A family reunion is an event where all the family members of a family come together. Most times the reunions are held at a specific date of the year just to celebrate the family love for each other. In such reunions, the entire family from grandparents to cousins will attend the event. The family reunion is a lunch or dinner with music, poetry, educational achievements and some games. Some of the common games played are:
- Historical Skits: Reenacting some of the special event of the family. The participants are asked to wear the similar costumes and the dialogues in the similar way as happened in the past
- Story Telling: Telling some fascinating tales about their grandparents. They share some of the family traditions from the past as well.
- Genealogy Tours: it takes everyone on a short tour of all the spots of their family and the towns where they used to live.
- Genealogy Presentations: the family members will give a presentation on the historic documents and some of the artifacts from their ancestor’s time.
Family reunions are happy occasions and one must have them from time to time. This keeps the love and happiness amongst the families intact.
Here are some simple steps that will tell you how to plan a family reunion:
Things Required:
- Cameras
- Invitations
- Party food
- Camcorders
Steps:
- Make a guest list. Decide if you just want to call grandparents and their children, or every family member that you know. If the guest list is large then you will need some people to assist you in planning this event.
- Assign one person to work on the travel plans, other one can work on events and activities and assign someone for the food.
- Decide a place and date for the reunion. Most of the families prefer having reunions in the late summers as the kids will not have to miss school. However, you can plan the reunion on a weekend as well. Ask your family members when it is feasible for them to attend the reunion.
- Make sure that you don’t ask your relatives open ended questions, give them a few date choices and ask them to select from those.
- Now, start deciding the budget for the event. Think of all the expenditures, if there is going to be a large expense then everyone will need sometime to save the money. Ask everyone from your family to pitch in some money for this event, as you may not be able to pay for all the expenses. Decide a fixed amount and ask everyone to pay that.
- Now, decide the duration and length of this entire event. You can anything from a daylong event to an entire week.
- The most important thing is to organize food. If it is a one-day reunion, ask every family to get two dishes from home. All the cousins should gather and everyone should decide on the menu. Assign different cuisines to every family and ask them to prepare accordingly.
- Think of some of the games that you will be playing on this outing. You can get similar colored t-shirts for everyone in the family. This is a fun and will make you look alike. Decide to visit some of the historical places or go to a beach. Go to bowling games together, have a game between the elders and younger people, and enjoy the fun.
- Make sure that you click pictures of this entire outing. You can later make a scrapbook and hand it out to the entire family.
- Reunions are a great way to stay in contact with one another. Try to arrange a reunion at least twice a year. When in the reunion make sure that you devote your complete time to the family.
Tips and Warnings:
- If you have a big family and the guest list is long, then make a reunion committee. The committee should have a secretary, treasurer and a planner. Divide all these committees amongst cousins or family members.
- Ask your family to pitch in money before event, so that you can organize food and travel plans weeks ahead.
- Try to make this family reunion a consistent event, which happens after 6 months, 1, 3, 5 years and the same time every year.
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