Getting the gang together for a family reunion can be an important part of every year for your crew. It can be hectic and chaotic but it allows individuals from multiple generations to get together and bond. If you have become responsible for planning the yearly shindig, you may be wondering what all needs to be scheduled. Included here are a few must-haves for your next family reunion.
Apparel
You may think everyone will be fine wearing their own clothes, but creating custom printed shirts for the group builds family pride and camaraderie. Many families love getting the priceless memories of everyone in their family name shirts and having a memento to travel home with. It can be especially fun to create the tradition of t-shirts at your reunion so everyone can have a reunion shirt with the year printed on it.
Food
A starving group of people can quickly become a grumpy horde. Save yourself the stress of dealing with the “hangry” and keep your clan fed. While you may have meals planned out to a T, make sure you have plenty of healthy snack foods on hand. Just keeping a tray of fresh fruit and veggies in the fridge with dip can save your sanity and keep everyone talking and laughing.
Activities
It wouldn’t be a family reunion without plenty of competitive group games. Some families have hardcore traditions of playing pinochle or chess, but your group may be a more active one. Make sure you have plenty of supplies to keep the group games going. Set up a large chalk board or notepad for the little ones to color on and keep supplies ready for the adult rounds of beer-pong, chicken or Battle of the Sexes.
Accommodations
Fortunately, if your whole clan still lives in the same area, everyone can go home to their own houses each night. However, it is highly unlikely that your family hasn’t scattered around the United States as life happens and will need accommodations when they come to town. Make sure all of your relatives are set up with a place to stay before they arrive. If this means staying in other relative’s houses or hotels, make all arrangements before arrival time to save yourself a headache.
Camera
There is nothing quite as important for your family reunion as a good camera. Having all of those people together is always a picture-worthy event and will need to be commemorated. This may be the only time your great-grandmother gets to meet your newborn, or the first time those distant cousins have flown in. Make sure you get family specific photos, photos of just the men or women and then full family photographs; all of these can be put on a photo-sharing site for the family members to access from home later.
Originally posted on September 22, 2015 @ 7:20 am
