It is a sad fact that most people do not get together with their entire extended family until the holidays roll around. So much is going on in people’s lives these days that family often takes a backseat. You can quickly lose touch with a cousin, aunt or even a grandparent. Distance does play a tremendous factor but there are ways around getting to see your family only once or twice a year. A family reunion is a great way to bring everyone together for fun activities and reminiscing. Family reunions do not have to take place every year but they should be held often enough that everyone has a chance to catch up with one another and find out how everyone is doing. This article is a great way to find fun things to do when having a family reunion. From games to food, it can help you plan your family reunion with minimal stress.

How can I plan for my family reunion?

Family reunions can seem like a monumental chore to plan and implement but you can reduce the stress and headaches if you take it step by step. The first step is making contact with everyone. If you do not have all of your family’s postal addresses, email addresses or phone numbers…start getting in touch with family members that do. The next step is to start thinking about when you want to plan your reunion. If you have a large family and want to have the reunion outside then you need to plan it during warmer months. The next step is deciding where you are going to host the reunion. Ideally a family member’s house would suit the purpose but it all depends on how many people are coming. A great money saving idea is to choose a state or local park. Often you can reserve a pavilion for very little money and there is always playground equipment for the young ones to play on. If you have family that is quite a distance away and will have to fly in, you need to make sure there are arrangements for that. They will need a place to stay. It can be at a relative’s house or a local hotel. If you buy a notebook or create a program online, you can keep track of all the steps you need to accomplish in order to have a great family reunion.

Where can I find the best deal on supplies for family reunions?

Family reunions can get expensive very quickly but there are some great ways to save money. The simple supplies are what can add up quickly. Your best bet is to find a warehouse club such as Sams Club to get the drinks, chips, and serving items. By buying in bulk you will save money. You may also consider getting decorations from an online wholesale website. The more money you can save on small items, the more money you will have to spend on bigger items such as food or entertainment.

How much should I budget for the family reunion?

If you are planning on paying for the full cost of the family reunion then you need to start first by deciding how much you are willing to spend. Far too often people start buying things for their reunion and before they know it, they have spent way too much. You have to make sure you set a firm budget and then work within those means. And in actuality your budget is going to largely depend on how many family members are going to be there. If you are paying for the decorations, the food and the entertainment then it is not unreasonable to ask that out of town family members pay for their own accommodations. A small family reunion is going to cost you around $500 depending on how lavish you want it. But $500 is not much money to spend on food and all of the sundry costs that will add up. The more people you add the more it is going to cost. You can average the food amount to about $5.00 per person for something fairly simple.

Where can I have my family’s reunion?

You can hold family reunions just about anywhere. You just have to make sure that there is enough space for everyone and that includes places for them to sit. An ideal location for a small family reunion is at someone’s house. That way you do not have to rent a place for the event. If it is going to be a large family reunion then you may need to look at parks or conference centers that rent out large rooms.

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Often times we collect so much junk lying around the house, it’s crazy. So, when planning family reunion festivities, why not ask each family member to bring one special item to auction or raffle off? Perhaps it’s an antique piece of furniture that’s just been collecting dust, a piece of old jewelry, a knick-knack, baked goods or an article of clothing that no longer fits. The proceeds can then go toward organizing future family reunions, which will take some of the stress off the family reunion planner. With a little creativity, your family reunion can be the best it’s ever been.

Karaoke is another classic idea for family reunion fun and inter-generational bonding. There are many ways to facilitate a bar-style karaoke event. If one of your family’s youngsters has a Playstation 3, Wii or Xbox, then they can hook up the Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Sing Star or Karaoke Revolution Party game. Another option is to rent a bona fide karaoke machine for the day. For instance, www.nationwidekaraoke.com will rent you a system with two microphones and over 1,000 songs for just $49/weekend. However, if you think you may be using this karaoke machine again to create future family reunion memories, then you may want to simply buy one for $79 to $200. Some top-selling models at www.amazon.com include the Memorex Sing Stand, the Singing Machine SMG-137, the Singing Machine STVG-535 and the Singing Machine STVG-999 Pedestal Karaoke Machine. You can be sure there will be lots of laughs once your family members begin to belt out their favorite hit songs!

