Getting Started From the beginning, elevate your next family reunion beyond the bucket of chicken at the park! These ideas may help you be more creative in planning your family’s favorite reunion ever! Who’s Coming? How big do you want your reunion to be ~ immediate family, immediate cousins, distant cousins, long lost members found on a genealogical website? Make your list manageable & make your reunion do-able for as many people as possible.

Location & date

• Most reunions are held in the summer when family members seem to have more time, but don’t forget that winter, spring & fall reunions can be just as fun. Sometimes you can get better rates at resorts or hotels in the off-season.

• What about a family cruise?

Celebrate Grandma & Grandpa’s 60th Wedding anniversary with a “60 at Sea” Family Cruise.

• Reuniting at a family cabin or the old

family homestead help continue long established traditions.

Finding Fun in the Family Tree

• Make it an adventure ~ go to a State or National Park

where there will be lots of activity choices to appeal to a variety of people (star gazing, hiking, swimming, boating, photography)

• Whatever you do, plan well in advance so that family

members can make plans to get off work & school & make travel arrangements.

Invitations Include all the pertinent information such as date, time, place, theme, food assignments & of course the RSVP! Have the invitation correspond with your theme if you have one. Themes Having a theme for your reunion actually makes planning & carrying it out so much easier! Have a committee to help brainstorm the theme & then let the creative juices flow! You could create a theme around a family story or family heirloom. Disney Movies

• Location – Disneyland would be great, but if not possible rent a local theater or just a cultural hall or community center.

• Food – buckets of popcorn, nachos, giant pickles, soda, movie goodies.

• Activities – Watch favorite Disney movies, play Disney trivia, Disney Bingo (prizes can be Disney DVDs, CDs, posters, Mickey Mouse ears, etc.)

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• Dress – Come dressed as your favorite Disney character (animated or otherwise)

• Decorations – Movie posters, each table set with a different movie theme,

Tropical Island

• Location – Someplace with water – a swimming pool, a swimming hole,

• Food – Pig roast, pineapple, coconut (with half shell coconut glasses).

• Activities – Swimming, hula dancing • Games – How low can you go? Let’s

limbo! • Dress – Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts, grass skirts,

leis. • Decorations – Fresh flowers, straw huts, glowing

volcanoes, lots and lots of fruits. • Awards – Wildest shirt, best hula dancer, limbo

master.

Pioneer Heritage

• Location – A family homestead or the basic area where your ancestors lived.

• Food – Food that your ancestors would have eaten or favorite heirloom recipes.

• Activities – Create a wall chart of your family so everyone can see how they are related. If you don’t

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have all the information, leave a marker out and ask family members to write on the chart to fill in the blanks if they know anything you don’t. Fill in the family tree (see attached template)

• Games – Trivial pursuit, with questions about your family and ancestors. Make a Jeopardy board with questions about family members (living & those that have passed on)

• Dress – In the ethnic costume of your ancestors. • Decorations – Display historical memorabilia from your

family and ancestors (Grandma’s quilts, Aunt Gertrude’s biscuit cutter, Grandpa’s plow, etc.)

Racing Through the Years

• Location - The hometown of your ancestors. • Activities - Try a road rally that would hit all the

highlights from your family’s history (where did Grandma & Grandpa have their first date; what house was Dad born in; where did Mom go to 2nd grade, etc)

• Decorations - NASCAR decorations, street signs, red, green & yellow decorations. You can order cute cut out cars to hold the food.

• Food – Hamburgers & hot dogs with all the fixins.

Armies of Helaman

• Activities – Have each family make a flag to represent them & their family motto. These can be used for the decorations.

