Hello all,

This September the dojo I train and teach at will be entering it's twentieth year of operation. My sensei and the instructors (of which I am one) are putting together plans for some type of celebration. Catering, seminars with the grandmaster, and a best-of DVD are amongst the things we have considered.

Have any of you guys had such celebrations? Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,

In fact I have, my Dojo had a small 25 year celebration we made it part of our Holiday party for students, and instructors had a dinner get together a few days later.

Basically we combined or kids and teen/adult class for the day, everyone doing a quick workout, kihon, and some basic kata. then some advanced demonstrations by senior students (kata, sparing, etc). ending with a small speech by the instructors and then food and social party.

For our school's 25th our owner had an open house/homecoming type day. We gilled burgers and hot dogs and had other snack type foods. Past students dropped in to visit. General public was welcome to take classes that day for free. We did a free self defense class too. Also had the demo team put on a show. It was a fun day.

Most of our celebrations of this type are way over the top, so is it the same when our Hombu does same type celebration. For us, the highlight at the Hombu was when our Soke and Dai-Soke run their demo together.

Both have big parties that seem to last the entire week. Special guests will conduct seminars during the week, at no charge!

Birthdays during the week will get a special Kanji drawn by Soke.

The Hombu has a PR department that specializes in things of this nature, and they can be quite elaborate, to say the least. The more the years, the more the hoopla and all.

It's an important thing to celebrate as a family, and not as dojo AND students, but, again, as a family!!

First off, congrats on the long run! That is great to see.

I haven't been part of any anniversary celebration like this, but I do think its a great idea.