Let's Have Some Fun. The Yearbook Is Done!

4. DECIDE ON THE VENUE. RESERVE IF NECESSARY If the celebration will take place in the classroom, you are set. But if you plan to use another room at the school, such as the cafeteria or commons area, or a park shelter, restaurant or meeting hall, reservations need to be made. Turner acknowledges that banquets are expensive, but here are a few of the ways he keeps costs down for his staff’s annual celebration. 1. Ask a church or other location to donate the space. 2. Sell tickets. Parents are happy to spend a little money for an evening that celebrates their student. 3. Be creative when searching for catering. He says if you’re willing to shop around and pick it up to avoid exorbitant delivery charges, you can feed people for $5 a person or less. 4. Ask for donations. Walmart, Sam’s Club and other major stores will donate food or decorations for a school program; but you must start asking early because many of them have limited donation budgets. 5. Ask your school’s art teacher if the art class can make centerpieces. “A banquet is a lot of work, even if your editors lead the way, but the rewards are tenfold,” Turner says. “You get to celebrate kids, generate positive PR and it becomes a recruiting tool. Kids deserve to be honored after producing a yearbook.” Kathy Beers, adviser at Timber Creek High School in Fort Worth, Texas, says she has an end-of-year dinner at a nice restaurant for students only. She pays for appetizers and desserts, but the students pay for their own meals.

Staff and editors smile at their end-of-year dinner. Students dressed up and enjoyed a nice dinner to celebrate the completion of the yearbook. It was an opportunity to connect and have fun after all their hard work.

5. DECIDE WHO WILL BE INVITED This decision may depend on the focus of the party. If it’s to celebrate the staff’s accomplishments, then have the staff and editors. If you have a large staff, maybe the editors should have their own celebration. “They dress up and we just enjoy ourselves and take lots of photos,” Beers says. There may be people who should be invited to acknowledge their contributions, such as:

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