At Groople.com, many of us still fondly remember
our days in junior high, high school and college (although sometimes the memory
is a bit fuzzy). We also recall how close our friendships were in those days, when
the grades we received on chemistry quizzes, whether or not we made the junior high
basketball team and who did (or did not) ask whom to the prom seemed of earth-shattering
importance. What happened to all those good friends, anyway? Let Groople help you
and your classmates plan a memorable reunion soon. Why? Well, because:
- It has been way too long. When you’re in your
college physics or high school algebra class it sure seems like the hands of the
clock move at a glacial speed. If only time felt that slow now. The relationships
you established in high school and college formed who you are today, and it sure
is nice to revisit and rekindle them, no matter how long it has been since you were
last together.
- It won’t feel like it’s been that long. Even
if it has been decades since you last saw your best friend from middle school, or
your frat brother from college, the power of those early bonds is so strong that
you’ll soon find yourself lapsing into old inside jokes and remembering things you
imagined (and maybe wished) would never cross your mind again. It’s always worthwhile
to maintain these valuable friendships.
- Introduce a side of yourself to friends and family.
Unless you married your high school or college sweetheart, there’s a good chance
that your spouse and kids know very little about the school friends who helped shape
you. Let them put some faces to the old stories you tell (and maybe get some facts
straight) by attending one of your class reunions.
Great Class Reunion Destinations:
Most of the time, a class reunion means returning
to the town or city where you attended school. But there are other options which
some classes are finding to be appealing alternatives, particularly for milestone
reunions, like the 25th or 50th anniversary. Here are some
ideas:
- Take a cruise
- Go on a train ride
- Gather at an amusement park
- Rent a boat on a lake
- Organize a “trip of a lifetime”
Plan Your Reunion:
Groople.com can’t help you drop twenty pounds or
grow a full head of hair before your reunion, but we can make planning your get
together a snap. A few suggestions:
- Create a Groopvine page. There, you will be able
to communicate with classmates and help each other find lost alumni; set up polls
to decide on dates, locations, and hotels; divvy up planning responsibilities; and
even share pictures from the reunion once you’re back.
- If you’re not going to return to your alma mater,
what kind of getaway do you and your classmates want to take? Check out Groople’s
Where to Go: Great Ideas for Class Reunions for suggestions.
- Find a hotel or resort. Groople will help you
find a hotel within your price range featuring all the amenities you’ll want for
your reunion. Groople can find the best group rates for your reunion, and will enable
everyone in your group to pay separately.
- Decide on your itinerary. Communicate via Groopvine
to plan activities, like a formal dinner and less dressy, kid-friendly activities.
Tips for Planning your Class Reunion Trip:
Unless you attended a one room school with a handful
of other kids—and if nobody ever left town—it is a challenging proposition to pull
together a class reunion. Here are some ways to make it a little easier:
- Utilize all possible tools to find people. One
of the trickiest things about planning a class reunion is that you can’t take many
of the necessary steps—like picking a hotel where you’ll hold events and hiring
a caterer—without knowing how many people will attend. To figure that out, you have
to cast a wide net to find as many of your old classmates as possible, which requires
everything from scouring social networking sites like Facebook, putting ads in the
newspaper, working with alumni associations and getting a big help from word of
mouth.
- Once you have a definitive count on the number
of attendees, utilize Groople.com to help you get the best price on hotel rooms
for all those people who will be attending the reunion from out of town. In selecting
hotels, keep in mind people’s varying financial situations. The point is to get
as many former classmates as possible to attend, so don’t make cost a prohibitive
factor.
- Piggyback on another event. There’s a reason
so many class reunions happen during homecoming weekend. Scheduling your class get
together during a time when there are other activities planned can give people lots
of options about what to do and potentially more reasons to come. You also may be
able to work with your school to get discounted or free meeting space.