Family Reunions

Oh what fun it is (sometimes...) to plan family reunions. My cousin (in Denver) & I have been the "committee" for several years as nobody wants the responsibility! We send out family newsletters, & create the fun for the reunion. The 2002 was a huge success & hoping 2004 will be as much fun. If you are a newbie to family reunions & need some help on ideas let me know. Right now I'm cross stitching a Family Tree (Bucilla) that also has circles to put pictures into. After that is completed my daughter & I have our winter project of cutting leaves for a wall hanging family tree. The pattern is really cute & looks fairly simple, I LIKE SIMPLE! We are the King Family originating from Canton, Missouri. We have a family historian that has collected tons of information. Carolyn

Hi, Carolyn! I'm really interested in where you have been able to find ideas on newsletters and creating fun ideas for family reunions. I was bitten by the genealogy bug quite some years ago and we just recently started participating in an annual family reunion. We were also talking last year about possibly starting a family reunion cruise. Btw, your cross-stitched family tree sounds beautiful! Hope to hear from you soon! (((hugs))) -Karen

Hi Hope, Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Basically what I've done is typed in "family reunions" & start from there. I also subscribed to the Reunion Magazine which has a lot of great ideas from other's & tells about cruises etc. Family Reunions can be fun to plan as long as you take your time with your planning. Last year we raffled of a throw blanket, had the family tree on it with all names of my great-grandparents & their children on it. Cost for that (finished) was around $60. That was for the throw & the embroidery on it. A local merchant did this for me. We raised over $500 just on the raffle! My cousin Patty & I are "The Committee" & I had great fun with that. I made her & I a t-shirt that had dice & the wording "The Committee, Always on a Roll." We had 3 men "volunteers", lol WE volunteered them to sell tickets for the raffle & door prizes. I made them t-shirts also. I found a picture of an Army helmet & it showed a little of a man's face. I put their names on the helmet & it read "Drafted by The Committee." I went to the $1 stores & made up several different table decorations. I had candle arrangements & also the "fish" bowls with potpourri in them. Cute & inexpensive. My dad was MC (he's been drafted again for next reunion!), he welcomed everyone, said a prayer then he had everyone introduce themselves & tell what branch of the tree they were from. Several years ago Patty & I took poster board & she drew a tree on it, mind you this was 5 or 6 large pieces of poster board. I printed off bees, apples, butterflies etc & glued them on the tree. Each represented the branch, for instance the apples were my granny's family. We have always pot-lucked in the past but this time we are going to serve a Spaghetti dinner with the trimmings. We are also going to set out chips & cold cuts & cheese for those that don't care for spaghetti. In my news letter I'm also asking if anyone needs a Special Diet. I'm making gift baskets for centerpieces this time which will include cookies in a jar, ladies giftbasket of soap, candle & bathsalts, for the men a flashlight, measuring tape, screwdrivers. We are also going to contact Perkins, Burger King, Hardee's etc to see about donations, maybe $5 gift certificates. The ideas are endless. I hope this helps you out. My cousin Dennis & his dad are the historians. Also we are making a cookbook, (my job) & an addy book. We are also in the process of a medical book as well. Medical history is so very important. Patty & I put out "goodie bags" last year. I found a gal on ebay that makes magnets & she did a wonderful bunch of them for us & I will have her make more for next reunion. If you want her site let me know. The next reunion we are going to have a Memorial Table with pictures of our loved ones that have passed. We also put together "goodies" for the kids, $1 stores are wonderful! We had them outside with water balloons, volleyball, croquet, tug of war. Two cousins were in charge of the kids which worked out great. We had some teenage cousins keep an eye out for the little ones so the adults could enjoy themselves. Oh, something else, we put out disposable cameras on each of the tables so we could get a lot of good pics. There again $1 stores. I do a lot of shopping on clearance tables to find things, even rummage sales, of course those can't be damaged. I went to the GoodWill to find the "fish" bowls. The family color is purple as this is the King Family. Two newsletters per year, reminder postcards a few months out from reunion time. I'm getting closer to getting the cross stitched family tree finished. When it is I will post the picture. Lot of work & I have been setting it aside working on Xmas presents instead. Brought out the sewing machine for Xmas presents. I hope this helps you & please let me know how you are coming with your reunion plans. If I can send you any more ideas please let me know. You can always email me Carolyn