Your Guide to Planning the Perfect Family Reunion
There are very few things, if any, in life that are as important as our beloved family, and with careers, weddings, children, and other life changing events, families tend to lose touch with one another despite their best intentions. A family reunion is the perfect way to get reacquainted with long lost family members as well as for getting together with loved ones to create plenty of new, happy memories.
Handling the Initial Details
- Creating the Guest List: Before even beginning to plan the guest list, you'll first want to decide what type of reunion to have, a smaller affair with grandchildren and first cousins, or a more elaborate event with many generations of extended family spanning all over the family tree.
- Planning the Budget: Once you know how many families will be involved you'll have a better idea of what type of budget to have in place. Decide if it's going to be a low-cost affair with everyone bringing covered dishes, snacks, and drinks, or if the costs will be split up evenly amongst the families attending if you're having a caterer or making the food yourself.
- Choosing a Date and Time: Most family reunions are held on the weekend during the summer so children won't miss school and people will be able to have time off from work. For large reunions with many guests, schedule the event early in the day so those coming from out-of-town have plenty of time to get settled in before the fun starts. Some reunions are so big that many families even have two-day events instead of one to make sure everyone gets a chance to visit and participate in various activities together.
- Choosing a Venue: While many family reunions are outdoors, the weather can be so unpredictable it's always important to have a clear back-up plan in mind just in case Mother Nature doesn't cooperate on the day of the big event.
Possible sites for a family reunion include:
- Amusement parks
- Cruise ships
- Country clubs
- Hotels
- Parks, including local, public, state, or national
- The beach
- Your own backyard
The Invitations
Invitations for a family reunion will very likely be one to two pages of details rather than the traditional types of invitations sent for parties and other events. You will want to be sure the guests know exactly what to expect, how much money they will be expected to contribute, what they'll need bring, and how they should dress for the day. Its also a good idea to send out a letter first, letting everyone know of the upcoming event so those who wish to participate and help out will have a chance to do so.
Games and Prizes
Besides the host of usual party games including three-legged races, water balloon tosses, hot potato, charades, and musical chairs, there are several other fun and simple activities you can do at your family reunion to encourage interaction between the guests, spark some old memories and create plenty of new ones.
- The Address Exchange: An inexpensive idea for keeping in touch with everyone long after the reunion is over is the address exchange. Nearly all of us have received many sets of free address labels in the mail from one organization or another, or we have special personalized labels of our own for using on correspondence, and now there's a perfect use for all of them.
Using a computer, a printer, and some plain paper you can print out sheets for guests to affix their labels with a blank line for writing down their email or website addresses if they wish. The "address exchange station" should be set up near the place where guests will arrive where they can then attach their labels, one on each sheet of paper. At the end of the event, each guest should take a sheet home with them that's filled with everyone's addresses.
- Recipe Swap: Family recipes are often passed down from one generation to the next, but often times these coveted recipes get lost over time or essential ingredients are long forgotten. With a reunion swap, everyone in the family can share their own special recipes and learn how to create Grandma's prize-winning chocolate cake. Note somewhere on the invitations that everyone should bring a recipe if they want to participate in the swap.
- Family Reunion Favors: Favors aren't just for weddings and baby showers any more as they can also be an excellent way of thanking everyone for attending the family reunion, which is an especially nice touch if you have several families coming from different parts of the country. Favors can be personalized with the first letter of the family's last name, or perhaps be reflective of their heritage.
- The Family Talent Show: All families have at least a few people that are more than happy to perform in front of everyone for a few laughs, and children always love to dress-up and have a good time. Enlist the help of a handy family member and ask them to construct a make-shift stage from some pieces of plywood and then hang a few old blankets behind it to serve as the curtain or backdrop. Decide ahead of time if there will be single or group acts and award little prizes for first, second, and third places after the rest of the relatives cast their ballots.
More Helpful Hints for Reunion Planning
- Ask one or two family members in advance to serve as the photographers for the event. In this technological age of digital photos and the internet, sharing pictures with everyone is easier than ever.
- Ask someone else to be the family's historian and mingle through the crowd taking notes and jotting down points of interest and special accomplishments to later be assembled into a family newsletter that's sent out to all of the guests and even to those who weren't able to attend.
- Remember to begin planning the reunion as early as possible, and booking the venue a year in advance is the best way to ensure you'll have the date you want and also give everyone plenty of time to prepare to attend.
Family Reunion Supplies You'll Need
- Cameras, film, batteries
- Decorations
- Games
- Favors
- Invitations, envelopes
- Paper
- Paper products; cups, plates, napkins, etc.
- Postage
- Prizes
- Refreshments; food, drinks, snacks
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