Reunion Tips

When planning a family reunion, whether you'll be doing a "one-timer" or wanting to make this an annual or bi-annual affair, the following tips might help you:

Form a committee of helpers - you can't or shouldn't do this alone so... One person can research, locate and compile a contact list and do the emailings, phone calls creating fliers, or creating or buying postcards and doing any necessary postal mailings. Another person can find and set up the rental for the park or building facility and to be in charge of collecting donations or gathering a set amount from each attendee, to cover the cost of the rental, postage, etc. Someone else can put together intinerary such as games for the kids, a photo shoot to get the entire tribe in a picture, (a professional photographer might be needed if there are no relatives able to take a landscape shot), and to be there available for the meet and greet, handing out of name tags, etc. A person or group will be needed who will volunteer to stay to the end for clean-up and the returning of the facility or park building key.

Some things you will need:

e-mail, phone and address lists
signage, easel, balloons, markers, tape and scissors
name tags
table cloths
ice chest and ice
plastic table ware and paper plates
spare serving spoons
paper towels
garbage bags
a large genealogy wall chart (a print out or hand drawn)
some albums, old family pictures to set out on display
bottled water, soda ...
Quilt racks
Boom Box, cd's or sound system
PA system for huge gatherings
camera or camcorder to capture the moment

More Ideas that might help:

Below are some more ideas to help you with the planning and set up for your family reunion. To help you might consider purchasing a few supplies beforhand from our picnic STORE

Designate at least one steady phone contact and one email contact so invitees can ask questions.
If potluck, you might want to advise what to bring, ie. dessert, main dish, salad etc.
Require attendees bring their own flatware and plates
Keep, maintain and display a reunion album each year.
Each year ask each person to try to bring a copy of a photograph to donate for the reunion album.
Have a guestbook set out where everyone can see it as they arrive.
Set up racks and encourage folks to display family quits.
Encourage them to sign in on the guest book and to wear a name tag.
Require they bring their own soda or water.
State clearly in all invites that no alcoholic beverages are allowed
Do rent a covered area in case of rain.
Make sure donations or fees are collected so the cost of the rental does not fall on one person
On invites include a map
Create a reunion webpage where instructions, date, map and other info can easily be found.
Place sign, balloons, flag or other marker to help them locate the correct picnic spot location.
Decorate with a large family tree chart, old pictures and a table just for albums to show off.
As people arrive have them update the displayed family tree chart with new births, etc.
At the picnic run a raffle of donated items to raise funds toward the cost of the facility rental.
Start announcing the end time well in advance so as not to run overtime on the rental.
Have spare note paper and pen available so folks can exchange email addresses with each other.

Picnic - Outdoor Activities

Here's la list of fun outdoor games:

Potato sack race or 3 legged race.
Croquet
White elephant auction or a door prize contest
Cake walk
Face Painting
Scavenger hunt
Bean bag toss (bucket, 6 to 12 bean bags)
Hula hoop contest
Egg & spoon relay (plastic eggs and spoons)
Horseshoe Toss
Volley ball
Badmitton
Story Telling
Tug of war (rope)
Pinata
Soft ball game
Sing-a-longs
Frisbee catch
Hide and seek

Picnic family activities

Post Re-union ~after the mustard settles...

Email the group photo and post mail to others at cost upon request
Send a survey or a request for suggestions that may make the next gathering better

A very difficult part of organizing any reunion is finding all the contact information, so help and acknowledge the work of the person doing this task or you might lose her-him and will then have to break in a new committee member each year.

Another difficult part is how to tactfully get relatives to donate for the rental fee. Some people have good success by having a youngster walk around about an hour into the reunion with a collection can. Decorate the donation can with a sign with some cutsie wording on it.

Location - try to find a place central to the most people, with a covered shelter and one with adequate parking.

Some resources (links below):

Free Genealogy Charts ←
Get Maps ←
Weather ←
Shop for a Camera ←
Shop for Picnic Stuff and Genealogy programs ←
IContact - Newsletter Management ←
Picnic Table Plans ←
Potato Salad Recipes ←
Other Recipes ←
Online Scrapbooking ←

Kid's Picnics
Here are some tips for a fun outting for the kids click HERE

Hope this reunion resource is helpful and if you have any suggestions to add please contact me

Family Cave can create a family reunion website for you.
If you wish to have an online reunion webpage thru FamilyCave
check out www.homecraftedsite.com for more information and rates

See a sample family reunion site HERE ←
For picnic supplies, cameras and equipment as well as some
nifty genealogy items such as Family Tree software,
check out our Family Caves Picnic Shop!

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