Music: It goes without saying that a significant amount of the music should be from the years close to the graduation. But the DJ should still avoid the clunkers and stick to the hits of that era. As the evening progresses, (depending on what year of graduation) guests will start to request newer songs for dancing.
Volume: Class reunions have a very strong social element (meaning people want to be able to talk while the music is playing) so the music volume should reflect that. Yes, the volume should raise as the dance-floor fills, but people who haven’t see each other in years (or decades) want to talk when they are not dancing.
Activities and Ice-breakers: Don’t put them all together, sprinkle them throughout the evening to keep it interesting for guests.
Mock awards for who traveled the farthest, who traveled the least distance, who lives closest to the school, who married their high school sweetheart, who came back to get a job at the school, who still lives in the same address since graduation, who has moved the most times since graduation … your imagination is the limit…
A welcome from the class president – or homecoming queen or … maybe just the head of the reunion committee
A toast to the class of ’65
A blessing before the meal for parochial schools.
Passing the wireless microphone from alumni to alumni – this works best while everyone is sitting – the person with mic stands up so everyone can see them and then say their name, introduce their date if the have one- and then say a few details about their life (what they say is optional) but, when I am the MC for this activity, I encourage them to say where they live, what they do or did professionally, and then finish off with a personal detail or two. The mic is then passed to the next alumni. Works well during coffee service while people are still sitting -or even in between courses (depending on the type of meal service you have) Obviously this would be prohibitive if you get more than 100 or so alumni.
Door prizes are always fun.
Class of (insert year of graduation) trivia is always fun: questions made up that only people who went to the school would be able to answer. ie, what was the name of the math teacher who taught ______ . Name one of the novels you had to read for 12th grade English. What team was played against for homecoming that year. Who was the Prom King and Queen. what was the name of the principal of the school… You can do that activity unstructured (which means the MC asks the question and then confirms the answer after somebody shouts it out/no score kept.) Or you can do it structured, where there is an answer sheet. Scores are kept track of and prizes given after drawing randomly from all the correct answer sheets.
Team trivia (general questions) from the year of graduation. Tables work as a team to get the correct answers. Questions can include things like price of gas, or movie, or car, or issues in politics or news worthy events from that year,
Uplighting around the room in the school colors is always nice.
Consider the school logo or mascot projected on the wall or dancefloor.
Depending on availability, pictures from the year book can be digitized and put on a plasma screen or projected on a screen.
A Photo Booth would be great fun too! It is the perfect icebreaker. The pictures make a fantastic party favor and what better time than a reunion for lot’s of pictures!