Here's how to put together a fantastic family reunion that checks all the boxes
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Planning and executing a family reunion is a BIG deal. I know from personal experience—I just finished planning and hosting two family reunions in a single month—one for my husband’s side, and one for mine. Since I spent so much of my life planning for these two major events, I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned, so when you’re planning for your next reunion, you can be ahead of the game.
First off, let me say that as a travel advisor, I’ve helped families and extended family groups go on SO MANY multi-generational trips over the years! My background definitely helps; I’m used to thinking about all of the details for groups of people. The biggest difference between planning group trips for people and planning these two reunions, is that both of my families were on a SUPER TIGHT budget. So I didn’t have much to work with, with either group. Usually when families are planning a trip together, they have some type of budget to work with.
Tip #1: Know your people.
What I mean by this is, think about all of the ages and abilities of everyone. This seems pretty self-explanatory; of COURSE you know how old people are in your family. But for the reunion to be a success, you need to know if your niece with a brand new baby and your 75-year-old mother feel comfortable with all of the activities.
In my families, we have parents who are a little slower, a brand new baby, and also someone in a wheelchair on each side of the family. That can make planning very tricky. We also have active adults, young adults, and teens, as well as young kids.
The teenagers and young adults definitely wanted more active options, whereas the brand new baby and the wheelchair-bound person couldn’t do as much.
I settled for a variety of experiences. Some of the activities the less-adventurous couldn’t do, and some of the more sedentary activities weren’t exactly what the adventurous crowd was hoping for, but we managed to find a happy medium.
Which brings me to tip #2.
Tip #2: Think outside the box for accommodations and activities.
I was challenged not only by the different ages & abilities in the group, but also by the number of people to plan for.
The number of people you have is DEFINITELY a factor. On my husband’s side we have about 30, and on my side (since I’m one of 11 kids), I was planning for 65 of us! That’s a LOT of people to work with!
Accommodations on a budget: Where you’re staying can definitely be the highest-priced portion of the reunion. With my husband’s side, we originally wanted everyone to stay in the same place (ie., each family having their own condo unit to fit their family size), but when the budget constraints didn’t allow for that, we told everyone to get their own accommodations. Instead of doing a reunion far away like we’d planned, we changed the location so we’d be close to my in-laws’ house. Some family members stayed with them, and some got their own hotel rooms or house rentals.
With my family, I originally reserved a huge rental with lots of rooms which would accommodate up to 75 people. It was pretty pricey, so after making the refundable deposit, I looked for other options. I ended up finding a local church-owned lodge in the mountains for us. Ordinarily used for youth camps, it was free one weekend in July, so I grabbed it. It slept everyone (although we had to bring sleeping bags and had to share bunk bed rooms)—and only cost about 10% of what the original rental would have been. I was able to get my deposit back once I reserved the lodge, and suddenly we had a little more money for activities.
Activities: I started by doing lots of google searches. I knew we wanted at least one water activity, since it’s summer. I wanted people to be interacting with each other, not just staying in their smaller family groups, and I knew I needed to have a variety of activities for all of the ages and abilities.
With my husband’s family reunion, we ended up doing the following:
·     A walk/hike through a stream to get to a waterfall (it wasn’t steep; everyone except someone with more extreme health or mobility challenges was able to do it)
·     Starting at the top of a mountain and riding bikes on a bike trail down. Those with mobility challenges were able to go on 4-wheel drive rides.
·     A day of playing at the lake: those who wanted brought paddleboards, kayaks, or other watercraft. Others could go fishing nearby if they preferred.
·     The lake-playing day ended up changing because the winds were so high on that day. Instead, we floated in a calm section of a local river.
·     Lots of eating together, with hearty breakfasts, self-packed lunches, and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs plus s’mores.
These are the activities we did for my family reunion:
·     Going to lunch at a Leatherby’s, a local ice cream shop.
·     Decorating white bandanas with their teammates. I divided everyone into groups (with spouses and siblings separate from each other). We decorated the bandanas at our very first dinner kicking off our family reunion.
·     Floating down the Weber River on tubes which I’d rented from Weber State University outdoor equipment rentals.
·     Doing a scavenger hunt in our teams on BYU campus. (It could have been anywhere; I chose a campus setting to have an easily walkable area.) Bonus tip: If you visit a campus on a Saturday, you don’t have to worry about assigned parking.
·     Riding the Heber Valley Railroad together.
·     Minute to Win-It games in our teams on Sunday afternoon. The lodge we were staying in didn’t have a big field area, but it DID have a huge gathering area inside, so rather than outdoor games, we played inside.
·     Making up skits. At the end of the games, I gave each team a set of props. They had to make up a skit using all of the props and all of the people in their group. We performed them that evening. (I had previously assigned each family to bring 6 props for skits, so I didn’t have to come up with them all.)
·     Setting up a craft table. The craft table worked wonders to keep the kids (and some adults) busy!
Tip #3: Get help.
I couldn’t have done everything without help! Of course, I enlisted the help of my own husband & kids as much as possible. My oldest daughter and son-in-law were in charge of floating at the beginning of our river float, for example, so that they could help everyone get out of the river at the correct spot. Use your own family members as much as possible.
Assign out the meals. If you’re the one planning the rest of the activities at the reunion, you don’t need to plan all the meals as well! Either assign the full meal to one or two couples or families, or at least assign parts of it. Even if you’re doing the main course, you can have others bring sides or desserts. It relieves a LOT of stress if you don’t have to plan all of the meals by yourself.
Assign jobs throughout the reunion. You can’t be everywhere at once, nor do you want to. Have people help with kitchen duty, cleanup, or any other tasks or jobs you can think of!
Tip #4: Have a no-expectations attitude.
When it comes right down to it, the goal is to get together and create memories. Once you’ve planned and prepared, try not to stress too much. If something goes differently than planned, you’ll have great stories to tell, and you’re still creating fun memories together. There will probably be some stress along the way, but try to set your expectations as just enjoying each other’s company. The lower the expectation you have, the better experience you’ll have. Enjoy the journey. Everything will work itself out in the end!
If you’d like to pick my brain even more, I’m happy to chat! I can help be a resource for your family reunion, and maybe help take some of the tasks off your plate. Feel free to contact me!
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