Some families planning family reunion events like to host a little awards ceremony. This can be a simple idea, where certificates or trophies are presented or it can be pretty elaborate to rival the big awards shows. For instance, you could write up little speeches about each award and create your own video to go along with the awards. The family reunion planner host might say, “This next award goes out to the person who traveled the furthest. And our nominees are… Grandma Rose, who came all the way from Santa Monica, California, Uncle Charlie who comes to us from Minneapolis, Minnesota and Cousin Victor from Seattle, Washington.” Up on the video screen would show a picture of all three family members, along with their locations. Then, the announcer may continue: “And the winner is… Grandma Rose, who traveled a total of 278 miles to be here today! Grandma Rose, come on up to receive your award!” The winning recipient can then give a funny acceptance speech to entertain the crowd. Other awards could go out to the oldest family member, the youngest family member, the most musically inclined, the most melodramatic, the funniest or the newest family member.

Family history trivia is great to include when planning family reunion events and games. Before the gathering, ask each family member to give you 3-5 trivia “facts” about themselves and other family members. At the reunion, divide family members into teams and begin reading questions. Some might say: “I once played tuba in high school. Who am I?” Or “Which country did Great-Great Grandpa Brown emigrate from?” Or “True or False - Grandma O’Sullivan was the youngest of 8 children?” Perhaps one day you can assemble all these facts into a book about family reunions as a memorable keepsake.

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Dr. Paul Pearsall once hypothesized, “Our most basic instinct is not for survival, but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted.” Often it’s this very idea that inspires someone to start planning a reunion. The first step in organizing a family event is to determine a guest list and who will be invited. Sometimes this requires phoning a number of relatives for updated addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. This must be where to start planning a family reunion because you will then know who to ask for innovative ideas for locations, dates, food, activities, games, gifts and resources.

Another one of the early steps for planning a reunion is forming a committee. Forming a committee is essential to a smooth execution of fun family reunions. Even if you’re looking forward to planning the reunion, you’ll be glad you delegated tasks and got more people involved once you see how much work goes into a family gathering. You can assign jobs, such as communications (family reunion invitation mailing), set-up/decorations, food (catering or cooking), activities/games, historian (organizing genealogy info and photo), finances (creates budget, decides who pays, looks at rental costs) and cleanup.

Once you get other family members involved and send out a survey letter, your next step of planning a reunion will be to select the date. What good is a family reunion if no one can attend? Look over the survey poll results and try to find the date that is conducive to the most people. Many families select a holiday like Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter or a special family milestone. If you plan on turning this into an annual gathering, your best bet is to pick a date and keep it the same each year. You’ll also need to consider how long your gathering will last — just a few hours, a weekend or even an entire week. If you have a lot of family members coming in from afar, then you may want to make their family reunion vacation last more than just an afternoon. It’s important that you understand you can’t possibly please everyone, so try to choose a date that will accommodate the largest number of kin.

Planning a reunion can get complicated when you get to budgeting. While a family reunion cruise or stay in a villa may be within range for you, it will exclude family members with lower incomes. You may also find that even the “simplest” of gatherings — the one at someone’s home — can turn into a huge expense bill once you add up all the food and the drinks. Hopefully you sent out those surveys and got a sense of what people could afford. There are many ways to budget a less elaborate party. Some hosts charge each family member or to cover the family reunion location cost or ask that everyone “bring a dish.” There are many intricacies when planning a family reunion, but you’ll find the end result is worth the effort.

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Planning a family reunion can be a lot of work. For the hosts, much stress is involved, with cleaning the home, picking up people at the airport, lodging someone in their spare bedroom, trying to accommodate everyone’s dietary requirements and tastes with their cooking, spending hours in the kitchen, washing the dishes, watching children and cleaning up the aftermath. It can be downright exhausting! For the other family members, it’s just as hectic with traveling for hours in the car, finding parking, bringing a dish, helping with chores, booking hotels, sometimes renting a car. This is not to say that family gatherings aren’t worth the trouble, because anyone who has been to a family reunion in the last year knows there is nothing better than a rip-roaring good time with their closest of kin. However, it might be time to consider a family reunion resort or cruise to take some of the stress out of home hosting.

