The Reunion Is On!!!

We have reached the numbers we need to fulfill our contract with Barleycorn! Currently, we have 123 people who have rsvp'd plus those who have paid by check. Out of those who have rsvp'd, only 40 have paid through PayPal or by check.

We really need to collect this money from you as soon as possible. If you have responded yes to the evite and have not yet received an invoice through PayPal, please contact us immediately at shsreunion1998@yahoo.com so we can send you an invoice today.

If you cannot pay with a credit card, please contact us via email. The extra $5 charge will go into effect this Thursday. If you have not paid by that time, we will be sending you another invoice for the extra charge per package.

Thank you to all who have replied. We look forward seeing you at the reunion on September 6 at 5:00 p.m.

RSVP Before August 25th

The deadline to rsvp is Monday, August 25th through the evite. We need to give Barleycorn the head count ahead of time so we can plan accordingly for food, drinks, etc. If we cannot reach 150 people (the minimum needed to reserve the location) by August 25th then we will have to cancel the reunion. Should we need to cancel the reunion, all money already paid will be returned to you.

There are still over 300 people who have not rsvp'd yet. We are encouraging you to reach out to these people and have them rsvp.

Two things to note:
(1) Feel free to forward our evite out to those who have not received it. But please keep in mind that we still need them to send us their information (i.e. email address and name) via email so we can send them an invoice through PayPal.

(2) The dress code for Barleycorn is as follows:
-No gym shoes
-No t-shirts
-No flip flops or sandels
-No hats or jerseys

Denim is allowed along with a nice top.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at shsreunion1998@yahoo.com.

We hope to hear from you guys soon.

Thanks,
Rupa Brosseau (Patadia); Jen Jasensky (Camp) and Jill Weiss

Evites and More!!!

Evites were sent out yesterday for our 10-year reunion this September. If you did not receive one, please send us an email with your contact info at shsreunion1998@yahoo.com.

The cost is $65 for a food and alcohol ticket and $35 for a food and soft drink ticket, if you purchase them BEFORE August 27th. The cost will be $5 more for each ticket after August 27th. After you respond to the Evite, an invoice for the ticket cost will be sent to you via paypal from the SHS Reunion. If you CANNOT pay via paypal, please email us.

Feel free to reserve a room nearby:
Hyatt Summerfield Suites, 1251 East American Lane 847-706-9007, located across the street Doubletree Hotel, 800 National Parkway 847-605-9222, located .8 miles away.

We have not been able to get an email address for all of our classmates. Please check the list of people we are still missing on facebook, myspace or this blog.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via email at anytime.

Help Us Find Our Missing Classmates

Can you help us find the following people? Our evites will be going out in July and we have only found about 25% of our class so far. If you know how to contact any of our missing classmates, please send us an email at shsreunion1998@yahoo.com. We will be posting the entire list of missing classmates shortly.

Reunion Updates

Our reunion will be on September 6th, 2008 at John Barleycorn in Schaumburg, at 1020 National Parkway in Schaumburg. Doors will open at 5:00pm; the food and cocktail package will be from 6-9pm. After 9pm the club opens to the public and you are welcome to stay at the club until it closes. Evites will be sent out in July, at which point you can register for the liquor and food ticket or for the soft drinks and food ticket. Prices are still being finalized, but the liquor package will be around $60-$70 and the non-liquor package will be around $30-$40. Please make sure you send your email address to shsreunion1998@yahoo.com so that you will receive an Evite. You may contact us at that email address with any questions or concerns.

We will also be posting a list of the names of the people that we have not been able to get an email address for yet. We only have about a month left before the evites go out so we want to make sure we have everyone's contact information. We appreciate any help you can give us to make sure everyone knows about the reunion.

Barleycorn Meeting

We need your help putting this reunion together. Please meet us this Monday, April 21st at 6:30 p.m. (lobby area) to talk over the event. We need to form committees and iron out details so we can get working on things. If you can make it, please email me at rupapatadia@yahoo.com.
For directions to John Barleycorn, visit www.johnbarleycorn.com.

Field Trip!!

Wednesday, April 2 at John Barleycorn in Schaumburg. Sometime in the evening. We will be meeting with a representative.

I have no evidence that there was any voter fraud in the polls. It does IP filtering, so you can't vote more than once from the same computer. Yes, I realize you could vote from multiple different computers. Again, sorry to anyone who can't make it, but there's no possible way to make sure everyone is available.

September 6 it is

The tribe has spoken. Sorry to those who won't be able to make it.

IMPORTANT - New Poll

This poll closes at midnight on Saturday - Which day(s) in September can you NOT make it to? The reunion will be on the day that gets the FEWEST votes.

Well THAT didn't work...

Too many people are busy Labor Day weekend and/or Thanksgiving weekend. So how about the weekend AFTER Labor Day? That is, Saturday, September 6? Any objections?

