Our 20th Reunion will soon be upon us and we want to know what you think! Your Reunion committee has narrowed down the options to the five amazing themes below.
Please keep in mind that all visuals and ideas are just examples of what could be done if the theme is selected, nothing is set in stone yet and it's unlikely that every single idea will be executed. If you see something that you feel should definitely be included or possibly be excluded, please let us know!
To review the themes, click on each card to jump to a detailed description of each theme, or just scroll down the page. When you're ready to tell us your preferences, check your inbox for a link to our Theme Survey (email is from "The Class of 2001"). You'll be asked to rank your top three themes and can include any suggestions you have on how we might expand each concept.
If you haven't received a survey link yet, please email us here.
20th Reunion Theme Proposals
In the Nation's Servers and in the Servers of All Nations
A coding themeAs one of the first classes to have dedicated email addresses, widespread internet access, and personal laptops, this theme is particularly fitting for us. Plus, have you ever noticed that binary code is just a series of 0s and 1s? Well, we did!
Coming Back Together: Circad’01 Rhythms
A cyclical cicada themeTime to come back! While we return for a major reunion every 5 years, Princeton’s cicada brood only returns every 17 years. 2021 is the the only time that both will occur in the same year! So this theme is all about timing and rhythm.
Ceci n'est pas un thème. (we just graduated 20 years ago)
A surREALIST themeOk people, let’s just call it like it is. Why are we all here? Because we graduated 20 years ago. Add in some thought-provoking ideas from Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte and we’ve got a very entertaining theme!
2001: Our Class Odyssey
A movie/technology themeNone of us will forget Hal Shapiro playing the 2001 theme on the chapel organ during our freshman and senior year class talks. Let's celebrate the 20-year odyssey of the Great Class of ‘01.
‘01 for All and All for ’01
A unity/Three Musketeers themeUnited we stand, divided we fall. Nothing embodies this better than The Three Musketeers, a historical adventure novel later continued in the book Twenty Years After.
In the Nation's Servers and in the Servers of All Nations A coding theme
We all remember growing up with The Oregon Trail, moving on up to dial-up internet, and then attending Princeton in the midst of the dot-com boom! As one of the first classes to have dedicated email addresses, widespread internet access, and personal laptops, this theme is particularly fitting for us. Plus, have you ever noticed that binary code is just a series of 0s and 1s? Well, we did!
Activities could include escape rooms, scavenger hunts with coded messages and binary clues, as well as a live version of Oregon Trail (New Jersey Trail anyone?). Entertainment options include an EDM act or “Coder Karaoke”. Our P-rade signs could have messages written in binary code too. We’ll have foosball tables available throughout the tents and we’ll definitely be screening The Matrix at some point.
We could also host coding challenges and games for all ages. Our service projects could include problem-solving or hack-a-thon activities. Of course, the opportunity for relevant lectures, forums, panels and demos is vast. No need to think wistfully of the days when you went to a computer cluster to check Pine anymore!
Logo could be “2001” in binary code or ASCII binary code, with the resulting “01”s highlighted in some way like any of these options:
Costumes could be techie casual in light of the prevailing silicon valley style:
Elements could include t-shirts, hoodies, faux headphones/airpods, lightweight beanies and messenger bags with our logo:
We can create a design that spells out messages (The Great Class of 2001, the lyrics to Old Nassau, or the Princeton motto, etc.) in binary code and use different colors/shading to create an image of a tiger or an ‘01 similar to the designs shown below.
With a print like this, the opportunities for artwork, décor and accessory options are endless.
Possible Alternate Taglines:
While the tagline "In the Nation's Servers and in the Servers of All Nations" gave us a good chuckle, we know it's a mouthful. Have a better name for this theme? Let us know!
Coming Back Together: Circad’01 Rhythms A cyclical cicada theme
Pronounced “Cir-cade-oh-one Rhythms”Time to come back! While we return for a major reunion every 5 years, Princeton’s cicada brood only returns every 17 years. 2021 is the the only time that both will occur in the same year! So this theme is all about timing and rhythm.
The cicadas are known for their orange wings, exceptionally loud songs, and periodic emergence from the ground in vast numbers. There is much folklore surrounding cicadas and they have even been used for money, medicine, music and weather forecasting!
The logo could show a 24-hour clock with hands pointing to the “20” and “01”. Cicadas could also be at those numbers, or we could design something where the cicada is in the middle of the clock and the wings point to the “20” and “01” like hands of a clock. Regardless, time really flies!
Cicadas
With rhythm in the theme name and cicadas known for their song, this theme literally calls for some musical activities and concepts. We might raise our voices in song at a class sing-along or pop "Instant Choir." Amazing DJs at the tents are a given.
Other activities could play off the "time" aspect of the theme. Since timing is key in comedy, we might have improv games or a Quipfire! show. We could plant a time capsule to dig up at our 50th reunion. Educational programs could tie-in to time management, wellness or biology. Inspired by cicada wings, we could take a trip to the eQuad wind tunnel. Kids activities could include making their own instruments, paper airplane contests, hide & seek (like cicadas!) or timed scavenger hunts.
