Class Reunion Planning Tool Kit

Helpful Hints from the Pinellas Education Foundation

1. Getting Started.

If possible, start, two years in advance of the actual dates of the reunion.

o Often site selection of the reunion activities need to be booked a year or two in advance.

o Locating classmates can be very time consuming.

o However, a nice reunion can still be planned in a short amount of time (even a year or less).

2. Committee Formation.

Include a variety of former students to provide balanced planning and encourage diverse, creative ideas

to help attract as many of your former classmates as possible.

o Classmates who were active in school activities and sports.

o Class officers.

o Classmates located in other geographic regions.

o Organization leaders.

o Other classmates willing to help get things started.

3. Select Leadership and a Date.

Once the committee has been formed, there are some important decisions to make immediately.

o Select a chairperson with strong leadership and organizational skills.

o Select a treasurer with strong personal accounting skills.

o Select a secretary to maintain records and meeting minutes for future reference.

o Select a date as soon as possible.

o Inform the Pinellas Education Foundation of your reunion dates, and send a copy of your schedule in

case one of your classmates calls for information.

o As soon as your plans are finalized, contact your school’s Webmaster to post your reunion plans on

the school’s alumni Web page.

o Contact the school principal’s office to schedule a tour of the school.

4. Start-up Funds.

Funding for temporary operating expenses such as postage, printing, and deposits can be a problem,

especially for a first-time committee. The committee members could advance “seed money” for these

operating funds and, later, their donations could be used toward paying for part or all of their registration

fees. Another idea is to approach alumni-owned businesses to sponsor an activity in exchange for some

advertising. Be creative. Use the Internet to appeal to other grads for some start-up funds.

A common concern:

o Opening a bank account. Rather than using a committee member’s personal information to open a

short-term account, it is recommended that your group apply for a tax I.D. number.

o Apply for a number specifically for this purpose at no cost by requesting Form SS4. Download the

form here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf

. (The number will allow your group to keep funds in an

account on a short-term basis while planning your reunion and paying your final expenses.)

5. Locating Classmates.

o Utilize free web based sites like Facebook.com and MySpace.com to create a page for your event and

to search for alumni from your class.

o Make a request to the Pinellas Education Foundation to send an email to your classmates announcing

the event.

o The Foundation can provide you with a mailing list of last-available addresses of your class. The

Foundation can provide this information as a paper list, or electronically as an e-mail attachment in

Excel format.

Contact the Foundation at [email protected]

to obtain a class list to update, in either

hard copy or Excel format.

If you choose to work with the Excel version of your mailing list, you will also receive specific instructions

on how to manipulate the data and how to return the corrected information to the Foundation to be

imported back into our database. Whether you are working from the Foundation’s paper list or the

electronic list, the Foundation would appreciate receiving the corrected information to update our data.

(Note: Remind your classmates to keep in touch with the Foundation through the years as this will make

your job easier for the next reunion!)

If you have a classmate who is an employee of Pinellas County Schools, they may receive mail at no

cost through the Foundation’s inter-office mail system.

o Double-check the list we provide against your old yearbook and graduation programs and add any

names that are missing from our database.

o Divide the list among committee members and begin searching for classmates by:

• Local phone book.

• Internet online phone books.

• Online alumni search Web sites, including Facebook and MySpace.

• Sharing the list with friends who may know where a lost classmate is.

• Developing a relationship with reunion committees from classes previous to and directly

following your class to check for siblings, their friends, etc.

6. Contracts.

All vendor arrangements for the reunion should be in writing with no exceptions. Be sure that all

contracts contain the type of service, date, time, price, equipment to be used, menu items, tips, etc.

7. After the Party is Over.

Schedule a post-reunion meeting or gathering to celebrate a job well done with other committee

members.

• Discuss what worked well and what didn’t work so well.

• The secretary should record responses for reference for planning the next reunion.

• Discuss who will be responsible for housing the records, leftover yearbooks, decorations, etc.

• Discuss what to do with leftover funds. The Foundation can help you:

o Make a gift to your earmarked to support programs at your high school.

o Set up a scholarship.

o Honor a teacher.

o Think of creative ways to support your alma mater.

Enjoy! Reunions are fun and rewarding. Thanks for your efforts. Remember to keep in touch and to

inform the Pinellas Education Foundation of address changes when you move.

For additional resources and help, please contact:

Pinellas Education Foundation

12090 Starkey Road

Largo, FL 33773

Att. Alumni & Reunions

727-588-4816

E-mail [email protected]

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Alumni Sub-Committee Suggestions

Treasurer and Finance Committee

Prepare budget for committee.

Establish checking account.

Maintain all financial records & pay bills.

Decoration Committee

Establish a theme for the reunion and design table and room decorations from your era.

o Display class memorabilia that might include letter jackets, pep club sweaters, buttons, bumper

stickers, play programs, or pictures. Example: If you graduated in the 1970’s, items might be a lava

lamp, beanbag chair, and an eight-track tape and tape player.

Registration and Mailings Committee

o Take advantage of free websites such as Facebook.com and Myspace.com.

o Prepare items for check-in areas such as nametags with graduation photo, name in large print, and

current city and state of the attendee.

o Ask for volunteers (perhaps from the class before or after yours) to serve as hosts for each event.

o Design registration materials to be sent out—a sample invitation letter is available to be downloaded

from this site.

o Create your class Web site with e-mail address of a contact person and link to your school’s Web site.

o After the reunion, send a copy of your updated address list to the Foundation to aid in future reunions

and mailings.

