Have you attended a family reunion and have something you can share with us?

[Irish Angel]

Hi there...

Have you attended a family reunion and have a funny story? A "you wouldn't believe it" story , or a family history tidbit?

What were some of the good foods you shared? Do you have any special family recipies you want to share?

What about games, favors and/or prizes?

I am eager to hear all about your reunion and ideas!

[NancyG]

I saw this thread and just needed to share.

I went to my family reunion last summer. It was the first one I had attended in about 8 years. I live 1600 miles from my family. They are in Canada, I am in Texas.

Now for a little history lesson...I was always the "large" one in all the pictures at previous get-togethers. It was a running joke for many, many years. Those years took their toll on my psyche, without a doubt and so I decided rather than to subject myself to the horrors of a family heavily involved in the fashion industry I would simply avoid attending. It was much easier for my own sanity. Coming home from some of those visits required a 3 month "grounding" period and the thought of doing it each and every year became intolerable. Anyway, following the death of both of my parents I was only really close to one older sister.

Fast forward...I lost 146 pounds, going from a size 24 to a size 4. You can bet I was not going to miss the next family reunion.


The only one aware of the fact that I had dropped all the weight and had begun a strict self-improvement regime was my older sister. I was, at the age of 42, feeling wonderful, happy, contented and most of all, healthy.

I have a very uniquely deeper toned voice...I've heard it referred to as a whiskey voice. I also have been told that my eyes are the only thing that identify me as the person I was prior to all the changes.

My sister was absolutely shocked when we arrived from the airport. We drove together to the family reunion with her insisting that I speak very little, keep my sunglasses on (it was outside and sunny)

First off, I was not going to be allowed into my uncle's house because they didn't know me. Of course soon as I whispered my cousin's name, she looked shocked and opened the door. She was as excited about watching the reactions as my sister was.

Then began their fun. They instructed me to simply walk in with my cousin and say nothing (again, my voice always gives me away). I have to admit to a certain amount of sadistic pleasure of knowing that this large group of people were being quietly goaded by my cousin to guess who the stranger was. It went on for a time. I mingled, nonchalantly, getting myself a drink, and finally coming to stand directly beside my brother.

At last I finally said, "Gosh, it has been a long time hasn't it?" to my brother. There it was...the voice....

The rest of the reunion, thankfully, settled into the normal cycle, however, for those very few moments, I was not the "fat girl". It likely sounds very shallow, but in the quiet of my heart, I think that was the cathartic event I needed to simply deal with and get past years of feeling inferior and being the butt of many jokes.

Funny thing...it no longer hurts to think or talk about those times.

[debknechtel]

Hey there

I just attended my hubby's family reunion in northern Ontario. It was the first family reunion I had been to.
It was an awsome weekend.
Some of the highlights were
The fishing derby.........the rules included lots of info on bribing the judges and that basically anything goes. Well my 10 year old son figured he needed to win this so he went fishing and caught 4 fish but brought the judges whatever they needed all weekend to make sure his fish were judged a little bigger than they actually were...of course our official ruler helped being made of elastic so it could really stretch the truth. Some people made drawings of fish, we had lures entered, fish made of plywood and the list went on. On the final day the judges became very official set up a podium and began to award prizes!!! My son wne the master TANGLER award. He was given a medal....a silver spoon lure engraved on a red ribbon. He also got a pocket knife!! A lot of fun we were all laughing so hard !!!

beef and pork roast..... For meals they roasted all day a pig and cow in a contraption that looked like an oil drum. The meat was so good (well worth the 40 dollars for 4 days)

Fish fry......On the final day they had a huge fish fry....we had more fish than we knew what to do with!!

Kids games.....In the evenings we had lots of games for the kids and we used dollar store toys as gifts. the glow sticks and bracelets were a big hit. Races were your typical. Obstical course, 3 legged race, sack race, ski race, sitting on balloons etc.

Memories......all the pics from the weekend and the photos of our families we had sent in got put on a cd and we all got a copy of them put to music for memories...especially important since the was a wedding, 2 -50 year anniversaries ,and a 90 birthday.

