Monthly Archives: April 2010

Uncle Richards Homemade Root Beer- a Family Reunion Favorite

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Rustle up some cowpokes and head on down to the OK Corral for a wild and wooly family reunion! We’re proud to announce the completion of our “western” family reunion.

Western reunion 007 A western or cowboy theme has been a favorite reunion of our family for many years. It’s a theme we have repeated many times. It takes hours to create a family reunion theme for the webpage and as I worked on this western reunion theme, looking at photos and reading journal entries from past reunions, I was amazed and excited about all the fun things we had done. In fact, there were so many great ideas I had to force myself to stop writing after 30 pages of “yeehaw” fun.

I tried to choose the very best western decorating ideas, games, activities, recipes and printables for this theme but, like with most things, with the completion of the Western reunion I immediately started thinking of things I should have found room for – like Uncle Richard’s homemade root beer recipe. So refreshing and delicious we include it at all our family reunions but it seems like an obvious drink for the “saloon” area at your western reunion. Therefore, I thought I’d use this blog to share this refreshing recipe with all my www.familyreunionhelper.com blog friends.

DSC_0571zz If you ask Uncle Richard for his root beer recipe he’ll just tell you to add a bag of sugar, root beer concentrate and water, but we have carefully watched him make his brew and we now have an official Uncle Richard root beer recipe.

Uncle Richard’s Homemade Root Beer

You will need:

5 gallon container to mix root beer (we use an insulated cooler with a spigot or a milk can, using a ladle to serve)

5 pounds granulated sugar

5 gallons of water

5 pounds of dry ice (I always buy 6 pounds because some of it seems to “magically” disappear.)root beer concentrate.ashx

2 ounce bottle of Root beer concentrate (I use McCormick brand found near the vanilla extract in the spice section of your grocery store.)

 

Directions:

Begin making your homemade root beer 30 minutes before serving. With a long handled ladle or spoon, mix water, sugar and root beer concentrate in your container until sugar is dissolved. Add dry ice. Do not put the lid tightly on your container. Let sit for about 30 minutes and then serve.

This root beer will loose it’s fizz and isn’t something you can store in the fridge for days. If you do have some root beer left over (doubt it) just leave it in the container and you will soon find icy, popsicle like areas that are fun to scoop out and suck on.

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If you want to serve a yummy treat at your family reunion, serve the root beer over a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a tall glass or mug. The Root Beer float was invented in 1893, when Frank Wisner of the Cripple Creek Brewing Company in Colorado., glanced at snow-capped mountain on a moon-lit evening. What he saw resembled a scoop of vanilla ice cream floating on top of the black mountain. That inspired Wiser to add a scoop of ice cream to his own brewed root beer and thus the “root beer float” came to be.

Don’t forget to check out the latest reunion theme at www.familyreunionhelper.com while drinking a frosty, cold, mug of Uncle Richard’s homemade root beer.

Aunt MO

“One of life’s greatest mysteries is how the boy who wasn’t good enough to marry your daughter can be the father of the smartest grandchild in the world.”                                                           unknown

My Top Ten Family Reunion Songs

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I have a favorite family reunion song- it’s upbeat and fun and you feel good when you listen to it and even better when you sing it. It’s a little known song, you haven’t heard it on the radio and it’s never been on the top of the charts but it’s my favorite and I think that when you hear it you’ll like it too.

clip_image002[5]I spent a lot of time looking for my favorite family reunion song, I’ve searched the net and I’ve visited hundreds of family web pages. I found that the most used song on these family web pages is “Family Reunion” by the O’Jays”. I like the lyrics that say, “It’s so nice to see, all the folks you love together”. Not a bad song, really, the song’s only problem is that it is over used and, for my liking,  the tempo is a little slow.

There are some great family reunion songs that are regional in nature such as “Sweet Home Alabama” which would be a great reunion song if you roots were in Alabama or if Texas were your home state, “God Blessed Texas”, or "Louisiana Saturday Night" by Alabama. But you really need to be from one of those places to choose it as your favorite family reunion song.

My list of family reunion songs is quite an eclectic list, songs from many different genres. I think that a reunion song should be upbeat and fun and should make you feel good and if it meets that criterion, I don’t care who sings it or if it is considered country, rock or spiritual in nature.

Let’s start my list with a song that probably couldn’t be classified as “family reunion” music but it has a great tempo and some fun lyrics and to be perfectly honest, is just a guilty pleasure of mine. “The Boys Are Back in Town” is my number 10 choice. My number 9 choice is another fun song- one that you can use to get your “party started” but most people probably don’t think of it as a family reunion song.

Songs numbers two through eight can be considered more traditional family reunion songs and although they didn’t come immediately to my mind, seem to naturally belong on the list.

Song number one is in a class of it’s own but I want you to discover it for yourself. So read on, and when you get to song number one, prepare to be surprised.

