Did you go to your high school reunion? I feel like every other year is a reunion for Scott's class - and I finally got to celebrate my own (it's Shannen)! I graduated in 2011, but because of COVID, we had to push our ten-year reunion back to eleven years, so we did an 11 year reunion for the Class of 2011.
I was in charge of planning, alongside one other girl in my class, Haley, and I didn't realize how much I had to think about the fact that I went to a religious school where a lot of my classmates have moved - mainly because they're pastors and teachers - and some that just moved for work.
With just shy of 200 people in our graduating class, I wasn't really sure what to expect because we through the reunion plans out their fairly quickly - like within a month. Thanks to Leff's in Wauwatosa, we were able to offer a venue that people were excited about that was centrally located (my school is in Milwaukee).
It seemed like having a more casual reunion was the way to go because of the quick turnaround, and the budget was coming from everyone attending. We set up shop in the party room at the back of the bar - which was perfect. They even had a garage door that we could open for some airflow and for people to walk outside if they wanted.
We offered a variety of pizzas, fruits, veggies and this fantastic pesto pasta that Mike at Leff's recommended. Everything was delicious!
My husband and I got to the venue to decorate a little bit beforehand (bless him for all the help he offered me). We had pictures, raffle prizes, a photo backdrop, cookies, etc...
When it came to the reunion - it was fun to see everyone that showed up! We had about forty people which I thought was a pretty good turn out under the circumstances. It was interesting to me because I ended up talking to people who I didn't expect to talk to, and the people I assumed I'd be chatting with - I didn't really.
The hard part for me, and this was something I talked with to my "cohost," Haley, is making small talk with people. You'd think it'd be easy, right? I work in radio and talk to people for a living. For some reason, when I'm not working, I'm a very introverted person who doesn't know how to start conversation. I definitely asked the same questions to different people over and over again. What would you focus on??