Just a great time!!!!
Hugs Debbie

[k9dixie]

I love going to our reunion. We have one every year and it is only about a 90 minute drive. It is always the Second Sunday weekend in October. I always take off Friday and spend the whole weekend there. We have a family house and have the option of staying there, camping on the grounds or staying in town. I have done it all. There are lots of woods for the kids to play in and a small creek running through it. On Friday night those who are there meet at a designated resturant for supper. On Saturday we all mingle at the home. Saturday night we have a huge bonfire and roast weiners and marshmallows. On Sunday we have a pot luck lunch. Usually we have about 80-100 people attend. I have been working on genealogy for the family for years and have about 4,000 individuals. We give out gifts on Sunday for the person who came the furtherest, the youngest child, and the oldest man & woman. We have recently started a raffle to help with expenses instead of passing a hat.

[ncjeepster]

Something that always stood out at reunions that were held at my step-grandmothers home. She was from the old school ways and we always had to wait till the men had gotten their food before we could eat. I was little so understanding at that age was a little strange, of course if you are hungry, you just wait it out..

[WGDad]

THis summer my family and I attended a family reunion at the beach in florida for a week. It was so much fun. Everyone stayed on the beach and we had dinners on the beach every night except for a few.

One day we had a field event day. Everyone partcipated. Ages ranged from 4 to 65. We had egg toss, three legged races, water balloon fight, potato sack race and many more.

The beach club also had a lot of events going on too like bingo and movie night so we participated in that as well.

[Denahowy]

I have attended many family reunions over the years. As some of my Mom's family has one every year this Month. TAt the one this month, they give away things to the youngest and such, like that. Sometimes they have taken photos of the youngest and the oldest together too. Both of my kids have been the youngest there before. One of them got a Precious Moments Bible for being the youngest one there. Also had things for other catergories. We all bring food and have a picnic style family reunion near a church in a pavilion there, it is also near a family cemetery, as it is an old style church with a cemetery nearby. Also went to one this Summer, it was for my paternal Grandmother's part of the family. The one this Summer was held in a State Park in our area. I was a little disappointed as only a few people attended this year, we only had about 3 picnic tables between food and people. I wish more people had gotten to come. Although, I was glad we went, our children had a fun time the other 2 children that came to it and I enjoyed seeing my cousins and an Aunt and Uncle.

I think family get togethers of any kind can be fun, if it is family only. As I went to a family get together last Christmas and saw some people who weren't family there, it was kind of annoying. I wish when people have a family get together at Christmas they make it only family. As they can have a separate get together for only friends some time prior to Christmas. I like to attend family weddings, baby showers, bridal showers and such. I am a very family orientated person. I hope to one day get a family reunion together for my Dad's family. I think that woud be fun. As I like to cook and bake and like visiting with extended family.
God bless you all. Have a great day.

[cat lover]

We had a family reunion two years ago. We had people from all over the country! We ended up with several hundred people. We had it at our place, some camped in our cabin, some pitched tents and some just slept out in the woods in sleeping bags. We had fires going in the firepits to cook on, gas grills and a charcoal grill. Since so many are on such diffferent diets for health reasons we had each family group bring their own foods.

We also asked for donations for a raffle, some brought homemade crafts and others brought things they had purchased or just had around the house. We handed out ribbons for various things. We also hired a DJ and had music for dancing and had a pot for donations to pay for that.

Everyone had a really good time and only one part of the family group didn't get to make it as they had a wedding the same day. So last year they had the reunion at their place. Everyone is talking about another one next year!

[redcardinalbird]

We used to have them every year from one side of the family. However, as that person has had to take on the responsibility of a sick relative they have not had time.

A pavilion at a local parks was rented. Everyone brought a dish to share with the drinks and meat being provided (from donations). Those who wanted to brought white elephant items to be used as prizes for Bingo games. A pinata was brought for the children. This Aunt also did a lot of research for geneology so those sheets were available and requests for updates made. She also had binders of pictures. If you had old ones you could donate a copy.

[newcrafts]

A neat thing we did at our family reunion was
send out sheets to family members and they were to return them. We did this way in advance of the reunion and most did send them back.
On these print out sheets we asked basic questions like
Full name ,address ,phone number ,birthday
color of eyes, height and weight (optional)
Childrens names, date of marriage if married? etc.
Then we asked questions like What is your hobbies?
favorite foods? foods you dislike? Who do you look like? what do you collect? Whats your favorite sport? holiday? etc.
Then we printed copies of the sheets off and made books to give everyone.
We all had a good time and had a lot of fun. and everyone appreciated the books