Family reunions are a great way to spend quality time with far-off relatives. We’ve seen them all – some super structured with detailed daily itineraries, and some pretty chaotic with nothing set in stone. Whatever your family’s style, we have a few ideas to help you bring more fun to your family reunion.
{ image credit : Gentry Family Reunion }
Get Competitive
- T-Shirt Competition – We’ve all seen huge family reunions where everyone wears one matching shirt. Why not let everyone get creative with it? Have each branch of the family design their own t-shirt, and have family members anonymously vote on their favorites. Treat the winners to a nice dinner, or give the winning family a fun and functional gift like this personalized tailgate backpack cooler chair.
- Family Olympics – Whether your family members are sporty or not, there are a ton of competitive games everyone can play. Set up a game of volleyball or football for the athletes. Host a family talent show and let members show off their special skills. Encourage the couch potatoes to compete with tug-of-war or a pie-eating contest. Winners get fun prizes!
- Scavenger Hunt – The host family can put together a list of must-see places in the local area and send everyone out on the hunt. Alternatively, family leaders can make a completely customized list of things to find based on fun facts about the family and its members. Then, simply turn everyone loose with a fun personalized beach tote so they can start gathering their scavenger hunt items.
- Sale-a-thon – If you have room in your luggage, why not bring along a few items you’ve been meaning to get rid of? Your relatives can bid against one another for a chance to take home something they may like. Bonus? You get more space in your home, and you can use the money raised to take the extended family out to dinner or pay for other reunion-related experiences.
Build Your Family Tree with a Twist
- Story Telling and Trivia – Share your favorite stories from growing up, or retell your greatest adventure. It’s a great opportunity to start building a family history – simply record the stories of each family member and compile them into a living record you can revisit any time you want. Collect them with beautiful notes in a jar or film them for a special video family history. For a fun twist, gather some interesting bits of trivia about each family member and take turns guessing who the mystery person is.
- Family Map – Odds are your family members are gathering from all over, sometimes from opposite ends of the world! Hang a large map on a prominent wall and ask each family member to mark where they live with a tag so you can see where everyone came from at a glance. For a fun twist, have instant cameras on hand to take funny family portraits people can pin to the map.
- Heritage Cookbook – Do you spend all year looking forward to Aunt Sally’s famous blueberry cobbler? Reunion time is the perfect excuse to collect all those family favorites in one place, complete with pictures and special family cooking secrets. Then, bring it back year after year and watch the recipe collection grow!
Keep the Kids Occupied
- Cool Off with a Water Pinata – Who needs a pool when you’ve got trash bags? Rather than filling the kiddos up with sweets, hang a thick plastic garbage bag filled with water from the nearest tree and let the kids take turns swinging. Eventually, someone will make contact and get soaked! Rinse and repeat until everyone’s drenched and laughing.
- Outdoor Games– Sure, you could have them play tag. But why not do something a little out of the ordinary? If the weather’s nice, use some common household items to keep the kids amused for hours. One of our favorites is a fun take on bowling – with watermelons! Set up a few large plastic bottles on one end of the lawn, and place a couple watermelons at the other end. Contestants must crawl from the starting line toward the “pins” while pushing the watermelon with their heads. First one to knock down all their pins wins!