Note: Neither the Pinellas Education Foundation nor Pinellas County Schools are able to use their bulk

rate postage meters legally for your reunion mailings. A direct mail marketing company is sometimes

able to help for a nominal fee, but many classes use postcards or simple one-page folded flyers. When

in doubt, contact the post office.

Reunion Activities Committee

Contact your school to schedule a school tour.

Consider a golf outing, late night breakfast, or a family picnic.

Consider unique venues for your event, such as a local resort, country club or museum.

Site and Food Selection Committee—Set the dates and select a location.

Contact motels, hotels, country and golf clubs, banquet halls, and other facilities to host your events.

Secure a block of rooms for out-of-town attendees. Many hotels/motels will offer a discount whether you

hold your event at their facility or not. Ask them!

Select a menu (or caterer) for your event and determine the final price to charge those attending. Be

creative with your food and beverage choices. How about serving six-foot submarine sandwiches?

Find the perfect location or caterer for your event.

St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau - 727-464-7200; 877-352-3224;

Fax: 727-464-7222; http://www.floridasbeach.com/

Visit your high school Web site:

Boca Ciega High School : http://www.bocaciega-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Clearwater High School: http://www.clearwater-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Countryside High School: http://www.webcoast.com/chs/

Dixie Hollins High School: http://www.dixie-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Dunedin High School: http://www.dhs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

East Lake High School: http://www.eastlake-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Gibbs High School: http://www.gibbs-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Lakewood High School: http://www.lakewood-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Largo High School: http://www.largo-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Northeast High School: http://www.largo-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Osceola High School: http://www.osceola-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Palm Harbor University: http://www.phuhs.org/web/

Pinellas Park High School: http://www.pp-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Seminole High School: http://www.seminole-hs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

St Petersburg High School: http://www.stpetehigh.com/

Tarpon Springs High School: http://www.tshs.pinellas.k12.fl.us/

Pinellas Education Foundation – www.pinellasedcuation.org

The Pinellas Education Foundation is happy to provide suggestions for possible locations,

caterers, activities, services, and commercial Web sites that may assist reunion planners as they

make decisions regarding their special event. The Foundation provides this information as

suggestions to find helpful resources and does not endorse any one business, service provider,

or Web site. The Foundation asks you to be cautious when working with online resources.

Faculty Contact

Invite some of your favorite teachers. Decide as a group who to invite.

You may need to provide transportation to the event for these special guests.

Publicity Committee

Mail a postcard six months to a year in advance to let classmates know reunion dates and provide a

phone number or e-mail address for a contact.

Finding lost classmates is difficult, even when they may live locally. Try newspaper ads and broadcast

public service announcements during winter holidays to catch people who have returned home for the

holidays.

As the date draws near, send press releases to local media.

Ask your school office if they can post your information on their outdoor marquees.

Take advantage of free websites such as Facebook.com and Myspace.com.

Reunion book

Will your class publish a yearbook of reunion activities and personal biographies?

• If you decide to do this, will the book be available before, during or after the reunion weekend?

• Get bids from several printers (you may be able to have printing done as an alumni donation).

• Sell ad space to alumni with business interests.

• Have the general committee make final approval.

SAMPLE REUNION INVITATION LETTER

Dear Classmate:

We can hardly believe it’s been ____ years since our (graduation or last reunion). We don’t want to let another

year go by without the opportunity for all of us to get together to get reacquainted and make new friends. A group

of your classmates has formed a committee and planned a reunion for the weekend of (Month) (date)-(date),

(year). We hope you will make plans now and be able to attend.

Activities will include a:

(casual gathering/elegant affair/picnic at (your class’s favorite place)

• Friday evening (date) from (6:00-10:00 p.m.)

• Saturday (date) will be a formal dinner/pig roast/picnic at (location from (time) to (time))

• A tour of the school will be held (date and time).

•

Many of our classmates will be there and it promises to be loads of fun!

Please indicate which of the events planned you will be able to attend, and return your registration with payment

no later than*(Date) to:

(Name of Contact Person)

(Street Address)

(City, State/ Zip)

NOTE: (A higher cost at the door encourages pre-registration and allows you to be able to estimate

number attending.)

 Friday (Date) event at (Location) $Cost_ if pre-paid by *(Date above) $Cost__ if paid at door

 Saturday (Date) event at (Location $Cost_ if pre-paid by *(Date above) $Cost__ if paid at door

Number Attending Friday: ____

Number Attending Saturday: ____

Total Amount Enclosed: $____________

(Optional) Gift of $____________ to support my high school’s program and carry on our traditions for many years

to come. Make this check payable to

Pinellas Education Foundation and mail to:

(Your high school name) Alumni Fund

12090 Starkey Road

Largo, FL 33773

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REMEMBER TO INFORM the PINELLAS EDUCATION FOUNDATION ANY TIME YOUR REUNION

INFORMATION CHANGES

Current Last Name ___________________ Maiden Name _________________ First Name__________________

Previous last name if remarried ____________________ Preferred Nickname_____________________________

High School Name _______________________________Year of Graduation_____________________________

New address_____________________________City__________________State______________ Zip_________

Previous address _________________________City__________________State______________ Zip_________

Phone # (Optional)__________________ email address (Optional) _____________________________________

Business information (Optional) _________________________________________________________________

Work Phone # (Optional_____________________________ Birth Date (Optional) _________________________

The Foundation maintains alumni information for class reunion mailing lists and for general fundraising

purposes for Pinellas County Schools and does not share this information with any third parties.

Mail to: Pinellas Education Foundation

12090 Starkey Road

Largo, FL 33773