Finally! Everything is back to normal- kind of- and a family reunion is an excellent opportunity for your family to reconnect and catch up on lost times after surviving the pandemic. It’s a great time to celebrate your history, recent accomplishments, and new additions. Despite these great advantages, planning a family reunion can be challenging- whether it’s a small picnic or a barbecue in the home to host your dozen cousins. That’s why you should consider this checklist to help you plan effectively.
Send out a planning questionnaire
It is advisable to start planning your reunion a year in advance. First, you need to pick a location, date, and time. The best way to do this is by sending a questionnaire to every family member to get their input on their preferred date and location. You may have a few people come together to decide potential dates and locations. This way, you can invite other family members to select their preferred location and date via a questionnaire. While you can’t satisfy everyone, the questionnaire is excellent for finding what works for almost everyone and creating a suitable time.
Share roles
You can’t do it all by yourself. Organising a family reunion can be overwhelming, which is why you need to surround yourself with enthusiastic people and family members willing to help. As the lead organiser, you need to handle communication and coordinate all volunteers. You may need to play the peacemaker role since conflicts and differences are expected. However, you don’t need many people when you are planning a 30 person reunion. List your family members and delegate tasks, and ensure they move according to plan. Thanks to several online tools, you don’t need them all to be in one location to perform. You can interact and share ideas.
Schedule and plan meals
Create a list of meals you need for the get-together and assign each to a relative by considering their food specialities. It could be grandma’s roast dinner or aunties’ spaghetti Bolognese. Likewise, you may consider a casual buffet if you plan an in-home reunion since people can eat in shifts. This is even more particular when seating is limited. Yet, you may also want to consider a round dining table seating for family occasions like gatherings, reunions, and celebrations. The centuries-old round dinner table setup helps connect and create a feeling of togetherness.
Plan the entertainment
Every successful family reunion has something for everyone. For this reason, your venue should allow for some activities to add to your entertainment plan. It could be a yard game, trivia, card tournament, or scavenger hunt. If you plan to organise a vacation or destination reunion, consider amusement parks and some sightseeing opportunities. It is excellent to take advantage of the pool if your venue has one.
Planning for a family reunion is vital. Be sure you know how many people would be attending to ensure everyone is sufficiently catered for during the day. Also, gain necessary information such as family members with food allergies and mobility issues and implement ways to make them comfortable.