Why Have a Reunion?

Learn More About Planning a Reunion

Especially if you've never gone to a reunion before -- whether high school or college, or a family reunion -- the whole concept might seem confusing. If you'd wanted to stay in touch with these people, you would have done it before now. Maybe you didn't like them that much to begin with, anyway.

Times change, however. And there are other reasons why a reunion could be a good idea after all:

Find Out Where People Are Now

It doesn't matter how long it's been or what type of reunion it is --- everyone will have changed in some way. That can be exciting both for the individual who is discussing the change and for the people who knew that person beforehand. Especially if you used to talk regularly, that kind of change can be very cool to see.

Also, even if you don't like to talk about yourself very much, a reunion is also the perfect time to discuss your changes and endeavors. At a reunion, everyone wants to know what everyone else is doing. After all, it's likely that some of these people know your aspirations from when you all spent time together. If you've made steps toward making some of these dreams a reality, you can feel good about letting people know.

Reconnect With Old Friends

Part of adult life is losing touch with some old friends. Whether it's a high school reunion, college reunion or a reunion for some other group that disbanded years back, it's inevitable that you didn't stay in touch with everyone you used to talk to. If you're friends on social media, you probably know a little bit about each other's life. But it's likely that you don't really talk a lot.

Reunions are the perfect time to change that. At a reunion, it doesn't really matter if you haven't talked in a long time. You just need to approach old friends and start talking. That's the beauty of a reunion, and it's one of the reasons people enjoy them.

Reminisce About the Old Days

Sure, you want to catch up on what everyone's doing now. But in some ways, you also want to reminisce about what things were like all that time ago. Do you remember the first day you met specific people? Do you remember graduation day? Do you remember the first day of class? What really jumps out to you about the thing you're here to fete? That's what a reunion really celebrates.

Most of the time, you're going to feel better now than you did back then. That's okay --- better than okay, that's great! You've made a lot of progress, even if it's only as short as a five-year reunion. Just celebrate with the crowd and take pride in what you've become since then.

How Do I Plan a Reunion?

If a big anniversary is approaching and you haven't heard talk of a reunion, maybe you should be the one to plan it. In the most bare-bones fashion possible, here are some important things you need to do:

Get Together a List of People

There are a number of different ways you can effectively do this. If you're throwing a high school reunion, find a yearbook from senior year and use that yearbook to create your guest list. If you're throwing a college reunion, you might have a yearbook or a pamphlet with a list of graduates.

For other reunions, you might have to find a program that mentions a full list of individuals or resort to more alternative options. If you do keep in touch with anyone from the original thing you're celebrating, that person may be able to help you with anything or anyone you can't remember, making it a little easier in case you don't have an official list.

Send Out the Invitations

You have a few different options for invitations. If you want to opt for convenience over all else, you might want to set up an online invitation. Don't just send out a mass email, as some people might lose it in the spam folder. Instead, set up a form or an official RSVP list through one of the many online sites offering this service and send it out that way.

If you want to go old school, you can also try sending out physical invitations. Most people lose interest in the concept of physical invitations for reunions of more than around 100 people, as it can either be incredibly time consuming or very expensive. But physical invitations do have some benefits, primarily the fact that no one can lose it in a spam inbox and they look very professional. And people do still get excited about getting "real" mail. At the end of the day, tailor it to the type of crowd, the number of people and the style of reunion.

Craft the Reunion Party Itself

This is where you get to flex your creative skills. Reunion parties can essentially be any theme, which means you have a lot of room to do your own thing. Consider talking to anyone you still keep in touch with from the thing you're celebrating. What do you all remember fondly? What kinds of details and motifs stand out?

The internet is chock-full of information about how to throw an amazing reunion party, and you can use a lot of these tips to really craft something incredible. Just remember to really commit to the theme. If you throw yourself into it wholeheartedly, people are likely to love it.

How Can PeopleFinders Help With My Reunion Planning?

You might not realize it, but you can use PeopleFinders at just about every step of the reunion planning process.

Find More Information About the Attendees

Maybe you follow someone on social media but you never look at that person's posts. Or you know you should remember if a person's married, but you just don't. You don't have to just hope that you can bluff your way through conversations with people that you don't actually remember anything about --- you can just use PeopleFinders.

With PeopleFinders, you can conduct a people search on anyone you're inviting to the party and get important information you can keep in your back pocket when you're talking together. Brush up on who's married, who has kids, and much more.

Get Up-to-Date Contact Information

Getting in touch with everyone can actually be one of the most difficult parts of planning a reunion. Sure, you probably have old phone numbers and email addresses from your yearbook or phone contacts, but if it's been long enough to have a reunion, most of those are probably outdated. You need to be able to contact everyone.

With PeopleFinders, you don't have to surf blindly around social media and hope you stumble upon the right people. You can find up-to-date contact information immediately. If you have any old phone numbers, use the reverse phone lookup to see if the number is still active or the person now has a new number. If you're starting from scratch, use the people search to find all sorts of active contact information.

Screen People for Potential Danger

Security is important at a reunion. Although you do want to trust everyone you used to know, it's not always possible to do so. Plus, with the amount of time that's passed, there's always the potential for someone to change dramatically enough for the person to be a security risk.

That's where PeopleFinders comes in. PeopleFinders helps you protect yourself, whether in your everyday life or for a special event like a reunion. Perform background checks on the people in your guest list. It might take a little bit of time, but you'll get comprehensive information to keep yourself and your guests safe.