By Smith
You’ve organized the family reunion hospitality night and the family reunion picnic. Now, it’s time to organize the family reunion banquet.
1. Reserve a hall. Secure a hall for your family reunion banquet as soon as possible. If most of your relatives are staying in a local hotel, you may be able to host your banquet in one of its spaces. One of the benefits of having the banquet at the hotel is convenience.
2. Hire a caterer. Depending on the number of relatives attending the family reunion banquet, hiring a caterer and her staff to prepare and serve the meal would be ideal. You and your family wouldn’t have to bother with preparing dishes on the day of the reunion and could enjoy the affair if you went with a caterer. However, having family members prepare family specialties to share at the banquet would be a nice idea if your budget is tight.
3. Organize the program. Consider having a short program where some of your family history can be presented. A computer-savvy relative could put together a PowerPoint presentation of family history and photographs. However, if your family isn’t the presentation type, you could post family photos and history on boards and display them on easels around the banquet hall.
Also, recognizing the oldest relative in attendance would be appropriate for a family reunion banquet, as well as recognizing the person who traveled the greatest distance to attend the family reunion. You could honor them with special certificates.
Below is a sample of a family reunion banquet order of service.
Welcome
Invocation
Special Performance (possibly a song, dance, poem, etc.)
Familial History Presentation
Dinner
Recognitions
Benediction
4. Hire a band or DJ. After the formal program ends, the dancing can begin.
When the day of the family reunion banquet arrives, make sure everything runs smoothly and enjoy your relatives.
July 9th, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Family Reunions, Tips | Comments (0)
By kthypryn
You’ve chosen a host city and date for your family reunion. Now it’s time to plan the details of your reunion. A Meet and Greet Night should be the first event on your family reunion schedule.
The location of your Meet and Greet Night depends on the number of relatives who will be arriving on the first night of the reunion and your budget. If you can get a relative to volunteer his or her home, you’ll save a lot of money on renting a room or hall. On the other hand, if most of the guests will be staying in the same hotel, you can make arrangements to have the Meet and Greet Night at that hotel.
Many of your out-of-town relatives will arrive on the day of the hospitality event. A hospitality event gives your relatives an opportunity to pick up any registration materials you may have for them, like name badges, picnic tickets, family reunion banquet tickets, family t-shirts, and a schedule of events. Also, you can give out any city maps, tourist attraction brochures, and any other materials your city’s visitors bureau may have donated to you for your family reunion. Ideally, all materials should be in one bag or folder, so family members will have an easier time keeping up with their family reunion materials.
Relatives may trickle in at various times as they arrive from out-of-town or get off from work. However, you can have a few icebreaker activities planned for your family reunion hospitality event. One activity could have everyone in the room try to figure out how he or she is related to everyone else-in 10 minutes. This will be easy for everyone who knows one another; yet, it will be more difficult for those who may not be as familiar with their lineage. Interaction is the goal of this activity.
The types of refreshments served depend on your family reunion budget. For a simple hospitality event, water and punch in pitchers and a few bowls of chips set up on a side table are appropriate. Your committee may decide to ask local family members to donate finger foods or hire a caterer.
Your family reunion Meet and Greet Night sets the tone for the rest of your family reunion activities, so make it fun and welcoming.
July 2nd, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Family Reunions, Party Planning, Tips | Comments (0)
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Planning a family reunion picnic doesn’t have to be a daunting task. One of the most important issues is deciding on a location. You want your family reunion picnic to take place in a location that has enough room to accommodate everyone and the planned activities. The location should have accessible rest room facilities, also.
A Park–Renting a picnic area or pavilion in a public park for your family reunion has several benefits. Ideally, your park of choice will have enough picnic tables for your family. Many parks have grills available for public use, so you’ll just need your charcoal, matches, and lighter fluid on the day of the picnic. Also, choose a park with a playground, basketball goal, tennis courts, spacious field, and a swimming pool, so your relatives will have more activity options.
A Backyard–A backyard family reunion picnic may offer a level of familial intimacy that a picnic in the park may lack. Yet the smaller space may limit the amount of recreational activities possible. However, having your family reunion picnic in a relative’s backyard makes sense for a smaller family and smaller budget. You won’t have any facility rental fees, but you may have to rent or borrow extra chairs and tables if you have a larger family.
A Banquet Hall–Banquet halls can definitely be more expensive, but they can also take away some of the frustration of planning. Many locations include seating, serving and even entertainment accommodations (like dance floors or karaoke equipment). They can often also help with catering and food storage. Banquet halls also take the guesswork out of managing environmental concerns (such as inclement weather and bugs), and give you a larger window of opportunity during the year to plan your get-together.
Once you’ve decided on a location for your family reunion picnic and either reserved or confirmed it, you’ll be able to focus on creating an entertaining event for you and your family.
June 29th, 2009 by Yolanda D. Young | Posted in Family Reunions, Party Planning, Tips | Comments (0)
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 | Comments (0)
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