Your Guide to Planning an Awesome 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 reunion is the ideal way to get reacquainted with long lost relations as well as for getting together with lour immediate family to create plenty of new, happy memories.

Handling The Initial Details

Creating the Guest List: Before even beginning to plan the guest list, you will first will need to decide what type of reunion to have, a smaller affair with grandchildren and first cousins, or a more elaborate event with numerous generations of extended family spanning all over the family tree.

Planning the Expense: Once you are aware of how many families will probably be involved you will have a better idea of what type of budget to have set up. Decide if it is 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 are utilizing a caterer or making the food yourself.

Picking a Date and Time: Most reunions are held over a weekend in the summer so children will not miss school and more people will find it easy receive time off from work. For large reunions with numerous guests, schedule the event early in the day so those arriving from out-of-town have plenty of time to get settled in before the fun starts. Some reunions are so big that a lot of families have two-day events rather than one to ensure that everyone receives an opportunity to visit and take part in various activities together.

Choosing a Venue: Although many reunions are outdoors, the weather can be so unpredictable it really is vital that you have a good clear back-up plan in place just in case the weather does not cooperate on the day of the big event. Possible sites for a family reunion include Amusement Parks, Cruise ships, Country Clubs, Hotels, Parks, The Beach, Your own Backyard

The Invitations

Invitations for a family reunion will more than likely be one to two pages of details rather than the standard varieties of invitations sent for parties and other events. You will want to be sure your guests know exactly what to expect, how much money they will be required to contribute, what they will need bring, and just how they should dress for the day. It is also a wise idea to send out a letter first, letting everyone know about the upcoming event so those who wish to participate and help you will likely have an opportunity to do this.

Games and Prizes

Besides the number 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 use at your family reunion to encourage interaction between your attendees, spark some old memories and create tons of new ones.

The Address Exchange: A great low-cost idea for keeping in touch with everyone long after the reunion is over is the address exchange. Everybody has received many sets of free address labels through the mail from one organization or another, or many of us have special personalized labels of our own for using on correspondence, and this is a perfect use for all of them.

Using a computer, a printer, plus some plain paper you can actually print out sheets for guests to affix their labels plus a blank line for writing down their email or website addresses should they wish. The "Address Exchange Station" should be located 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 can take a sheet home with them that is filled with all address labels of the family members that attended the reunion.

Recipe Swap: Family recipes are generally transferred from one generation to the next, but quite often these coveted recipes get lost in time or essential ingredients are long forgotten. By having a reunion swap, everyone from the family can share their own personal special recipes and figure out how to create Grandma's prize-winning chocolate cake. Note somewhere within the invitations that everyone should bring a recipe if they want to be involved in the swap.

Reunion Favors: Favors are not simply weddings and baby showers anymore. They can also be a very good way of thanking everyone for attending the family reunion and a way to give everyone a special keepsake. This can be an especially nice touch if you have several families coming from different parts of the nation. Favors could be personalized using the first letter of the family's last name, or possibly be reflective of their heritage.

Family Members Talent Show: All families have at the very least a few people that tend to be more than pleased to perform in front of everyone for a couple of laughs, and children always like to dress-up and have a good time. Enlist the help of a handy family member and get them to construct a make-shift stage from some pieces of plywood and after that hang some old blankets behind it to function as the curtain or backdrop. Decide beforehand if you will have single or group acts and award little prizes for first, second, and third places after the rest of the relatives cast their ballots. If there is a great story teller in the group have them relate some family stories, funny memories or some tall tales. This is sure to stir up memories in the older generation and the younger generation may learn a thing or two about grandpa.

More Helpful Hints for Reunion Planning

Ask one or two members of the family in advance to serve as the photographers for the event. In this technological age of digital photos plus the internet, sharing pictures with everyone is easier than ever.

Ask someone else to be the family historian and mingle throughout the crowd taking notes and jotting down points of interest and special accomplishments to later be assembled in a family newsletter that is later sent out to all of the guests and also to the people who were not able to attend.

Make sure to begin planning the reunion as early as possible, and booking the venue a year in advance is the best option to ensure you should have the date you wish as well as give everyone a lot of time for them to prepare to attend.

Reunion Supplies You Will Require

- Cameras, film, batteries

- Decorations

- Games

- Keepsakes

- Invitations, envelopes

- Paper

- Paper Products; cups, plates, napkins, etc.

- Postage

- Prizes

- Refreshments; food, drinks, snacks

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