It’s been a long time since you have seen your cousins from your mom’s side of the family, hasn’t it? And grandma just turned 90. Also, since it’s summer, everybody would be free, enjoying the holidays. So it is the perfect time to host a family gathering.
Family reunions are a great way to appreciate the beautiful people you have in your life - your family- and forget your worries for some time. You get to hear crazy stories from your uncles and grandpa about the time when they were young. So show them some love by calling them for a family gathering.
Depending on how big of a family you have, start preparing at least 5 months before the actual reunion day. The reason is that since they have to come from far off, they could make arrangements for the reunion. Make a long list of people you wanna invite - spouses, children, everyone.
Be sure to reach out to the people you’ve never met, like your distant relatives, and call them over. Meeting them for the first time will definitely be something you’ll look up to.
You cannot afford to have a boring family reunion where nobody knows what to do. Make proper arrangements, so everybody returns with beautiful memories to cherish.
Finally, when all your relatives arrive, get into party mode and host a memorable family gathering. For your convenience, we have come up with ways to make your family gathering unique and special.
Make a Family Tree
Print out a large tree on hard paper and place it on a table along with some colored ink stamp pads. All the family members will put their fingerprints on one of the tree branches with their names on top of the fingerprint. Make sure to put cleaning wipes on the table so they can clean the colored ink off their fingers.
You can frame the family tree and give it to your grandma or your grandpa, who would totally love to keep this tree.
You can also place a confession board with small colored sections on the side. Everybody will write something good about the family.
Craft a Photo Booth
Photo booths are trendy for events these days. Make them by yourself and write something lovely on the corners like “I love my family” or “We are together, no matter what” to make everyone feel loved.
Host a Family Reunion Cookout
Family gathering cookouts are the best. Let everyone contribute to the budget and in the cooking as well. Prepare crowd-pleasing meals like spaghetti casserole, fried chicken, grilled fish, chicken sandwiches, fried rice, chicken or beef kebabs, and fruit and vegetable salad.
Please the crowd even more by serving these meals in an elegant disposable serving ware. You can find the best plastic serving trays, disposable serving flatware, and plastic serving platters at The Kaya Collection’s website. Your family would love how you present salads and sandwiches in our serving bowls for parties.
Divide the Days for Different Activities
Family gatherings are supposed to last for some days, so you can plan each day differently. For example, on the first day, don’t take your guests hiking or to the beach because they must be tired of traveling. Instead, you can have a backyard BBQ party or a movie night on this day.
The next day, take your guests hiking or trekking. You can also host an outdoor party by the beach. Finally, taking your family out for a pool party could be a great way to enjoy the summer season.
On the last day, take a group photo of the entire family. Make sure to include the family pets in the photo; odd, but it creates lasting memories.
Conduct a Talent Show
Let everyone show their talents to the entire family. Somebody could sing, play guitar, dance, or even host a comedy for a few minutes. Host a musical night and sing a song for your family to make it special.
Play Family Reunion Games
Entertain your family with fun-filled reunion games to make the gathering memorable and unique. There are tons of different games to play and contests to conduct that you will never get bored with.
Tug of War
We all have played tug of war in our school or college, but playing it with your family is much more fun and entertaining. Make two teams and see who wins.
Blindfold Taste Challenge
Assemble groups and make them wear a blindfold and offer them different foods. You will have so much fun getting the answers.
Yard Yahtzee
In two rounds, each member will throw a large dice. The one with the highest score wins the game.
Lemon on a Spoon Race
Kids love to play this game of balancing a lemon on a spoon in their mouth. The goal is to reach the finish line with lemon still on the spoon.
Hopscotch
Let the kids enjoy playing hopscotch. Use colorful tape to draw a hopscotch on the floor so you can take it off later without making a mess.
Family Quiz
Print out questions about the family on a scrapbook and hand it out to everybody. The questions can be, “how old is grandpa?” “who came to attend the reunion from the farthest?” or “how did grandma and grandpa meet?” - you get the idea.
Tell the Funniest Family Stories
We all know Uncle Harry has the best family stories to tell. So ask him to tell everyone the craziest family stories. You all will burst out laughing, and your bond will become stronger.
During this conversation, you can ask everyone to share their best memory about the family for which they are grateful.
Give them Gifts
On large cardboard, hang envelopes with gifts for each one of your family members with their names. You can give them bracelets, rings, scrunchies, beautiful spatulas, coffee mugs, reading glasses, or a notebook. Make sure to write each one of them a lovely note so they can feel special when they open the gifts.