• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Pretty Providence

  • Home
    • Newest Blog Posts
  • About
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast
    • Dessert
      • Cookies
    • Dinner
    • Salads
    • Side Dishes
  • DIY & Crafts
    • Cricut
    • T-Shirts
    • Crafts
    • Decor
    • DIY Projects
  • Holidays
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • New Years Eve
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • Mother’s Day
    • Father’s Day
    • 4th of July
  • TIPS
    • Tips
    • Organization
    • Family Life
      • Baby
      • Fun
      • Family
    • Travel
  • OCCASIONS
    • Gifts
    • Parties
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

Family Reunion Ideas and Tips

Home » Fun » Family Reunion Ideas and Tips

Published July 12, 2017 Last Updated February 20, 2019 / By Sarah 2 Comments

Tweet
Pin119
Share
Email
119 Shares

Just a couple weeks ago (the first weekend in July) we had a family reunion for my husband’s side. The crazy thing about it is that we pulled this thing together within three weeks of finding out that everyone would be in the place at the same time. This rarely happens, because we are all spread across the country  – in Utah, Texas and Alabama. We live in Houston, and since everyone was traveling here I wanted to make sure that it would be a fun and memorable weekend for everyone.

My mother-in-law came here early so she and I planned most of it together. I have come up with a few tips and ideas that I’d like to share because while it may seem daunting to plan for a big group of people – it doesn’t have to be complicated. Of course, all of the planning will depend on your family; how big a group you have and what they like. We had 19 total.

Family Reunion Ideas

First thing – in my humble opinion – family reunion tees are a must! I was really excited to design one and have dabbled in graphic design here and there so I got to work. If you don’t love that kind of thing, there are some really great options for designs on Etsy! Then once you have your design figured out, you can get them printed.

Family Reunion T-shirts

You know we LOVE to make our own t-shirts. Here is our tutorial for how to make a custom shirt with a Cricut. I worked with Create A Shirt to have these made and they rushed the order for me since we didn’t have any time to make them. I went with v-neck tees for the ladies and crew neck for the men and kids. They are great quality and the whole family LOVES them! How many reunion t-shirts have you seen that look this good?!

Schedule

I love these reunion tips and ideas! Lots of practical stuff I wouldn't have thought of

We knew that we wanted to start and end the days together, while allowing for some flexibility through the day. A strict schedule would never work with a group this big! So, we printed up a calendar with the important things on it. When we’d meet for breakfast and dinner, any important activities or events that we’d all need to be there for, and so on. The main things we wanted to highlight were a birthday party Friday night, Sunday we had a baby blessing, and Monday we took family pictures! We added meal and clean-up assignments to the calendar too.

Meal Planning

You’ll want to decide beforehand how meals will be done. Maybe everyone takes care of their own meals, or maybe you take turns? My mother-in-law decided she would provide the dinners for each night, and then each individual family took a turn being in charge of one breakfast. Lunches we just had leftovers or went out! At other reunions I’ve been to, all of the meals have been divvied up among the smaller families. I think this works great if you don’t want all of the responsibility to feed people to fall on just one family! It also allows for each family to share their favorite recipes or specialties, which I think is super fun.

A yogurt bar is a perfect easy food solution for any shower or get together! Easy, healthy, filling and delicious!

 

Cheap ways to feed a crowd: 

These recipes are great for feeding a lot of people on a budget. They’re delicious, and they are easy to adjust for any amount of family you need to feed! 

 

  • Yogurt + Toppings Bar 
  • Slow Cooker Breakfast Burritos
  • World’s Best Breakfast Casserole

Family Reunion Games + Activities

The location of your reunion will determine how much you need to plan as far as activities go. Growing up, we always had our reunions at the lake, so we didn’t need to plan fun things to do. We just all took turns going out on the boat and hanging out at the beach.

This time around, we had a swimming pool and a big yard to work with so aside from swimming, we decided to have a corn hole tournament! This turned out to be the perfect laid back thing for us to do! It requires no real skill or athleticism, so everyone could play – even me!  (I am super un-coordinated.)