One of the best ways to plan a family reunion is to book an all-inclusive family reunion cruise or a stay at an all-inclusive family reunion resort. This option is best suited for active and far-flung families, many of which have to travel across the country to get together with relatives anyway. This option is also suited for family members who enjoy a convenient, no-fuss vacation that allows for a myriad of fun family reunion activities. The best part about these family reunions is that there are no hidden expenses — generally all meals, sodas, transportation, rooms and entertainment are included. Additionally, no one has to cook, clean or drive anywhere! The one con to booking this way is that extra costs like shore excursions and alcohol expenses can potentially rack up the bill. One can expect to pay anywhere from $250 to $600 per person (plus airfare) for a 5-day cruise, assuming that 20 or more people attend. Naturally, the more people that go, the lower the price and often times, the party planner gets to sail or stay for free.

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida offers those planning a family reunion an enormous number of discounts and special perks. Disney is so much more than Mickey Mouse and kids’ rides. In fact, there are many adult-friendly attractions at the futuristic and culturally-rich exhibits at Epcot, the sprawling safari zoo at Animal Kingdom, the high-thrills movie adventures at Hollywood Studios and the storybook settings of the Magic Kingdom. Of course, who could forget the two Disney water-parks, namely the tropical paradise at Typhoon Lagoon or wintry wonderland at Blizzard Beach. The best time to go (to avoid crowds) is September or just after Thanksgiving. A family of 10 can visit Disney for 7 nights for about ,400 per person, which includes everything; the resort, park hopper tickets, dining plan, two special activities and airfare! Disney customer service representatives are skilled in helping organize your family reunion and the best deals are found by booking direct at www.disneyworld.disney.go.com.

Ancestral travel is another option when planning a family reunion. For instance, Jewish descendents often travel back to their homeland as a rite-of-passage. Many fun family reunions involve a pilgrimage back to mainland China, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Scotland or England. A family of 20 can take an extraordinary cultural exodus like this for about ,000 per person for a 10-day stay, including airfare and accommodations. All meals and excursions are extra, naturally, but the memories are priceless. While families are visiting overseas, they can rent a home for less than a hotel, visit cemeteries and plan a group activity like a day at the museum or a cooking class. Perhaps old ancestors can even be contacted to make the visit even more meaningful. For more information, these sites will help; www.ancestralrootstravel.com and www.ancestraltravel.homestead.com.

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Often times, our family reunion plans are centered on another event, such as a special birthday or Christmas. If gift-giving will be part of this occasion, you’ll be glad to know there are family reunion web site stores that specialize in family-centric mementos. Whether you’re considering inexpensive ideas for family reunion gifts like calendars and personalized pens, or you’d like to find something more expensive to commemorate a matriarch’s birthday, you’ll find there are a number of clever gifts to choose from.

One of the best websites with family reunion gifts is simply www.gifts.com. This site acts as a compendium of other sale sites and brings you the best of the Internet. Here you’ll find a $10 family scrap-booking kit, personalized wall decals for $24.95, $20 custom tees, personalized luggage tags for $29, personalized photo calendars for $16.95, $45 family tree picture frames, $5 family fridge magnets, $150 family heirloom photo quilts, custom photo M&Ms (3 bags for $38.97) and $345 custom “Memory Lane” artwork of all your family’s favorite locations. Many of the gifts on this site are intended to be given to individuals or won as a prize in family reunion games, rather than purchased in bulk for everyone.