We need to pick a date

September won the poll, but Tori had a good point: more people will be in town for Thanksgiving so maybe that's the right weekend to do it. So let's say that we've narrowed it down to 2 choices: Saturday before Labor Day, or Saturday after Thanksgiving. What does anyone prefer? We're making this decision this week.

Contact database update

Thanks to everyone who sent in email addresses. I'm up to 98 people - still lots of people left to go! I've noticed that there are lots of people on Myspace, so I'll be polling those people next.

If anyone wants the list of who we're still looking for, email me.

VENUE OPTION - John Barleycorn Schaumburg

Thanks to Rupa for tracking down the info:

Here are all of the prices you need for John Barleycorn in Schaumburg. Sorry, it took me so long to get back to you. The Schaumburg location does not open until February 28 and therefore it was kind of difficult getting a hold of someone to help.

Some cool things about the bar that I would like to point out include:
-two levels: level 1 is the restaurant; level 2 is the private dance/party room
-maximum capacity is 1,000 people
-If we reserve the second floor, it can be ours privately until 10:30; after that, it will be open to the public.
-If we have it on a Saturday, there will be a famous dj there starting at 10:30. This might be fun after our shin-dig is over. We do not have to pay an extra charge to join the party at Barleycorn after our event.

Liquor Package: $30 per person
All Bottled Beer & Draft Beer
Call Liquor –Captain Morgan’s, Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Sauza, Bombay Sapphire, VO, Canadian Club, Seagram’s 7, Southern Comfort, Dewars, Tanqueray, Jameson, All Stoli flavors, All Absolute and all Bacardi
Food Package: $10.95 per person
Please choose three of the following for a 2 hour duration.
Miniature Corndogs with Mustard dipping sauces
Cheese and onion quesadillas salsa and sour cream
Miniature Italian Beef Sandwiches
Boneless Chicken Strips with Zesty Dipping sauce
Vegetable Crudite
Chips and Salsas
Nachos Grande - with all the fixin’s
Italian Sausage and Pepper sandwiches

It also looks like there are sit-down dinner packages available; those run from $25 to $60 per person. Not sure if that includes drinks.

VENUE OPTION - Cotillion in Palatine

Thanks to Stacy for making the call:

I've gotten word from the Cotillion, but not the Seville. So far it's approx. $47+tax for Sat., and $39+tax for Friday and Sunday. $19 if we want cash bar...but I don't think so.They said they'll work with us if we have a budget too...but a restaurant party sounds good too.

Two things

1. New poll added. Thanks to Michelle for the idea.
2. We need to start collecting email addresses. I want to put together an Access database to keep track of everything in one place. My thought is that we use email invites for as many people as possible, and try to track down anyone who's missing with snail mail. Please send whatever email addresses you have to sam bell 1550 at yahoo dot com. (remove all the spaces.)

Let's make some calls

Quick roundup of some of the venue suggestions we've gotten:

• Alumni Club Schaumburg - '97 had their reunion there
• John Barleycorn Schaumburg - corner of National and American, opening this month
• Schaumburg Convention Center
• Lincoln Park or Brookfield Zoo
• Odyssey, or one of the other ships at Navy Pier
• Various banquet halls - the Seville, the Cotillion in Palatine, etc.
• Keg party in Busse Woods

Next step, I think, is to call up these places to see if the can accomodate a group our size and what sort of packages they have. Also we would need to inquire about available dates. Would anyone like to volunteer to do some of this research, and then report back their findings?

What Rupa said

"I remember sitting in the gym and one of our teachers saying that these people are in charge of planning the reunion 10 years from now."

Anybody know who those people were? If you were on that committee, email me and I will make you an admin on the blog.

Open Thread #2 - What's going on?

Job, school, marriage, kids?

Poll added!

No cheating, vote once only!

Logistics

Things we need to discuss, logistics-wise:

• Invitations - We're going to have to track down addresses for all 75 million people in our graduating class, then keep track of who has RSVP'ed so we can have an accurate headcount.
• The venue - How big a place do we need to reserve? Will we need a deposit? How far in advance will we need to take action?
• Food and beverage - open bar, am I right?
• Entertainment - We'll probably want to hire a DJ? Have someone put together some sort of slide show? I don't know.
• Funding - We'll need to make a budget, and appoint someone to oversee it. Also we'll need to decide how much to charge, I'm thinking somewhere in the $30-$50 per person neighborhood.

Venue ideas

Any great ideas for where to have this thing? Keep in mind it will need to be big enough to accomodate at least a few hundred people. Hotel? Restaurant? One of those ridiculous boats at Navy Pier? Be creative!


(FYI - Class of '95 had theirs at the now-defunct Prairie Rock Brewery on Meacham Road. Not sure about '96 or '97.)

Open thread

Where you at?

Welcome!

Hey everyone, this is Sam Bell. Its 2008 and that means it's reunion time. This will be a place for news and announcements regarding our senior class. Please forward the blog address to anyone you know of from the Class of '98. Thanks!