable. On any school line-up, songs such as “They teach at school”, “Pinocchio” and “Twice two is four” are heard. Such a repertoire would be most appropriate.

It will be great if you bring a guitar to school. In any company you can find a person who knows how to play it. Songs that will be sung with a guitar will be able to remind you, at least for a moment, of hikes and school concerts.

Right now, let's sing

You will need printed lyrics in large print. The words of the song are cut line by line. The lines are distributed to the guests.

All guests are divided into two teams. Since the game is a table game, one half of the table is one team. Each group is given strips of paper with lines from a famous song.

Two teams have two different compositions. Participants must understand what the song is and perform it. First, the players of one group sing in chorus, then the other.

At the end of the musical game, everyone thanks each other with applause.

Think over the menu

Classmates can remember the alumni reunion evening for many years. And so that the organizer of this event is not lynched, you need to think carefully about me. It will be impossible to please everyone, so you need to select products that will appeal to the majority. Homemade salads are a great appetizer that is the first to go at any party. But there will always be those who don’t like something. Therefore, if you do decide to cook your own food, do not make complex dishes. Regarding salads, use classic recipes and don’t try to surprise anyone with your culinary talent. A class reunion is not the best event to demonstrate your culinary skills. In addition to salads, you need to prepare light snacks. These can be tartlets with various fillings, sandwiches, or a snack wrapped in pita bread. If you decide to prepare thoroughly, think about what hot items you can put on the table. You can make your task easier by ordering food at a restaurant.

Think about what drinks would be most appropriate to put on the table. Buy several bottles of wine and champagne. Also buy juice and soda. You should not buy strong alcohol. When meeting classmates, people go to talk, not to drink.

Cafe for meeting classmates: how to choose a cafe?

The cafe for the meeting should be quiet and cozy.
The success of the event depends not only on the correct organization, but also on the place where it will be held. If you have chosen a cafe, then let it be located in an area accessible to most participants, with a comfortable environment, not too loud music and European cuisine.

It’s good if the establishment is located in the center, close to a public transport or metro stop. It is unlikely that anyone will come by car, because then they will have to give up some pleasures. It is better that the menu includes both hot dishes and something light in the form of snacks.

For women, the calorie content of the desserts offered is important, so you should make sure that the menu includes tasty, but low-calorie cakes and pastries.

Make a slideshow

You can make a kind of collage from the photo for the alumni meeting. It is advisable to edit it in digital format. Match the photos of your classmates. Do something like “Before and After.” Take pictures from your school years and modern photographs. This comparison will be interesting to see for all your peers. Insert general class photos. Agree, a slideshow of just people, even with an interesting comparison, will be boring. You can insert video excerpts, for example, from graduation. A great idea would be to ask those classmates who could not come to the evening to record a short video of 1-2 minutes. They can say hello to everyone present and tell them a little about themselves.

If you want to make a touching slide show, be sure to put music on the pictures. It is advisable to use the anthem of your class, if there was one. You can also insert poems about school. It will be great if one of your classmates writes these rhyming lines. And if there is an artist among your peers, you can ask him to draw a caricature of his classmates. Such a picture at the end of the video will amuse, make you laugh and help end the slide show on a cheerful, rather than sad, note.

Write a script

Classmates should understand that homecoming evening should be a gift for teachers. Therefore, do not put the organization of the event on someone else’s shoulders. If you want everyone to have fun and interest, write a script. What could it be? For example, you can play the meeting evening as September 1st of 1st grade. Get reacquainted with your classmates and teachers. The scenario for a school reunion evening could be like this:

Host: Hello, my dears! Today you came to school like it was the first time. All of you were worried, got ready and dressed up. Everyone wants only good opinions about him. But remember, it was the same in first grade. Sit down at your desks. And let's get acquainted.

Each classmate stands up and tells a little about himself.

Host: We got to know each other a little, but now let’s look at the person who helped us in self-knowledge and mentored us during our long school years.

The class teacher comes in and makes a speech.

Presenter: I announce a change.

Classmates get up from their desks and communicate with each other.

Presenter: Break is coming to an end, take your seats guys. Let's remember what it was like for us to sit in class. Let's see if the performance statistics in our class have changed.

An intellectual quiz is being held.

Host: Yes, our excellent students have changed. Do you remember who was the strongest in our class? Let's check if there are more worthy candidates for the title of hero today?

Arm wrestling is taking place.

Host: You're probably hungry, it's time to eat. Girls, let's see which of you have grown into housewives.

Classmates rearrange desks and set the table. After the feast there is a disco.

Class Statistics

You will need:

office tablet;
pen;
printed text template.

The presenter encourages guests to shout out any numbers. The numbers heard are written in the spaces of the dashes. According to statistical data from an independent commission, the following indicators were determined for the years of N-class education:

The total mass of cosmetics applied to the faces of our former classmates is ____ kg.
The volume of cologne our former classmates poured, or perhaps drank, on themselves is ____ liters.
The girls' school bag weighed ____ g, and the boys' school bag weighed ____ g.
The speed of thought along the convolutions was ____ m/hour.
The height of raised hands in lessons was ____ mm for girls, ____ m for boys.
And the speed of movement for buns to the dining room for boys was ____ km/sec, and for girls ____ km/hour.
Classmates spent ____ hours together.
Over all the years of study, ____ warm words were said between classmates.
The total number of absenteeism for girls is ____, for boys it is ____.
The frictional force between the palms during a homecoming handshake reaches ____ newton.