Another one of the best ideas for family reunion favors are personalized, edible goodies from www.wrappedhersheys.com, www.mymms.com, www.personalizedsweets.com or www.candywrapperstore.com. Imagine your family members’ surprise to find their own names on these delectable treats! You could have 100 mini wrapped Hersheys chocolate bars customized with your text and artwork for just 60 cents a piece! Or you may opt to buy a bag of customized M&Ms priced around . You can get mini truffles custom wrapped for 55 cents each, coffee tins for .95 and (not edible, but good-smelling) custom lip balm for .95. These neat family reunion gifts will really get your relatives talking and drum up the family pride — even in those sometimes-hard-to-reach teenagers!

Do you have a family that loves games? Well, another one of the coolest ideas for family reunion events is ordering a custom Monopoly board! You can personalize your board at www.mymonopoly.com, writing your name in the center of the board, choosing the names of all street names and special spaces and selecting your own customized theme. This tailored game sells for .99 and takes about a month to make and ship. Fun family reunions combine thoughtful gifts, engaging activities, good food and even better company for the perfect event.

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The first time you organize your family reunion, you’re likely brimming with ideas for invitations, activities and food. After five, six or seven years of planning, you start to feel like the well of family reunion ideas has run dry. Choosing a unique and inspiring invitation can really show a bit of your personality or pump some new life into your event. One popular idea for family reunion gatherings is to choose a theme like “the roaring twenties,” “safari,” “disco,” “Hollywood glamour,” “fiesta,” “Mardi Gras,” “ancient Rome,” “Hawaiian luau,” “sailors and mermaids,” or “medieval times.” Once you have selected a fun theme, you can get to work designing a unique invitation and thinking of a few decorating ideas and family reunion activities.

Creating “save the date” magnets is one spectacular idea for creating family reunion invitations. At www.freshimpressions.us, you can order magnets for just $1.59 each! These magnets can be customized with artwork of your choosing or a family photo. You can also choose the colors, fonts and wording of the invites or include a calendar with the date circled to help everyone remember when the shindig is going down. If you’re not really sure what you want, you can also look at templates and choose one that you feel is appropriate for your gathering. The best part about this type of fun family reunions’ invitation is that your relatives will have a keepsake memento for years to come.

Another creative idea for family reunion invites is to make a family calendar, with the date of the next reunion printed on it. If you choose this sneaky route, be sure you stick a post-it note to the cover, hinting to look very closely at the month of the reunion, so they don’t miss it! Creating a family reunion memories calendar is ideal for families who have had many gatherings in the past because you can use photos of past reunions for each month, which your family members will just love! A good place to go for your family calendar needs is FedEx/Kinkos, which does 12-month calendars for .99 or 18-month calendars for .99 a piece. They allow you to use different photos for each month, so you can really pack a lot of memories in.

Another innovative idea for family reunion invites is to send each family member a special promotional item as a reminder. For instance, you could send out a pen that has an imprint, something like “The Smith Family Reunion, 8/29/09 12pm, Walt Disney World, FL.” Some families like to make up special family reunion t-shirts, with the family reunion invitation details on the front and a list of family members or photos on the back. Other promotional items may include drink koozies, coffee mugs, tote bags, frisbees, plastic beer mugs, family tree photo frame magnets, coasters, note pads, pens, hats, backpacks, keychains, jar openers, bottle openers, mouse pads, candles, fly swatters, packets of drink mixes, piggy banks, magnetic chip clips, stress relievers and more! These items can usually be personalized with your custom text for under a piece. For more info, check out www.gimmees.com or www.marcopromotionalproducts.com.

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The very idea of family reunions is intriguing because you’ll get to catch up with far-flung relatives you haven’t seen in years. “My how you’ve grown,” will be heard echoing around the party, undoubtedly, as kids grow taller and wiser. You’ll see family elders who look great for their age, cousins who’ve changed their style, aunts who have just returned from a cruise and other relatives who may have lost a lot of weight. It’s always exciting to catch up, but sometimes it can be awkward breaking the ice and starting up conversations with people you’ve never met before. To get the party started, you may want to consider family reunion rentals, which can liven up the mood.

