How do you organize a family reunion?

Question

One of my favorite memories from growing up was our family reunion picnic every summer. However a few years ago, my cousin quit doing it since she was always the one in charge and no one else offered to help. The other side of the family has only ever gotten together for weddings and funerals and it would be nice to see each other more often. I think it would be nice to do for both families.

So how do you go about planning something like this? After you figure out a location, then what? Even then, what type of location is best? Are after-party type events a good idea or not? Although there isn't really any ideal place to host them since no one's homes (or even yards) in the area are big enough. Catering would get expensive unless everyone pitched in so potluck is probably the best route.

Answer 1

Just have it in a park and have everyone bring picnic food.   Gather everyone's address and send out postcards with the date, time and place.  We just put all the food on a couple of tables and it was a buffet style meal.  There were always games for the kids and prizes.  The adults would play horseshoes, or cards.

Answer 2

A pitch in sounds perfect and is typical of family reunions.  How about a cook-out?  You can get bulk hamburgers and hot dogs from Costco or Sam's Club.  Have everyone bring a side dish or have everyone sign up under particular categories:  Salad, Main Dish, Side Dish, Dessert, Drinks, etc.  You could rent a church basement for your reunion or how about at your local park with picnic tables?  It's more casual and relaxing for people that way.  I mean, you could do it at a restaurant...but that's always more formal and then you have to worry about everyone paying, etc.  Your city Parks and Recreation Department probably rents shelter houses for the day with a low cost to you.  They probably even have enclosed shelter facilities with kitchens.  Check with them!  Check out www.partycity.com or www.partyamerica.com for ideas on decorations with a theme for added fun.  If everyone is internet saavy you could send out the invitation for the reunion via www.evite.com.  They have tons of cool evite invitations and it's a free site.  Oh, and make sure you've got plenty of drinks, bottled water, napkins, silverware, condiments (mustard, ketchup, etc).  Good luck!

Answer 3

Deborah has a good idea.Pretty much what I do but one thing we do different is send out a letter with a map and  explaining the upcoming reunion and I list meats, vegetables, salsds, deserts and other.I enclose a self addressed post card to me.They are ask to select two food items to bring and write it on the post card, also rsvp the # of people commig from that address.The rest is up to you.Get a few family members to help you with organizing the day,One to get the paper goods, table covers,Ice chest, games ect.Don't put to much on any one person.Oh one last thing, tell every one in the letter to bring lawn chairs if this is outdoors.Hope this helped Ours was fun.