Regardless of the size of your high school class reunion, arranging for food can be tricky. There may be a wide range of ages and appetites attending, and no two classes have the same budget. Here are things you should keep in mind when deciding:

Catering the event will allow classmates to spend less time in the kitchen and more time planning other aspects of the reunion. But it can be expensive, and someone will need to pay upfront. In your early communications with classmates, suggest several different options and see what your classmates would be willing to spend. Also keep in mind the variety of eating habits that your class might possess - vegetarians may not be so fond of that ultra-BBQ buffet you’ve put together.

One benefit of catering is that you may not have to worry about providing utensils, tablecloths, napkins, etc. Be sure to find out ahead of time if the catering organization will do cleanup as well.

Having a potluck dinner can be a good way to go about it for several reasons. First, everyone spending a little bit of time making a dish is a lot less stressful than a few people making a ton of food. It also distributes the costs fairly evenly as everyone pays for their own groceries.

Second, if you have a variety of eating habits, you can just about guarantee that everyone will be able to enjoy least one thing they like to eat, even if it’s their own dish.  Within the context of the two options above, keep in mind your audience. For a family-friendly event, it may be a good idea to avoid fancy or exotic foods that children may turn their nose up at. Not only may that be a waste of your grocery store or catering fund, but hungry kids can be grumpy kids.

• Be sure to target the food to the location. A come-and-go event at a bar may be more suited to finger food, whereas if you’re dying for a fancy sit-down dinner, there may be a local hotel or banquet hall that’s the perfect choice.
• If the class decides on handling the food preparation themselves (via potluck or otherwise), make sure that you have plenty of tableware, napkins, etc.
• Alcoholic beverages can add up quickly if you decide to provide them. Don’t forget them to add them to any upfront costs that you charge your classmates. Or, simply go for a BYOB event.
• Mmmmm … dessert. Who doesn’t love dessert? Let your classmates know ahead of time that it’s available, so they can save room for it.

Those are a few basic considerations to keep in mind when it comes to food planning. If you have any other suggestions or unforeseen issues you’ve had to deal with, feel free to leave them in the comments so you can help another class out.

If you’re looking for creative ways to add entertainment value to your reunion, you might consider adding an “awards show” element to the schedule. Find a funny classmate who is willing to put in a little extra work, and task him with creating an Oscar-style presentation of awards. Below is part 1 of our list of fun award ideas you can give out:

• The Marathon Award: Given to the classmate who has traveled the farthest to come to the class reunion.
• Most Eligible Bachelor Award: This works great if you have two or more events as part of a reunion weekend. Starting early, take a poll of your single female classmates, and you can present the lucky winner with a little black book filled with their phone numbers.
• Egghead Award: Given to the classmate with the highest degree obtained - PhD, Master’s, etc.
• Cash for Clunker Award: Given to the classmate who drives the oldest car. Prize: Take a collection from your classmates, and award them enough money to rent a fancy convertible or sports car for the weekend.
• Early Bird Award: Given to the classmate who RSVPs for the reunion first.
• Dr. Doolittle Award: Given to the classmate who has the most pets. Prize: Get them one of those freeway dummies so they can at least pretend to have someone other than animals to hang out with.

Feel free to use the suggestions above as inspiration for other ideas. Try and be mindful of whether an award might be offensive, but otherwise, just have fun with it.