We had a big family reunion a while back and I was really embarrassed because my chinese was so horrible and most of my relatives, who do not live in the US, spoke english fluently.
On my dads side of the family we used to have family reunions everyyear. At a local state park this was immediate family only it was always fun. About 4 years ago we had a huge family runion. My grandmother had past away two years before, we did not know that it would be the last time that many would see my dad before he passed away. My grandfathers sister was moving out of state so he wanted to do something where him, his sister and brother could be together one last time. At the present time my grandfather is 91, his brother 92 and thier sister is 90. All still living and my grandfather and uncle are still driving and getting around on thier own.
We decided to have the reunion at my grandfathers house since it was big and we had the garage. And lots of parking. We roped off his driveway got a ton of picnic tables and tables from the VFW. We were expecting close to 250 people all family. We ended up with 253 my aunt went around with a note book and got everyones names and how many people were with them. There was only one person there that was not family but was my dads best friend and helped take care of my grandfather when needed. Everyone asked me if she was my dads new girlfriend. My response was don't I wish. When our family gets together there are card games going on all over the place and people eating raw clams. My grandfather bought 10,000 clams for this reunion and they were gone in no time at all. My youngest daughter fell in love with raw clams at the age of 2 thanks to her great grandpa. She is now 8 and still loves them and eats them with her great grandpa every summer. Thanks to one of my second cousins wife she know owns her own antique clam opener since she could use it to open her own clams.
The family reunion was great that year because so much of the family some of us had not seen in years were there. We did bring a dish plus drinks of your choice to add to the many coolers. We did invites by word of mouth and just had to make a few phone calls ourselves. Bring what you want grandpa/Uncle Louie was suppling meat, clams and some liquor. It was great fun. We did another one the year after but not again since. Think its time to get ahold of my cousin and do another one before something happens to my grandfather.
Your family needs to continue with the reunions. So many of us lose track of each other if too many years go by without getting together. Last December our family started a new tradition of having a Cousin Christmas each year. We had over 25 to attend last year and we set the date for the first Saturday of each December to make it easy to remember for everyone. There were such stories told on one another of our younger days. We had an absolute blast together...eating a potluck supper, and playinga fun game before the stories started to roll out. We laughed at each other until our sides hurt. The cousins have talked about it all year, and are axiously awaiting the Cousin Christmas this year!
Family reunions are great at every age. While they are very difficult to plan - I think that it truly is worth the effort. To see that you are part of a bigger picture, is always a wonderful feeling.
I'm trying to have family reunions every year.
We had one last year-very small and word of mouth. Some people complained that they did not get an invitation and that was why they did not attend.
This year we had a reunion, sent invitations, posted online, on community boards, etc. (The same cousins didn't come-although they did get a personal invite-they made the comment 'why would they want to attend to visit with people that they don't visit on a normal basis'.... )go figure. Anyway, their daughter came with her daughters and brought pictures to share. We had over 50 people show up-half didn't know the other half. Some came because they had moms or aunts telling them to be there and then the moms or aunts didn't show up!!
We had fun though getting to know distant family and finding the relationships that connected us.
Everyone brought food and drinks. We rented a pavilion at a local park-next to the playground so the kids would be occupied. One cousin planned games and prizes for the kids-although they didn't do much of that as there weren't that many kids and they were busy on the playground.
We had sign in sheets to be filled out and most did. We are going to get a newsletter going to start planning for next years reunion. We have a sheet to send out to everyone to get info for next year.
We're also thinking about making a family recipe book.
We got pictures of my dad, with his brother and sister-the last 3 survivors. This year was basically my grandfathers side of the family-next year we want to combine my grandfathers and grandmothers families. We have great hopes for next year.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
'Herm Albright'
My dad's family has a family reunion every year. I don't usually go. I just don't find them that interesting. It seems like the only people I talk to is my sisters and parents. I can talk to them any time. I don't need to be at somebody elses house and have people staring at me.
I guess I am just not the outgoing type of person that likes these things that much.
trekmom,we had one several years ago and had hundreds show up. We invited any and everyone that was related from all sides. Some other members of the family have also in the past had this big reunion. There are always smaller ones in between. We plan the day one year in advance and start getting the info out by word of mouth; then one month prior to the date we mail invitations with maps coming from two different directions and then people can find their way to those starting points from their direction.
We ask all to bring chairs and their own picnic, we supply the place and activities. With so many it is impossible to figure out food and so many can't eat this or that this just works out well for all.
We have everyone that wants to supply something for a raffle and we pass out tickets at the sign in table. We also give ribbons for different things like the most happy, the one that came the longest distance. Really just whatever you can find ribbons for in a dollar store.
We have a table for pictures from past reunions and etc. DH's family tree goes back to 1640 in the US . So we are always finding how we are all related! LOL Even DH and me! LOL
I'd be glad to give you any help I can so if you have anything special you want to ask feel free and I'll do what I can.
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When I was young we used to go "skinny dipping"; now we just "chunky dunk"
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When I was young we used to go "skinny dipping"; now we just "chunky dunk" 
exaggerate them
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