• Games - Relay races tied into each other strengths (leg wrestling, singing a verse of a song, reciting a

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poem, draw a picture); Obstacle Courses; Treasure Hunt

• Decorations – Family flags, Central/South American décor (pyramids, jungle, Mayan/Aztec designs)

• Food – Nachos, Navajo Tacos Activities Skits ~ Have an emcee & pre-assigned skit subjects. Provide props for participants to use. Talent Shows ~ This will need to be organized ahead of time so people have time to prepare their talent. Don’t forget the non-performing talents like scrap booking, painting, computer graphics, handiwork, etc. Slide shows of family members ~ A great way to get the younger generation to be involved would be to have them put together a computer slide show or power-point to be shown at the

reunion. This could be added to year after year. Plant a Tree ~ Find an important family location (possibly where you hold your reunion each year) & plant a family tree to watch grow over the years. Games

Old Time Favorites Sack Race Three-legged Race Egg Toss or Water Balloon Toss Tug of War Red Light, Green Light

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Red Rover Capture the Flag Kick the Can Duck, Duck, Goose Musical Chairs Fruit Basket Mummy Wrap Fish Pond Board games Other Fun Games Family Trivia ~ Find out odd facts about Grandpa Joe and Aunt Rose, then tell everyone and have them guess who it is. The weirder the facts, the more far-out the trivia, the better the game! "Did you know Grandma Gertrude can put her ankles behind her head? Yeah, she’s a contortionist!" Have fun with your family name ~ If it’s the “Painter” family reunion have everyone bring a painting they’ve created or enjoy; if it’s the “Baker” family reunion have everyone bring their favorite baked good. It doesn’t have to be limited to trade names. If you’re the “Schweikle” family have them bring their version of what they think a Schweikle really is! Be creative ~ just think of all the fun you Duckworths & Vuugdevains can have! Scavenger Hunt Equipment Needed – A list of things to hunt for (one copy per person or team) – Give people or groups a list of things to hunt for, and the first one done wins. The common version is to have everyone find strange things (tennis ball, piece of string, coconut...) and bring them back.

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Variations – There are a million variations to this. Here are just a few... * Cleanup hunt - This version is especially good near the end of the reunion. Give everyone a list of different types of trash (Dr. Pepper can, napkin, plastic fork, watermelon rind, etc), or just see who can pick up the most pieces of trash. No digging in the trash can allowed. They have to find them on the ground. * Sound scavenger hunt - Give them a list of things to record & a tape recorder. Everyone has to find the sound & record it. (Uncle Burnham singing “Springtime in the Rockies”, the whistle of the 3:00 train, sound of popcorn popping, etc.) * Family hunt - Give them a list of personal characteristics, and have them find family members who match (for example, green eyes, no hair, same color eyes, born the same year). Wrapping Things Up Before everyone heads for the hills, make sure that you have contact information for next year (names, addresses, emails, phone numbers). You might want to have people fill out information for the family tree. It’s also nice to have a parting gift such as a copy of the family tree, CD of pictures taken at the reunion, some kind of memento to remember the great time you all had together.

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Recipes BBQ Beef Sandwiches Beef Wrap 7 lbs. seasoned roasts in a couple of layers of tin foil. Bake at lowest temperature for 12-18 hours. Shred beef with a fork & put in large roasting pan. Sauce 2 c. chopped onions 2 quarts catsup 4 c. apple-cider vinegar 2 c. corn oil 4 tsp. dry mustard 4 tsp. garlic salt 8 c. brown sugar 1 c. Worcestershire sauce 2 tsp. pepper 5 Tbs. flour Mix & simmer for one hour. Add to shredded beef.

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Potato Salad 36 medium potatoes 3 cups chopped onion 2 cups relish 7-½ cups mayonnaise 12 tsp. sugar 12 tsp. celery seed 12 tsp. vinegar 12 tsp. mustard 6 tsp. salt 12 hard boiled eggs, chopped Cook potatoes in boiling salt water until firm, but tender. Drain well, peel & cube potatoes. Transfer to a large bowl. Add onion & relish. Combine mayonnaise, sugar, celery seed, vinegar, mustard & salt. Add mayonnaise mixture to potatoes. Carefully fold in chopped eggs. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover & chill. Makes 50 servings.

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Texas Sheet Cake Boil: 4 Tb. Cocoa 2 squares margarine 1 c. water Pour cocoa mixture over: 2 c. flour 2 c. sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon Add ½ c. buttermilk & 1 tsp. soda Add 2 eggs & ½ tsp. vanilla Pour into sheet cake pan. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Frosting Heat in pan: 1 cube margarine 4 Tbs. cocoa 6 Tbs. buttermilk 1 lb. powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla

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Templates You can use the following family tree templates to fill in your own family information.

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Resources LDS Living Magazine ~ March/April 2008 www.family-reunion.com Oriental Trading Magazine