How would I go about planning a family reunion?

Question

My family hasn't had a family reunion since my Grandfather passed away when I was... 8 years old I think? Im 26 now..
How should I go about planning a family reunion after it being so long? Im asking for ideas form personal experiences.. places to have it.. time of year to have it.. what to do for food.. etc.

Answer 1

Well, I have to plan one every year. The first thing we do is collect money from the families that are attending. We actually have it at the house where they were born, but you can always rent places like church fellowship halls, Woodman of the world buildings, etc. I also plan games that are suitable for little ones and big ones alike. For example, we do relays, karoke, scavenger hunts. We get a lot of our games from team building events. This helps family members get to know one another. As prizes, I have given away ribbons, candy, trophies. It just depends on your budget which way you go there. As far as when to have it, we try to have it on a holiday where people from out of town can come like Labor Day or Memorial Day....just depends on how hot it is where you are.

Answer 2

A good time of year for a reunion is late spring or early fall the weather is usually calm and not too hot or cold.
1. Have a couple of family members volunteer to contact family members by email, phone, or mail and determine the interest in attending a reunion. These are some tips on questions to ask the members to find out the details that works for them?
(1) Are they interested ?
(2) What time of the year would they like to see this happen
(3) How many people in their family would attend
(4) Would you be willing to travel to get to a reunion and how far?
(5) Are you interested in helping us organize the reunion?
(6) If so, is there something they can help with specifically that is a valuable resource to the reunion?
2. If you receive enough interest. Establish a family reunion committee of members who are committed to putting the reunion together.
Remember, it takes MANY people to make a reunion work. It is too much for one person to take on. Also --- with a committee you get a better idea and other views and opinions of what will and won't work with your family. To make it easy, delegate specific tasks to each committee member AND ensure that not too much is put on any one person. This will make it easier and be less time consuming in our every day lives to get it done!
Areas of interest to be separated can be such things as: The place of the reunion, the budget, fundraising, correspondence or commun ication to family members, t-shirts & reunion memorabilia, reunion activities/sports for adults & children, family historian, food / catering, setup & cleanup, etc.
BUDGET
Reunions are expensive and there is no way around it. It is a good idea to have someone open up a reunion account and be in charge of ensuring that the funds are properly placed and used for this event from reunion to reunion.
You can also find reunion software on the internet to help you out.

Answer 3

Summer or early Fall is usually best (We have ours in the Early Fall)

A park if the weather permits, or a hall that's big enough for your family and tables and chairs

Our family has tried themes....they don't work out too well though. We have a live auction too. Each branch of the family puts together a little basket of something and the money goes towards the next family reunion. We have everyone bring a apettiezer or dessert (depending on their last name or family side) and their own drinks. We've had raffles too of favorite things from the first or second generations (like a heirloom).

I suggest asking everyone bring their favorite family photos of everyone. It's fun, espeically if you get some really old photos of the grandparents and great-grandparents. I would also suggest making copies of those photos, for people to trade or buy for a set amount and have that money go towards the next reunion too. (It's hard to pay for it all on your own sometimes...well, at least in my case, I have a HUGE family).

Good luck!

Answer 4

My experience is first contact everyone that you would think would be interested, which would be everyone. Then contact vistors centers in the towns or states that would be close to everyone or that is in the middle to where everyone lives, so that way if anyone has to come out of town they might not have to drive or come far. save money. Then if you have a church you belong to, see what the people in church do for family reunions. The more ideas you have the more help it is.' Cause also if you belong to a church you can have some of them that actually cook meals they might be able to lend a hand for raising money for your reunion if you have extra costs.

Answer 5

Aside from the bucket-loads of great ideas here, I would add that the biggest problem in convincing long-lost relatives to show up is housing. For a huge reunion, you want options. Does someone in the family have a house on major acreage--for tenting and RVs for free. And is it close enough for those who prefer motels? We had a reunion on 20 acres with forest, and had hayrides, bonfires, and barbeques for three days. One night a bunch went to the local stock-car races. Everybody came and went as they pleased. No pressure. It was great.

Answer 6

Late spring or late summer is a great time.A few months before you have it send out a family news letter.Tell what you want to do.Rent a shelter at a state park and make it a pot luck.Have T-shirts printed up with your family name and the date of the reunion.At ours, at the end of the day each family gives $20.00 to help with next years party.Have old pictures blown up to see how everyone has changed over the years You can give out gag gifts for things like who traveled the farthest,who has the most kids things like that.Most important have fun being together.

Answer 7

You can work with your travel agent to give you a good price on a cruise for the family.
If budget is short then, folks can drive into your house and make a nice dinner that reflects your family... like if your Italian, Italian food.
If you guys are all in the same city, I like potlucks or a family bbq.
The food is easy, it just depends on your budget.
I think though that you should come up with ideas on how to make the memories last...
you should have one or two people in the group to take tons of photos and have them posted on a photo album online, or create your own family page where they'll be on. Or you can even higher a photographer for the day to take one big group shot.
You should have games geared to everyone... for example kids are easy, baking cookies, tabook.
Adults... design a sheet that has a huge grid or list of things that represent everyone... like "traveled to Hawaii for her honeymoon" everyone mingles and the first one to write down the names by each comment wins a nice bottle of champagne... or even a bottle of wine that has your family reunions name with the year on it?
Ask the adults to each bring a favorite recipe. Put the recipes together in Microsoft Pubilisher and create a family cookbook with the photos taken. Send this as a thank you no less than a month in the event.
As they come in have a cute contact list waiting for them with everyones name and phone number and email address with a poem in the front about family.
Again, the ideas really depend on budget, size, and location of you all. Good Luck.

Answer 8

My family has one every other year. We have it at a forest preserve but we play volleyball, softball whatever is there. Summertime so nobody has to worry about coats and all that and Its every family bring what they want to eat and grill OR we have done everyone contribute a preset amount and catered fried chicken and salads. Fruit and people bring cookies, brownies.

Answer 9

Rent a pavilion at a state park and invite everybody for a picnic,ask everybody to bring a dish and have water ballon fights it's a great time enjoy

Answer 10

Check on the Internet They have a lot of sites for it,with very helpful information and planning help