Planning Your First Family Reunion

By Webchicken

As a child, some of my favorite memories are of traveling from Ohio to North Carolina with my family to attend our family reunions.  I already knew I belonged to a large family, but those reunions introduced me to great aunts, great uncles, third and fourth cousins I had never met before the reunions.

A family reunion is an opportunity for family members to be introduced, reconnect, or maintain established bonds.  If your family does not have family reunions, it’s never too late to begin this great tradition.  Follow these tips to get started:

1.  Establish a local reunion committee if possible. Tell your family members you’re planning a family reunion, and you need some help.  These family volunteers will make the initial decisions about the family reunion.  They’ll determine location, dates, activities, and costs.  Once you have your committee, establish your chairs, secretary, and treasurer.  Having leadership will help keep up with deadlines and money.

2.  Select a date and location. Summertime is a common time of the year for family reunions.  Children are on summer break, and adults are ready to take some vacation time.  For your first reunion, have it where your local reunion committee is located since they will be doing most of the footwork.

3.  Collect postal and e-mail addresses and phone numbers of family members. Create a database of this information on your computer or on the reunion secretary’s computer.

4.  Send out a save the date e-mail or post card informing everyone about the future family reunion. This e-mail or postcard should tell the date, location, and request other family members’ addresses, as well.  Let them know the details of the reunion will be coming soon.

5. Start planning the details of your reunion. You’ll need to decide what type of activities you’ll want to have.  Friday night can be your hospitality or meet and greet event.  Your family can tour your city Saturday morning and attend a reunion banquet in the evening.  On Sunday you could have a family picnic.

6.  Locate hotels and secure a discounted rate for the family reunion. If you are planning to invite relatives from out of town, they’ll need somewhere to sleep.

7.  Send out a detailed letter. Send out a letter with pertinent family reunion details and wait for the enthusiastic responses from your relatives!

June 18th, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Family Reunions | (0)