Family Reunion

[mommytotwo]

Our family will have a small informal family reunion since we are getting together for my grandfather's memorial service. One set of cousins and their wives have not seen each other/met before, but the rest of us all know each other, and have seen each other before.

What sort of activities could we have to involve both kids, and adults. The youngest is a baby so we do not need to think of adding her into the activities, but the ages will be from 5 years of age-mid 70s.

Any other suggestions would be great as well. Food, decorations....anything.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Horseshoes, bocce ball, shuffleboard.

I'm assuming this is going to be at a place? These activities are easy enough to learn, you can make teams, and there is a lot of time standing around waiting to allow for small-talk.

If it is inside, you can do round-robins of stories. Right to left, have each person pick one thing they know about someone else in the room.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Oh, and having attended a family reunion at a racetrack two months ago, I can tell you that assuming everyone will organize for photos will not work.

We ended up having each generation get told what race they had to make themselves available for...so that each generation knew when to show up for their picture. Otherwise, my mother was yelling herself hoarse without any results.

 

[mommytotwo]

Thank you for those ideas Handbag_Lady. We are still deciding on the location. It will either be at our house, or at the beach. In the case of it being at the beach I was thinking of having a fishing tournament, and awarding prizes.

I think there will only be a total of about 20 of us, so it will be an intimate gathering.

 

[barkley]

prearrange to have everyone send you a baby or childhood photo of those that will attend. photocopy these and display them somewhere at the event. see how good people are at figuring whose who, maybe give a little prize for who successfully identifies the most.


you might do a family version of trivial pursuit-ask everyone to send you some information from within their immediate as well as the the whole family. these can be little factoids or memories. then make up some trivia cards and see how well people know each other. it could be fun esp. if you have the younger kids trying to answer questions about the eldest members and visa/versa (imagine the younger ones answering questions about what great grandma had to pay for a candy bar when she was a kid, and then great grandma having to answer a question about what the first video gaming system the younger ones played was).

 

[mommytotwo]

Thank you barkley. I was planning on doing the photo thing. I like seeing pictures, and I think it will be a nice way for everyone to connect.


We decided to do a brunch thing at our house, so it will be easier, and very casual. I am just thinking of games, and have two already. So will need to think of prizes, food, drinks, centerpieces....

 

[ilovejack02]

We have a large family reunion every two years in the Smokey Mountains at our family home. There are anywhere from 20-50 of us , so most of us stay at a hotel , which the planner for the year , calls ahead of time and gets us a group rate.

The older generations sit around and talk the majority of the time, we always book a meeting room for the weekend for all to hang . Snacks and drinks are available at all times in the room as people wander in and out all weekend . Friday night when we all get there, we have dinner at a local restaurant. Saturday breakfast is at hotel. We plan an outing on Saturday morning to what ever local attraction there is , by no means is it mandatory , but those of us with little ones usually attend because we try to plan a kid friendly outing, after most of us head to pool. Late Saturday afternoon we plan a time to all meet back at our family home for a BBQ , hayride and pictures.

Sunday morning is more visiting at hotel in meeting room and over breakfast .

Overall, we try to make it a relaxed event , with kid friendly options, but with comfortable relaxing places for the elders to hang. The family owned hotel we book is a resort type place, with large porches with great views and comfy chairs . The lobby has lots of games we can play and a cash bar.

This year , my grandmother is turning 100 . She now lives in Atlanta with one of her sons . She has been planning her party for over a year now LOL, so our trip to the family home is canceled and we will all meet in Atlanta for a celebration.

 

[ilovejack02]

Forgot to mention , we do a newsletter, early February letting people know the hotel rates, dates etc and when they need to sign up to get the discounted rate. We also have on there where we will have dinner on Friday night and what tour we have planned on Saturday morning.