Cicadas drink sap from trees, so we could have maple candies, maple fudge, maple donuts, and pancakes/waffles with maple syrup. Not to mention the late night pajama party food! Hoagies and pizza, here we come! Make sure you stay up a for a nightcap! We’ll have maple beers on tap too! (How appropriate;) Perhaps for our more adventurous classmates, we could even offer a grasshopper rimmed specialty cocktail.
In honor of our circadian rhythms theme, our costumes could be lightweight breathable pajamas with shorts and buttoned tops. We could create a fun pattern of clocks, tigers and cicadas all mixed together for the pajamas and any additional costume elements. Think pop-art style for the fabric:
Costumes could include faux noise cancelling headphones or earplugs to block out those noisy cicadas and help you sleep! We could include a crushable sun hat with reversible print – tiger stripes or our custom fabric on one side, and a brim with a clock face on the other.
Maybe the costumes could include clear rainslickers with black-piping-as-cicada-wing-veins and then even when it’s pouring, our orange and black spirit would show through at this reunion and all Reunions to come! Also, we might decide to add a t-shirt with our logo or a clock or a cicada on it! So many options!
Kids pajamas could use the same pattern as adults but they could also have cicada wings as part of their costume. (Doubles as a social distancing tool!)
Ceci n'est pas un thème. (we just graduated 20 years ago) A surREALIST theme
Ok people, let’s just call it like it is. Why are we all here? Because we graduated 20 years ago. Why are you getting a bag as part of your costume? Because you need to carry stuff. Add in some thought-provoking ideas from Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte and we’ve got a very entertaining theme!
Magritte was known for his witty artwork, often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context and using words to play with his images. A leader in the surrealist movement, his work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality.
Some of Magritte’s most well-known art showcases a man in a bowler hat and paintings of items with verbiage below so we’d incorporate these ideas into the artwork and costumes:
Logo could be something like:
Translation: This is a not a theme.
Photo from Surrealist Ball
With a surrealist theme, there are unlimited opportunities for entertainment and decor. Nothing is what you expected! We could have a facepainter at the P-rade for kids (and classmates!). There could be plenty of arts & crafts activities for the kids too, with virtual reality activities and molecular gastronomy demonstrations for the adults.
Taking inspiration from the “Surrealist Ball”, we could have people dressed up in orange and black surrealist costumes for the P-rade. Since Magritte was Belgian, we’d have some Belgian inspired food like mussels & frites, Belgian waffles, and of course, Belgian beer!
This theme lends itself to creating endless useful accessories with witty verbiage. (And, we’re able to have some fun with whether the item described in words either is, or is not, what it says!) For example, costumes could include:
2001: Our Class Odyssey A movie/technology theme
None of us will forget Hal Shapiro playing the 2001 theme on the chapel organ during our freshman and senior year class talks. While other classes may have adopted the film as a reunion theme in the past, we ARE the Great Class of 2001, and our 20th is the perfect major reunion to celebrate with this as our theme.
We could invite Hal Shapiro (whose final year as University president was 2001!) to speak and join us in the P-rade. Entertainment options include EDM, technology competitions, space-themed scavenger hunts, and organ music!
As we’ve grown over the last 20 years, technology has also evolved more than in any other period of history. Much like in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 epic film, iPads, Siri, AI, and video calls have all become everyday tools.
Educational programs could tie-in to technology, film-making, astronomy, and biology. Of course we would also have a screening of the movie (perhaps in the chapel with live organ accompaniment?), and offer popcorn and candy as snacks throughout he weekend! We could set up a green screen station to film short movie bits or a selfie station that makes it look like you’re in the iconic spaceship tunnel or at the monolith.
The iconic 2001 monolith could be the centerpiece of our tent, and we could employ projection mapping to add futuristic visuals as well as class photos/videos onto the monolith's surface throughout the weekend.
Beyond just our class year being 2001, it’s our 20th and we’re ’01, allowing us to play with the logo design in interesting ways. The logo could incorporate a modified HAL9000 icon (aka HAL2001) to distinguish between the 20 and 01 in the design. We could also move the colon to further highlight that this it the 20th for the Class of '01.
No spacesuits here! For costumes, we’d like to play on the film’s sophisticated mod style by making clean orange and white outfits. Perhaps mod-style shirts and/or dresses with a lightweight jacket, mod hat and maybe a futuristic looking bag:
Of course, all of the clothing options would be done in orange and white!
Hat and bag styles!
‘01 for All and All for ‘01 A unity/Three Musketeers theme
United we stand, divided we fall. Nothing embodies this better than the three musketeers!
18th Century Depiction of the Cardinal's musketeers
In honor of the musketeers’ adventurous spirit, we could have activities like rock climbing or ropes courses. Other activities could include a 3-legged race, dance classes in the style of that era, a scavenger hunt, or team building activities.
We could serve classic French foods like croissants, crepes, ratatouille, salad niçoise, baguettes with cheese, chocolates, etc. We’d also serve trios of things! Slider trio? Salad Trio? Pasta Trio? Yes please! We could schedule a special wine tasting event and our specialty cocktails could also have tiny cocktail swords.
Logo could have a tiger dressed as a musketeer, or take a more earnest tone like:
Obviously, that would be a tiger, not a cat.
They could have tiger faces?
Costumes would include a T-shirt with some fun accessories like a swashbuckling hat, tankard, etc. We could also have a short waterproof cape with a hood in case it rains. Maybe children could also get tiger striped hobby horses.
