A big family reunion isn’t something you get to do often. If your plan is to bring different branches of the family together, it means navigating multiple different schedules. Your family might be far-flung too, occupying different parts of the country or even the world. There’s a lot of organization required, which can make it all pretty stressful. But you don’t want it to be stressful. You want it to be fun for everyone, including yourself. With so much going on, that can be challenging.
Fortunately, you can make a family get-together fun in so many different ways. Even if there are many things to do, there’s still time to enjoy yourself and make sure everyone else is having fun.
Make Sure Everyone Pitches In
If you’ve ever organized a big event before, whether for work or pleasure, you’ll know it can take up a lot of your time. There’s so much to put in place, from deciding where to host it to coordinating all of your guests and their availability. If you’re the only one planning your family get-together, you could find that it quickly becomes way too much. Instead of suffering through it alone, it’s much better to get others to pitch in. Not everyone will want to be involved in a big way, but everyone can do at least one small thing to help out. Even if you’re the mastermind, you can still delegate tasks to others.
Choose a Suitable Venue/Location
Where is your family reunion going to be? It’s one of the first things you’ll need to nail down in your planning. Sometimes it just means choosing one person’s house or a venue in the city where you all (or most of you) live. But if your family is more spread out, it can be a little more complicated. You might want to make it as fair as possible, so some people don’t have to travel much more than others.
It’s not just about practicality though. If you want your family reunion to be fun, you have to think about what people will enjoy too. You might consider a location like an amusement park, where everyone can find different ways to enjoy themselves. Maybe you want to go on vacation together, and you could be looking for a resort, hotel, or property to rent for the duration of your stay. If you’re just planning something for one day, hiring a large room can often make sense. It could give you somewhere to have some food, maybe music and dancing, games, or other fun activities.
Plan Plenty for People to Do
Making an event fun for everyone can be tricky when you have different ages and tastes to cater to. There’s a risk of people getting bored if there’s nothing suitable for them to do. By planning lots of activities, you can make sure everyone has a chance to have some fun. Try combining activities that are structured and things that people can take or leave as they wish. Maybe you’ll plan a quiz or a game for everyone to play at a certain time, but you can also offer board games or other activities for people to join whenever they want to.
Avoid Over Scheduling
While it’s good to have lots of options for activities, you should also avoid scheduling everything too much. When your family is gathering to have fun together, they don’t want to feel like they’re being rushed from one thing to the next. Making sure they also have time to relax, chat with each other, and do what they want to do is important too. When you do have things scheduled, making them optional is a good idea. Not everyone will want to participate in all of the activities you choose.
Give Everyone a Souvenir
A souvenir of your event is a great way to bring everyone together. It could be something they can take away to remember your get-together and it can also be a fun thing during the event. Maybe everyone could wear customized T-shirts or hoodies, which is not only fun but also a good way to keep your group together if you’re going to be in a public place. Or you could look at personalized tote bags, another option that’s both fun and practical. You could even design your own graphics or logo to use on your very own event merch. There are plenty of other ideas you could consider too, from customized mugs to photos of the whole family.
Take Everyone’s Needs Into Account
It can be tough balancing the needs of multiple people. When you get your family together, you might have people of all ages and abilities who all have different needs. From older adults to babies and toddlers, they all need accommodations to make the event work for them. Some of the things you might have to think about are getting around, having places to rest, facilities for baby changing, and catering to everyone’s dietary needs.
While this might take some careful planning, it’s worth it to make sure your whole family has a good experience. It’s hard for anyone to have fun if they’re not comfortable and having their basic needs met.
Get Some Fun Food Options
Food is always important at big events. And it can be more important than anything for some families. If your family is into food, you definitely want to think about it carefully. There are various ways to approach the matter of food and drink, and they’ll probably be influenced by where your event will be and what it will look like. If you’re planning to gather everyone in one house or room, you’ll want to ensure there’s food provided. That might mean setting up your grill, or it could be hiring a private chef to cook for you. You could ask everyone to bring a dish if you want to spread the work. Hiring catering can make things easier too, whether you want to put on a buffet or a three-course meal. There are some fun options to explore such as food trucks or interactive stands.
There’s also the option of eating at restaurants. Depending on the size of your group, this might involve booking tables or a private room in advance. You might also give everyone the freedom to choose where they want to eat. This could work well if you’re planning to stay in a resort together or if your event is going to be a bit more loosely planned. Everyone can decide when and where they want to eat, instead of having a set schedule.
Encouraging Mingling
You might all be family but that doesn’t mean you all know each other well. There can be some awkwardness, especially when people of the same age just get thrown together. You might want to think about how you can encourage people to mingle and get to know each other better. Some games, a quiz, or something else competitive could be a fun way to break the ice and get everyone talking to each other. Getting the food and drink flowing can be a good way to encourage everyone to loosen up too. A sharing experience like putting together your own sandwiches or even having fondue or hotpot could be what’s needed to get everyone talking.
Family reunions can take a lot of work, but it’s worth it to get everyone together. Even family members who don’t know each other that well could be best friends by the time they go home.
