I generally come down as pro-reunion (it was upperclassmen who made my life hell in HS, and they have different reunions), and I even went to one while I was seriously unemployed. But it’s your kid’s birthday and money is tight. I wouldn’t have a second thought about passing.
I’ve yet to go to a single reunion, which means I also skipped my 20th, and I see no reason to make the 25th in a few years. My class was so huge that the odds of my seeing anyone I remember who remembers me are pretty slim, and i don’t feel the need to spend a lot of money to travel on the off chance I’ll run into someone I know.
Graduated in 1975, went to the 5 year because my then wife (same class) wanted to. Haven’t been to another. Can’t imagine that I ever will.
20 year coming up in a few months. Sweet. I can’t wait to watch a bunch of Stepford Wives get drunk and dance around to Rob Base & DJ E Z Rock while I reminisce with some old friends about some parking lot or golf course or abandoned whateverthefuck we used to get drunk behind.
Yes. I realize I look exactly the same. It’s called “not getting fat and bald”. Although I can’t really take credit for the not going bald part.
This is so exciting! I’m so happy for you that you turned out just like everyone else with your house in Anywherechester or Blandford or whereever you and your generic Gap wearing husband and 2.2 kids live. At least you don’t have a long commute to the MegaGigantacorp office park in your Volvo.
No, I haven’t lost my sense of humor. You don’t really outgrow making sarcastic comments at the expense of idiots.
In all seriousness, I actually had a pretty good time at my 5 and 10 year reunions.
I went to my 20th for the sole purpose of seeing 1 person I haven’t seen since the 10th reunion. The music was too loud* and everyone had broken up into their cliques, so we grabbed a bottle of wine and sat outside drinking, smoking and catching up. The woman who organized the reunion saw us outside and made a comment about how rude it was to ignore the rest of the class. I covered my name tag and asked her what my name was. She couldn’t do it, so I told her if she could find 10 other people who knew my name we would come back in. Otherwise she could piss off.
TL;DR version–don’t go.
*I guess I’ve gotten old…
Wow this reminded me that my 25th blew by without notice.
Bri2k
I went to the 10th. The food was mediocre, the DJ was not playing any of the music from our high school days, the attendance was not great, and the souvenir booklet they produced of the night was cheaply made and just dumb.
I skipped the subsequent ones.
Skipped my 10th and 20th. As far as I know there wasn’t a 5, 15 or 25. The 30th is next year and I don’t see any reason to go to that one either. I’m not bitter, I just have no interest.
As for the OP, it sounds like you only want to go to not piss off a few people. I say just skip it and avoid the feeling of dread up until it happens.
Do what you want, but if you are job searching maybe you might actually find someone there that can help you find a new gig? Just a thought, from someone who networks his way into jobs regularly.
I spent the money to go to my 10th, they had a whole weekend thing going on. It was great, and my wife liked it as well - and she hated hers. I graduated from a small farm school, then moved away - so there was a desire to see what was going on. The 15th and 20th reunions were bar crawls, so I wasn’t going to fly across the country for a night at the local bar. I am hoping someone puts together a 25th, I will go.
I’ve gone to almost every one since my 5th…we just had a great turn-out for the 35th. We used to do a three-event series…meet at a bar on Friday night, have a more formal dinner with spouses on Saturday, and a family picnic on Sunday. But after we did the big blow-out for the 25th, we’ve settled back to just a class-mates only gathering at a bar. It’s nice to reconnect with people who have moved across country, or whom you weren’t phone-call friendly with after college. In fact, we had one couple admit they kind of had crushes on each other back in the day, though neither of them knew it at the time, and they started dating and ended up married by the next reunion! It’s nice to see who turned out all right despite their shaky school days, and who needs our help while they wait for a transplant.
Want to go to my 15th (this year) if it’s held. haven’t seen most of them in person since HS, missed the 10th due to my “health issues”.
Went to the 10th - it was nice seeing a ton of people I liked in HS, but wasn’t close enough to keep in touch with. But it was a boring-ass formalish event in a sterile hotel conference room, and the food and music sucked.
Ended up on the committee for the 20th, with the sole aim of making it into a FABULOUS party. It was! We had it at a local restaurant owned by classmates, it was casual, the food was way better, and we had a great DJ. Also, I tried my best (and succeeded) in getting booze not to be part of the package; I hate being one of the light drinkers who subsidizes the heavy drinkers, and the drink packages are usually the crappiest stuff anyway. It also kept the cost of attending reasonable. Everyone had a blast - we actually sold out the place (they’d closed it for the night), and I was there until 3 a.m.
Wanted to be on the committee for the 25th, but wasn’t, because work went insane just as the planning geared up. It was, eh, OK but not great. Attendance was MUCH lower, I think because it really hadn’t been that long since the last one. Venue was the American Legion Club, which was rather lacking in the atmosphere department, adn the food was pretty mediocre barbecue. I think I realized at 10 pm that I’d already talked to everyone we wanted to talk to and just went home.
Would I go to the 30th? Dunno.
If you wouldn’t connect with them in a normal week, why would you spend 150 bucks to do so now?
I went to my 5, 10, 20, 25th. Not bad, but if I had to do it over, I would give all of them a pass.
I mean, 150 bucks…for what? The opportunity to act as if you care about them, or vice versa?
Best wishes,
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I wonder how many are not going to your class reunion because you want to avoid seeing that “special someone” you loved at one time and don’t want to put yourself through that?
Thanks
Q
I was hoping to go to my 50th. I kept checking the school alumni web site, but no mention of my class. Accidentally, I found out there was going to be one and eventually got invited but it turned out to cost $225 person (so $450 if I brought my wife) and I decided to forget it. Essentially it was a private affair run by all the dorks I didn’t much like 50 years earlier. If I hadn’t found out about it and made an inquiry I would never have known.
I’ll just rewatch Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused again if I want to relive my HS experience.
I didn’t go to my 20-year high school reunion. It was too pricey, for not enough activity, of a kind I don’t enjoy, and all I was going to do was (1) hang out with my best friend and (2) show off my (then-new) fiancee (now my wife 
).
DCnDC, if I go to a future HS reunion, I just may try that!
If the $150 matters to you, don’t go–simple as that.
I skipped my “real” high school 10th reunion (10th-12th grade) despite (a) being in town; and (b) having nothing to do that night. Didn’t care, don’t regret it.
I did attend my “fake” high school 10th reunion (school attended from 4th to 9th grade). It was much smaller (~75 people vs ~300 people), and I had a completely awesome time, and definitely would have regretted missing it.