Some of my fondest memories growing up are getting together with my aunts, uncles, and cousins at my grandparent’s home in California. We had a close relationship with our cousins and loved spending time together. Naturally, we wanted to give our children an opportunity to build the same bonds of friendship with their cousins, so a few years ago we decided to schedule a family reunion every 2 years. As siblings, we committed to making the family reunion a priority to attend.
Here are a few tips that we’ve used to make our Family Reunions a memorable experience for everyone who attends.
1. Choose a date and duration
With everyone’s busy schedules, choosing a date that works well for everyone can be one of the biggest challenges. My siblings have children that range from adult married children in their early twenties down to babies under a year old. For our family, it works best to schedule the reunion during the summertime so we can avoid conflicts with school schedules.
It’s important to choose your reunion date as soon as possible to so that everyone has an opportunity to “plan around” the reunion date. We hold a family meeting towards the end of the reunion to choose a date for the next reunion (more information on this later).
As you’re choosing the length of your family reunion, keep in mind the distance each family member will be traveling and make sure it’s worth everyone’s time to attend. Also, sometimes it takes a little time for cousins to “warm up” to each other, so our recommendation is for a reunion to last 3-4 days.
2. Choose a great location
When choosing a great location, it’s important to consider where everyone lives and what their individual situation is for traveling to and from the reunion.
Over the years, we have planned reunions with my family, my husbands family, and family friends at some of these great locations:
- Cabin in the Mountains
- VRBO/Airbnb at the beach or a lake
- Disneyland/Disney World
- Cruise ship
- Houseboat at the Lake
On my side of the family, my parents live in Utah County, Utah. My siblings and I live in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. We wanted our reunion to be really economical for everyone involved so the last few years we have chosen a cabin in the mountains of Southern Utah. With a central location, we were each able to drive to the reunion.
Some of our family members have ATV’s and RZR’s so the cabin setting gives everyone an opportunity to ride the equipment as part of our activities. If you have boats and wave runners, you might want to consider a lake destination.
3. Plan activities that interest everyone
When planning a reunion for such a broad range of people, we like to plan a lot of activities with different ages in mind.
Even when we stay at a cabin in the mountains, we plan an “outing” day for everyone. We’ve hiked Bryce Canyon, gone to the lake and fished, hiked to a cave, and had a picnic.
This past reunion we asked 2 family members with younger children to plan activities for the younger kids, and a family member with teenage kids to plan an activity for the older kids. One of the activities was a “bake-off with the teens”. In a boy vs girls competition, each team baked a cookie masterpiece with the younger cousins as the judges for the competition. (see photo below)
Our family loves Harry Potter – so one year we had a “Harry Potter” themed day at our reunion. The kids (and adults) created wands, answered trivia, and we made homemade “butterbeer” for dessert that night.
In a cabin setting we also set up a “puzzle” table and bring lots of puzzles that everyone can work on during down time.
Possible reunion activity ideas (some with links below):
- Scavenger Hunts
- Crafts
- Themed trivia
- Family movie night
- Roasting Marshmallows
- Puzzles
- Guessing games
- BINGO (see below)
- Painting/Cooking class
- Science experiments
4. Build Traditions
One event that everyone looks forward to every reunion, is our traditional family BINGO game. This tradition has been carried on from my grandparents. Each family, including my parents, brings an assortment of inexpensive treasures and treats they’ve collected. (BINGO Prizes come from places like the Target dollar section, dollar store, Michaels Craft, Harbor Freight and Tool, etc… ). My parents have a BINGO game that they bring each year with the cage and balls that the kids love to turn. You can find a great BINGO game here. We make sure everyone earns a BINGO at least one time, but usually, they get hit it several times as we all love to bring BINGO prizes (see photo below).
Do you have a family tradition you can bring into your reunion? If you haven’t had one, it’s easy to start. These are the things that glue the family together and teach the kids they belong to something big.
5. Weave in a little family history
With the family gathered together, it’s a perfect time to share some family stories. At one of our recent reunions, I created an “Our Heritage” board with pictures of my parents, their parents, and their grandparents on it. I included some fun facts about each person. We went around the room and the kids took turns reading information about each of our relatives.
In one of my very favorite books by Bruce Feiler “The Secret to Happy Families” he talks about how when kid’s hear stories about their ancestors doing hard things, it sends a message to the kids that because this relative was capable of doing hard things, they are capable of doing hard things. A family reunion is the perfect setting to share these stories.
6. Plan great meals
When planning our reunion, we try and look at some of our traditional family meals that work great for a crowd. All the men in our family like to smoke meat – so last time we smoked meat and make Grandma’s traditional baked beans to go with the meat. Everyone loved it.
Some of our favorites:
- Hawaiian Haystacks
- Taco Salad
- BBQ Hamburgers
- Lasagna
- Smoked Meat
We usually plan an easy breakfast the day of our outing, like donuts, yogurt parfaits, or cereal. Pancakes and breakfast casseroles are saved for a day when we’ll be doing activities around the cabin.
Deli sandwiches are a great option for lunches. With an assortment of meats, cheeses, and toppings, everyone can build their own sandwiches.
We usually assign a different family each day to make dessert. Make sure you communicate any food allergies or dietary needs. In our family we have a severe nut allergy so we always remind everyone that we need to have a “nut free” family reunion.
7. Take a Family Photo
With the whole family gathered together, it’s a great idea to take a family photo. You can coordinate outfits, have a family matching T-shirt, or have everyone come as they are, but the most important thing is to get a family picture.
We usually create a “shared” photo file that everyone can upload their reunion pictures to. We’ve used these photos in family calendars and Christmas gifts. They are priceless.
8.Communicate, communicate, communicate!
1-2 months before our reunion, we email a rough itinerary to all the adults including possible meal ideas and a list of possible activities. We ask for everyone’s input and then compile a final itinerary that we send out to everyone 1-2 weeks before we leave. Our final itinerary includes a list of meal preparation and clean-up assignments for each family so everyone has an opportunity to help out and mom and dad aren’t stuck in the kitchen the whole time.
Our itinerary always has room for some flexibility, but we’ve found that it’s nice when everyone knows what to expect, especially the kids. We bring a printed copy to post on the fridge at the reunion so everyone is on the same page.
On the last night of the reunion, we usually hold an “adult” meeting for all of the siblings, to talk about what worked well and to discuss the date of our next family reunion, and who will be in charge of it. We rotate through our siblings who will be in charge of the following reunion.
With a little planning, preparation and share of responsibilities, you can plan a memorable event that will be treasured for many years to come.
What are your family reunion traditions? I’d love to hear.
Much Love,
Mama Leish
