Reunion Planning

There's no way I can adequately organize this, so I'm just making a list as it comes to me.

1) Book Plymouth Bluff early. The W also uses PB for events, and there are lots of them in the spring. Our reunion was the same weekend as both Pilgrimage and MUW Homecoming. We booked it in June 2009 for April 2010. The total cost was $3771, which included the 24 cabins. Plymouth Bluff let us handle the room assignments, which we did by first-come first-served. We paid a deposit of $500 when we signed the contract, and the balance was due 2 weeks before the reunion date.

(Addition by Alice) - PB is a great place to have the reunion. It meant we had a place to just socialize any time of day (or night). We had full access to the kitchen, deck, lounge like area with couches and coffee tables, and dining area. And since most of us stayed there we did not have to worry about driving anywhere. With a hotel you are cramped in small rooms most of the time. Plus you can't really stay up all night without disturbing someone. Since the party mainly stayed at the conference center, it was away from the cabins if you did need to sleep. The rooms are not plush, but the overall facility offers many advantages.

2) The DJ is who we booked for our Saturday night entertainment. He normally does a 3 hr block, but we added 2 additional hours. So instead of music from 9p-12m, we had it from 9p-2a. The DJ at our 10 year reunion had to pack up and leave before any of us were ready - so the extra time was much better. We paid a $200 deposit with the contract and $475 balance 2 weeks before reunion - for a total of $675 for 5 hrs of entertainment.

3) Food. We decided to do a casual BBQ for Saturday night dinner. Plymouth Bluff can cater a sit-down dinner, but that seemed too formal for us. We just wanted to be relaxed and have fun getting to visit with each other. Little Dooey's in Columbus catered dinner for us. For an estimated 100 people, it cost $1200 - $300 deposit, $900 balance paid the week of the reunion.

4) Contact the Columbus Visitors Bureau, and they will provide welcome bags for everybody. We handed them out at registration Friday.

5) We bought MSMS mugs from their store to give to everyone registered. They cost $5 each for a total of about $200.

6) Beer. Our kegs came from Brewski's in Starkville. We had 2- 1/6th barrels of Southern Pecan and a full keg of Stella Artois. Cass says the total was around $290. He also brought his own CO2 tanks to hook up to them, but they very nearly ran out - probably because of a leak. Luckily, one of the tanks made it all the way through for us.

7) Not everybody will pay. Of all the people who participated in our reunions, the same person who didn't pay to attend the 10 yr reunion did the same for the 20 yr reunion. What can you do?

8) Fees. We charged $150 for the rooms ($75/night). For the reunion, we charged $75 for single, $125 for couple. We also asked for donations above the reunion fees, which we got a few. The money that was left over, we donated to the school. There was about $1000 left, and the extra donations helped us give a $2000 check to the school.

9) Consider having the reunion during a time when school is in. MSMS participated by making Emissaries available for tours, Mr. Brown gave a talk to us on Friday, the Emissaries and SGA President were there on Saturday to participate in the opening of the time capsule. They want to interact with us. We also got to go see Tales from the Crypt on Friday night. We couldn't have done any of that if we had waited until school was out. We invited the original remaining teachers to the banquet on Saturday night as well. Two of those teachers also spoke at the dinner.

10) Class composite. I happened to be in Columbus in August 2008 for the 20 year celebration of the school's opening - and I noticed that our class composite was coming apart. I contacted Mr. Brown a few months before the reunion to see if he could find someone to restore it. He came through, and it was fixed and ready for display. The cost of it was around $500, which he was going to pay out of Foundation funds - but a donor covered the cost instead. I only wish that a digital copy could have been produced.

11) Registration. This was really low key. We had the welcome bags, an itinerary, the mugs, and keys to give out. The PB cabins have 4 rooms to a cabin so we tried to preassign them in groups of 4. Registration was really more about having a central place to gather so we used Hogarth. Also the school provided a class schedule if we wanted to sit in on a class. If possible see if Emissaries can help. The hard part was wanting to socialize, but needing to be at the table.

I may come back and add to this if anything else comes to mind.....