Games are a great way to get everyone organized, involved and laughing at family reunions. The Game Show Guy (www.gameshowguy.com) specializes in the rental of family reunion games like Jeopardy, Family Feud, Deal or No Deal, Hollywood Squares or Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. For ,000 - ,000, Detroit-native host Dan Nichols will arrive with all the professional props and know-how to run engaging, fun, TV-style family reunion activities. To gauge the competition, you can visit www.partyfun411.com/categories/game-show-rentals.html. This localized search engine will show you where you can rent Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, What’s My Line, Let’s Make a Deal and more. If you’re looking for a less dramatic, less expensive alternative, then try DVD or table-top board games like Family Feud, The Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune, Let’s Make a Deal and Who Wants to be a Millionaire for around from www.amazon.com.

Another one of the more clever family reunion ideas is to organize your family reunion around a Murder Mystery event. You can hire a theatre troupe to arrive at your next event and get everyone involved in a comedic, intriguing and entertaining “WhoDunIt” mystery. Everyone, from young kids to the family elders, will be able to enjoy this type of activity, which makes it an ideal activity for family reunions. The Riddlesbrood Touring Theatre Company (www.riddlesbrood.com) will work with the family reunion planner to customize the performance around your guests. For $750, they can bring setting changers to transform your backyard or home into the scene of a crime, costumed actors, lighting, sound and video effects to make the experience even more immersive. For the $1050 Deluxe Package, they can also arrive with roving themed characters, wandering musicians, magicians, stilt walkers, face painters, balloon crafters and/or a DJ.

Did you know you can rent a photo booth for family reunions? The average price is around 5/4 hours for a mall-style photo booth that instantly prints out slides of four keepsake photos. Kids and teens especially will love these antique photo booths, which can even bring a sense of nostalgia to adult couples who may want to sneak a smooch in these neat booths! In this day and age, almost everything’s gone digital, but it’s fun to capture family reunion memories and transform them into instant mementos. For more information, just visit www.rentphotobooths.com, www.alltimefavorites.com or www.partybooths.com.

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The planning steps for a family reunion are as follows. Assemble a guest list, pick a date, choose a location, send out invitations, delegate responsibilities for cooking and planning, make reservations if necessary, plan activities and games, and enjoy your special gathering! Family reunion planning can get pretty stressful if you get caught up in trying to please everyone. The best way to eliminate of all stress is to get help organizing your family reunion. Ask the family elders for their input, advice and ideas, because if you don’t, then these will be the least satisfied members of the family. You’ll need to consider unique issues like proximity to the bathrooms, wheelchair accessibility, comfortable seating and special dietary requirements. Without asking the family elders, you may not have ever thought of these details. Here are some other tips and reunion ideas to consider.

One way to eliminate the stress of family reunion planning is to take your reunion out of your home and leave the hassle somewhere else. You may want to research banquet halls, church halls or VFW halls in your area to see if you can host family reunion activities there. Usually these venues can be booked at a low cost. Public parks and picnic areas are also popular locations. Some families rent out cabins and take part in hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, campfires, movies, games and arranged meals. For a list of places near you, try visiting www.koa.com.

Another way to evade the stress of planning a family reunion is to purchase reunion planning software. Family Reunion Organizer and Family Reunion Planner are two types of software to consider. Not only will these programs walk you through the steps of how to organize a family reunion, but will also provide you with a database for keeping track of family members’ contact info and RSVPs, as well as lists for budgeting, assigning tasks, completing tasks and networking with service providing professionals. Whether you’re planning an at-home get-together or a reunion vacation, you can visit www.family-reunion.com/organizer or www.family-reunion-planner.fimark.net to order this inexpensive organizer software.

There are also a number of books aimed at assisting you in your family reunion planning process. A book about family reunions can inspire you with reunion tips and ideas, and they can guide you with practical timelines and checklists. Many of the books provide sections with detailed information, as well as areas where you can fill in your own details and record notes. A few books to check out include: The Family Reunion Planner by Donna Beasley, Family Reunion Planning Kit For Dummies by Cheryl Fall and The Family Reunion Handbook by Barbara E. Brown.

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