Step1
Location, location, location:
Keeping in mind a general size for your family, and estimating who will attend, you will need to find a suitable place for a reunion. I would suggest a place with indoor and outdoor facilities. It may be difficult to locate the perfect place for elder’s to be inside out of the heat, but something outside to occupy the kids. Check out your local parks and recreation facilities and see what’s available. An apartment clubhouse can be a perfect spot depending on the size of the reunion. It should have restrooms, kitchen, playground, and pool facilities.
Step2
Setting a date and time:
Set a Date for the event, verifying the location you’ve chosen is available. Normally planned for after the end of the school year, a family reunion is the perfect time to see how much the kids have grown. Talk with the main participants to be sure the date is good for them. Try to find a date that works for the majority. You can't please them all!
Step3
The Food:
Plan a menu and decide to make it yourself or have it catered. If you want to do the labor yourself, keep the menu simple. Grill hotdogs and hamburgers, with all the fixins, and have potato or pasta salad, with baked beans and chopped watermelon. Look for sales on juice boxes, soda’s and condiments. You may luck out and find the meat on sale. Check your local bread store outlet for good deals on hotdog and hamburger rolls.
If you decide to have it catered, shop around. One year I had a man bring his cooker and roast a whole pig for us. Another member of our family had a caterer make trays of lasagna to deliver the day of the event. My sister-in law only had to throw together a giant tossed salad and heat up some garlic bread. Caterer’s can be pricey, but if you can afford it you will certainly save tons of time.
Step4
The Invitations:
Create invitations on your computer or have some made from a print shop. Be sure your invitations have the following:
• Date and time for the reunion
• Location and directions for the reunion
• Fees, if any, to help defray the costs involved in hosting
• RSVP information including when and where to respond
• Date to respond by, allowing yourself a little leeway for late responses
The invitations can be as fancy or as plain as you want them to be. You can simply write a letter or compose an email to get the word out. Another option is to have cards with RSVP cards enclosed, like you would for a wedding or graduation. My next one will have a copy of a picture of my mother with her brother’s and sister’s when they were very small children in rags and mis-matched shoes. The caption will read something like, “We’ve Really come a long way…..” the most important thing to remember here is to make sure EVERYONE in the family receives the word.
Step5
The games:
Plan games for the adults like board games of Bingo, card games, or word games like “I remember When….” Where someone else has to finish the sentence with one of their favorite memories, and ending with “And I remember When…..” as it progresses to the next person.
• Oftentimes the elder’s can’t all be together at the Holiday’s, so maybe plan for everyone to bring a gift for a gift swap. Set a monetary amount, say $10.00 and have each participant bring a wrapped gift, but without a name tag. Put it on a designated table when they come in. Beginning with one, write numbers on index cards, one card for each gift brought. When you’re ready to play, mix up the cards and hand them out to each person who brought a gift. Number 1 goes first – selecting one gift from the table. Number two selects a gift from the table, opens it, and can choose between his or the gift number one got. The play goes around until all the gifts are opened, but then number one gets to make a swap by trading in her gift for one belonging to someone else. Usually the gifts keep getting swapped around all day.
• My mom’s family made a race track game, out of a big piece of cardboard. They drew several little lanes on it, and marked the lanes into sections about the size of a toy car. The toy cars are placed at the start line, and everyone who wants to participate places a bet on their favorite car. The each took 1 die and took turns tossing it, moving the little cars the number of dots on the die. The one who crossed the finish line first wins the pot!
• One year we had all the elder’s bring their favorite family photos to show and share. I ran to the corner drugstore with certain photos to make copies so they would all have their own copies. They really enjoyed talking about stuff that happened to them and their family, “Back in the Day.”
• Provide a sign-in register for everyone to write their names and current addresses so you can keep up to date records of who came and who they brought. Have everyone write down the names and birthdays of the year’s new additions to their families. If you’d like, you can have them write down the dates of their marriages, divorces, children born, and dates of death for past family members. If anyone decides to create a family tree, you’ll have a great start by collecting the information now.
Games for the kids:
Have older children supervise games for very young children, and incorporate the help of teenagers to oversee t
Step6
Getting Ready:
Start shopping for bargains on your paper products and games. Your local Dollar Store should be your first stop. They have picnic supplies, paper products, and tons of games. Most even have condiments for a cookout. Here is a starter list of things I’m sure you’ll need:
• Paper plates
• Cups
• Napkins
• Utensils, serving spoons
• Table covers
• Disposable salt and pepper shaker’s
• Big bucket or coolers for ice and drinks
• Juice boxes, soft drinks, fruit punch, iced tea
• Trash bags, large (maybe different colors for recyclables?)
• Zip close baggies, gallon and quart size (for putting things away)
• Cards, puzzle books, coloring books and crayons, teen magazines, VCR/DVD movies and popcorn (just in case it rains?)
Authority 
