On my side, family reunions consist of a 3-4 day event in one city. But our family is spread across the entire US. It does not make sense to do an afternoon picnic. We hold them every three years and there are very few who do not come. (We are leaving next week in fact for this years! 
)
My DH's side has an afternoon picnic for a few hours. Right now though it is a 14 hour drive each way. That is too far for me to justify going for an afternoon. When we lived closer, we went every year that we were able to. One year we were in charge and changed the location to where we lived (70 miles south of where it normally was held). You should have heard the moans and groans from everyone over the age of 40. BUT we planned it so well and had an auction where we spent the reuion's money to buy raffle items to add to the collection. That year we tripled the money for the next year. We also did a sawdust pile for the kids with candy. We also did games so people got to know each other. This was over 8 years ago and to this day people comment how that was the best reunion.
I think to get young people there you need to ask them why. With so many things going on- work, school, social life... Family just comes at the bottom of many lists. I wish that we could take our young sons to more reunions, but it is the travel that gets us. As far as things to do, I think it depends how big your family is and how many come. It is easier to plan if there are no little children around. You don't need to worry about planning activities for them. Have a food contest- food always attracts my brother-in-laws.
Good luck!
)My DH's side has an afternoon picnic for a few hours. Right now though it is a 14 hour drive each way. That is too far for me to justify going for an afternoon. When we lived closer, we went every year that we were able to. One year we were in charge and changed the location to where we lived (70 miles south of where it normally was held). You should have heard the moans and groans from everyone over the age of 40. BUT we planned it so well and had an auction where we spent the reuion's money to buy raffle items to add to the collection. That year we tripled the money for the next year. We also did a sawdust pile for the kids with candy. We also did games so people got to know each other. This was over 8 years ago and to this day people comment how that was the best reunion.
I think to get young people there you need to ask them why. With so many things going on- work, school, social life... Family just comes at the bottom of many lists. I wish that we could take our young sons to more reunions, but it is the travel that gets us. As far as things to do, I think it depends how big your family is and how many come. It is easier to plan if there are no little children around. You don't need to worry about planning activities for them. Have a food contest- food always attracts my brother-in-laws.
Good luck!
