We do multi-year class reunions for years '75 - '85. A few hundred people show up each time we do one. We need an easy and cheap way of getting people talking to each other. It would be nice to be able to be able to tell which people were in which year.
We do these casual get-togethers a few times a year at restaurants and bars, so we don't have the time or money to do anything too extravagant. Thanks in advance for any ideas!
By Liz from FL
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Color code name tags by year. Use different color markers for names too. Again by year. Put numbers or letters on them and have people group to spell words, names of teachers, subjects, something school related and small gifts for the group that forms first. Numbers could be used to produce a sum, or all the even numbered blues, odd numbered reds, etc. Have fun.
Use the different colored name tags for different graduation dates. Add a tag to hang on their back that is the name of a celebrity, an animal etc. Let them ask a question to each person so they can guess what's on their tag, then have them drop the tag with their name into a lottery for a prize at the end of the evening.
I am all for the color coding on the years. Then do a scavenger hunt quiz with each person from that year having one answer to one question. The person with the answer must intial the question on the sheet.
For venue, I'd vote for someplace relatively quiet. I'm very soft-spoken, and at my recent multi-year reunion, the DJ was so loud, no one could hear anyone! The music was fun, but good grief! For telling one year from another, I kinda like the idea of the larger tags with the grad year included above or below the name. The bigger and clearer the print, the better. With our aging eyesight, it's tough reading those itty-bitty name tags. Maybe they could be on the back between the shoulders instead of the chest? It's embarrassing to stand squinting at people's chests all night. :P
We copy year book pictures and put them on pins so everyone would know who they were back in the day!! It was FUN!!
Thanks to everyone. I had been thinking of color coding using plastic leis, but the problems are lack of a variety of colors and cost. Thanks to your help I had another thought of using Mardi Gras beads, those are much cheaper.
The name tags could be hung from the necklace, or we could just ask people to put them on their backs. I hate the staring at peoples' chests, too! I think the first time we'll not try to color code the name tags, since people will be making their own (IF they make their own). I envision it being easier to walk around and hand out the appropriate color beads to bead less people rather than to get people to make and wear name tags.
For a mixer, I like all of these ideas. I had been thinking of a Q/A game such as asking people in advance to write out something about themselves unique to them post-grad, such as "I played minor league baseball" or "I am married with five kids, ages x, x, x, x, and x", whatever they like. They could write this along with their year on a slip of paper which then goes into a fishbowl. People pick out a slip and using the color of bead as a clue, they go try to find that person.
I like the scavenger hunt idea too. I saw one once where a grid of squares on a piece of paper was pre-filled in with generic things that could apply to many people, such as "Lived in a green house" or "Traveled to Europe". Each person gets a sheet of paper with the "board" printed on it and tries to find someone who meets the criteria. As for a winner it could be "most squares" or "in a row" type of thing. I suppose we could modify that idea to say something like "Had Mrs. So and So for English" and "was in such and such club." Maybe even something current such as "My spouse is here with me tonight."
I suppose the second idea would be easier to provide a prize for, you could get people to turn in their "completed" papers and do the fishbowl thing to get a "winner."
Thanks for the ideas, and keep'em coming, this is fun!
Trivia games make nice icebreakers. We copy senior pictures out of our yearbooks and write the year they graduated under the picture and then we just put them in a little cheap sleeves and then a little ribbons so they can pay them to their shirts.
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