Family Reunion Games: 

  • Corn Hole Tournament
  • Heads Up!
  • Minute to Win It Style Games
  • Horseshoes
  • The Game of Things
  • Bingo

My husband made our corn hole boards himself, but these boards from Amazon look great, too.  I also recommend horse shoes or other yard games. Group games like The Game of Things or Head’s Up are also great for groups! (You don’t actually need a board game to play those last two. You can look up questions for ‘the game of things’ and do it yourself, and Head’s Up is actually a free app!

 Family Reunion Games - Corn Hole horseshoes Family Reunion Games heads-up

Also, if you want to make an easy kids version of corn hole you can find a tutorial right here.

Mini Cornhole!

General Family Reunion Planning Tips & Advice 

Don’t ask for feedback on everything. With a big group, you will always have a lot of opinions to sift through. Nothing will get done if you do this.  Make some decisions, keeping in mind the general needs and wants of the group, and press forward.

Be flexible! Don’t expect everyone to stick to a plan that you made. That just isn’t realistic, and in the end it’s about fun and family time – not about the specific activities you plan. If something falls through or people decide they aren’t into something, brush it off.

sarah-sign

picnic-basket-sparkling-ice1

Picnic Basket Essentials

on my summer bucket list! backyard movie night! grab an air mattress + laptop and have a fun movie night in your backyard!

Backyard Movie Night

Summer bucket list ideas and free printable!

Summer Bucket List

 

Family Reunion Ideas and Tips
Tweet
Pin119
Share
Email
119 Shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marble Mountain Ranch

    October 16, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    Wonderful article sarah, this is so very helpful. we all want a stress-free family gathering events. thank you so much for this fun and exciting ideas for a family reunion.

    Reply
    • Jessica

      October 17, 2018 at 1:34 pm

      You are so welcome!!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

about-pretty-providence  

Hey! We're Sarah and Jessica. We're BFF's and have known each other since we were 5 years old. This blog is our place to share all of our best recipes, tips, crafts and DIY projects.

You can read more about us on our about page and find us on instagram! We love making new friends.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • YouTube

Most Popular

Breakfast casserole with sausage, eggs, cheese and bell peppers on a white plate

World’s Best Breakfast Casserole

DIY desk made from two storage cube bookshelves and IKEA desk top with marble look

DIY IKEA Desk Hack

Iron-on t-shirt with Cricut collage of supplies needed, iron-on cut and weeded, and then the final shirt that says "#tired" in gold iron-on letters

How to Make a Shirt with Cricut

The Office birthday party table with decorations, food, balloons and "it is your birthday" sign

The Office Birthday Party

Teepee style blanket fort made with bedsheets and clothesline hung from a light fixture.

How To Build The Best Blanket Fort

German Pancakes just out of the oven, dusted with powdered sugar in a glass baking dish.

German Pancakes

Organization

a habit tracker with pink squares next to a rose gold pen

Free Printable Habit Tracker

collage image of four different laundry hacks to make laundry easier

The Best Laundry Hacks

art supplies organized and labeled on a white IKEA kallax shelf

School and Art Supply Organization

Weekly cleaning checklist and routine, and checklist for kids too with pictures and check boxes!

Weekly Cleaning Routine + Checklist

Laundry Care Symbols Explained

pantry organization at it's finest! great tips and tricks in this post!

Home Organization Ideas

CRICUT

Light blue Cricut Maker 3 with an assortment of colors of vinyl and iron-on vinyl fanned out under it and behind it.

The Best Iron On and Vinyl to Use with a Cricut

custom hats with cricut iron-on, baseball cap style

How to Make Custom Hats with Cricut

light blue Cricut maker 3 next to vinyl and art on shelves

Cricut Materials – Everything You Need to Know

cute first/last day of school whiteboard on a light blue background

Back to School Photoshoot Board

DIY tote bag canvas with a rainbow and the words 'I'll walk with you' in gold iron-on vinyl

Rainbow DIY Tote Bag

DIY Custom Napkins

Footer

Copyright © 2012-2019 Pretty Providence | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Disclosures