Class reunion website: find classmates, sell tickets

Start with the search

A twenty-year reunion committee usually has the class list and contact details for perhaps half of it. The rest have moved, changed names or left social media. Every classmate you find tends to know where two more are, so the site's first job is to make passing on a tip quick and easy for anyone who lands on it, including people who weren't in the class.

The "we're looking for" list

Publish the names of classmates you haven't reached yet, as they were known at school, with no other personal details. Visitors scan it, recognise a name and send a tip. Keep it in a CMS collection with fields for name, form or house, and a found flag. When someone's located, flip the flag in the dashboard and they move to a "found" list. Watching that list grow is good encouragement for the committee and for the people still deciding whether to come.

One form, two jobs

The contact form asks for a name, an email and a message, which fits both things you want from visitors. A classmate writes "I'm in, it's Helen Ward, I was Helen Price" and you've found someone. A friend writes "Tom Fisher is on Facebook as Tommy F, in Bristol" and you have a lead. Above the form, say both are welcome and that you'll only use details to contact people about the reunion.

Each message is saved in your dashboard and can be emailed to the organiser. Through a connector, it can also go straight into a Google Sheet or Airtable base the committee shares, which is where the real tracking happens: who's been contacted, by whom, and what they said.

Add the newsletter sign-up too, which asks only for an email. Connected to Mailchimp or Kit, it becomes the list for updates as the date approaches.

Event details for the found

Date, start and finish times, and whether there's a daytime event (a school tour) as well as the evening
Venue, address, parking, nearby hotels for people travelling
Ticket price, what it includes (food, a drink, a photo book) and the deadline
Partners welcome or class only
Dress code, if any, in plain words
A contact for questions, and a note for anyone with access needs

Tickets through a payment link

Anticode sites take payment through payment links from a provider you set up: Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop. There's one payment link per account, so if a single ticket and a ticket with a partner cost different amounts, make the link a checkout at your provider that offers both, and point the "Buy tickets" button at it. The provider handles the card payment and sends you the buyer's details. Check whether your provider can cap quantity so you don't sell more places than the venue holds, and decide your refund policy before you share the link, then say it on the page.

Building it

Describe the reunion: "a 20-year reunion site for the class of 2006 at Kingsway School, with a we're-looking-for list, a contact form for tip-offs, event details and a ticket link". The Architect plans it and may ask about tone. Editorial (Geist) suits most reunions; Playful (Fredoka) suits a lighter event. Add an old class photo only if everyone in it would be happy to see it online.

Limits

No attendee logins or private profiles. There's no members-only "where are they now" area.
No ticketing system. No door list or check-in; your payment provider's records are the guest list.
No emails to classmates from Anticode. Use an email tool for updates.
Each submission is sent to a connector once. If a send fails, the message is still in your dashboard.

Questions people ask

How far ahead should a reunion website go up?

Six months to a year before the date, because finding people is slow. Publish the search list first and add tickets once the venue is booked.

Can several committee members see the responses?

Send them to a shared Google Sheet or Airtable base with a connector, or share a Team workspace.

Can we keep the site afterwards for photos?

Yes. Replace the ticket section with photos from the night, or unpublish it when you're done.