Yes, a family reunion. Each year thousands of families plan their family reunion around the Labor Day weekend. Families get together and do a lot of reminising, loving and and some come to settle differences--updating on old and new family issues. My family is having one around Labor Day too! If your family is or already had it's reunion,or your family reunion is soon; I hope these few tips and few suggestions may help you. It can be a even more enjoyable and agreeable time for you and yours --even if you're only aware of the time comsuption spent it making it happen.
It's always best to start planning for a family reuion as early as 1 or 2 years. That's right the more time for planning the more time you can spend making sure it can run smoothly. Things to consider are location(s), activities, food and celebration ceremony and even for some mode of transporation.
Take a list of who will be over committees. This gives a better spread of regions where you can locate family who have been out of contact. Updating a mailing list, getting telephone numbers and finding out about older generations or even family deaths. You'll be surprized how many times this information isn't passed on.
Committees will need to have family volunteers. You don't need to "dump" everything on one person, although there is need to have a specific contact person that will desinate Who?, What?, When?, and Where? you'll need to go when there's certain information you'll need to find out. However, never "over burden" an entire family of funtions to only one person! There may be a person in your family that would gloat on having the glory of that! That's in every family, but keep the democratic process that all members of the family are eligible to help out on other projects that will need attention. So pitch in!
Fees & Costs: Each family should be responsible for paying some costs. Usually voting with the family helps, but then you might run into trouble if single families feel they shouldn't pay the same fees as one with 5 children. So try possibly setting rates for family sizes can eliminate reasons to debate over paying a fee. Try to avoid family arguments, everyone in the family is required to pay something!
Picking a Location: Family groups will need to talk, meet, vote and decide the location(s) as well as the activitities families will attend. You want to make sure there is enough room for the planned attendance, and plenty of space for moving around. Close families can quickly get into conflicts if there is hardly not much space. I've seen this many times in my family gatherings. Kids can get bored, have a youth committee for younger family members too! Keep in mind hotel lodging is like a small get-a-away --instead of having everybody going over and loading up Aunt Jennie's house.
THE BIG DAY: Families arrive and are present for the big day of family bonding. You should have some kind of program, a talent show, who's the youngest, who's the oldest are just a few suggestions. Make sure that all family member registar with complete name of each household. If you're into family history, making a family tree of each family will aid in record keeping. This informaton should be kept by your designated family's historian. For the record, this is vital family history and should be stored in specific place maybe even in more than one place to make it more family accessible. Even using a record-keeping with computer will help. That process can come later though. Food will be served! Fun and games shared! Prizes and awards! And socializing with family are all great ways to have one the best time with your family. Many times in family reunions, a family member will remember if they felt left out, so make sure you have family greeters, and host and hostessess to make every one feel like
FAMILY.
I hope these few tips help out! There is SO much more you can do. Visit your local library for books on planning a family reuion, or even Google for sites that may give you endless tips and ideas! So, I'm done on this one.
You feel like my family...What's going family? Let's have a family reunion
Posted By: MIISRAEL Bride
Tuesday, August 25th 2009 at 9:21AM
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