 

#10 Boys Are Back In Town- Bruce Springstein

#9 Get the Party Started- Pink I’m comin’ up
So you better
Get this party started

#8 “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” – Bon Jovi & Sugarland Who says you can’t go home
theres only one place they call you one of their own
Just a hometown boy born a rolling stone
who says you cant go home

#7 Lights of My Hometown- Aaron Lines Don’t know how long I’ve been gone, All I know is it’s been too long

#6 Something To Be Proud Of- Montgomery Gentry That’s something to be proud of
That’s a life you can hang your hat on
That’s a chin held high as the tears fall down
A gut sucked in, a chest stuck out
Like a small town flag a-flyin’
Or a newborn baby cryin’
In the arms of the woman that you love
That’s something to be proud of

#5 Family Reunion- O’Jays It’s so nice to see, All the folks you love together

#4 Home- Chris Daughtry So I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.

#3 These Are My People- Rodney Adkins These are my people
This is where I come from
Were givin’ this life everything we got and then some
It ain’t always pretty
But its real
It’s the way we were made
clip_image004[5]Wouldn’t have it any other way
These are my people

#2 We Are Family- Sister Sledge

All of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We’re giving love in a family dose

The above songs be downloaded for 99 cents at http://family-reunion-planner.fimark.net/family-reunion-songs.html

And now for MY number one family reunion song-

#1 Family Reunion- Plank Road Publishing

From the hills of California from the shores of Maine

We all come together with the same last name.

It’s our family reunion!

So many aunts and uncles

I’ll have to count again

And all these crazy cousins

I can’t believe we’re kin!

The lyrics are great but don’t mean as much until you put the fun music behind them. You can listen to this song at http://www.familyreunionhelper.com and you can download it http://www.mootoobmoosic.com

Our family has had a lot of fun with the reunion song. One year we assigned a few people from each family group to learn the song and then sing it at our family reunion. Many of the performers dressed up in Hill Billy attire and sang it with a twang. It was the highlight of the reunion and soon everyone at the reunion was singing along. It’s easy to learn and easy to sing but if you’re looking for a serious family reunion song this is not it.

“Family Reunion” is upbeat and fun but no one is going to get tears in their eyes when they listen to it- unless they’re tears of laughter!

Aunt MO

The house fly hums in the middle octave key of F.

Sing up for the blog and get the family campfire songbook free

Happy Fathers Day Party

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Help your Dad feel like the great Dad he is by holding a special party for him on Father’s Day.

We have always held our Dad’s Day party the Saturday before Father’s Day and invited all the Dad’s in our family – uncles, grandpas and cousins. If you don’t have enough family members that live close, invite a few Dads in your neighborhood to join the fun.

At one time we had four families that lived within 20 miles of each other so we went from house to house, progressive dinner style. We ate appetizers at the first house and played a few games, salads at the next house and played a few more games. The main course was next and we did the fun father’s relay finishing our party with dessert at the last house and watching the video we had made.

Family Reunion Helper is now offering a free download of Father’s Day games and activities including a printable “Famous Fathers” game, recipes for Snicker Brownies and Dad’s favorite Potato Salad, Father’s Day lei, bow tie, boutonniere and the ever popular “Father of the Year Relay”.

Don’t worry about using all of the activities in the download- choose the ones that will best fit your family. Be sure and include a variety of activities so that every Dad will have fun participating no matter what their skill and interest level is. Using the ideas at www.familyreunionhelper.com will help you can honor your Dad by throwing him the greatest Father’s Day party ever!Image 0084

Grandmas Birthday, Make it Official!

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We had the cake, the presents and the decorations but we needed something really special and unusual to help my grandmother celebrate her 95th birthday. An official document proclaiming her birthday, “Martha Hooton” Day, seemed to be just the thing, but we were sure that obtaining a proclamation would be difficult, if not impossible.  To our surprise-  it wasn’t! Let me walk you through the process.

Everyone has someone special in their life that deserves their own official holiday. Proclamations can be issued by mayors, governors, state legislators, city, county or town officials as well as the federal government, to commemorate special events.

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A proclamation will highlight your family, organization, cause and issues, and potentially get media coverage for your organization and event. It can be a special honor and it’s really fairly simple to get an official proclamation.

Give government officials plenty of time to issue the proclamation- I recommend three months. For most proclamations, you will need to send a letter stating your request. Submitting your request early gives you time to correct any problems there might be with the proclamation such as spelling or incorrect dates.

I found that the proclamation certificate we received used the exact wording I had used in my letter. They basically just added the words "Whereas or “Therefore” to the first of each paragraph. ("Whereas" sentences state the problem or issue and are followed by a phrase beginning with "Therefore.") So, put some thought into your wording when you write your letter.

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When writing your request be sure and include the purpose of the proclamation, the date when the proclamation is needed and a brief history of the organization or biography of the person.

Be sure to include your name and phone number so you can be contacted if additional information is needed.

You can ask for a proclamation for many reasons including the date of your family reunion. You could ask that the day of your reunion be declared, “Wells Family Reunion Day” or “Stewart” Family Reunion Day. Use a proclamation to recognize an ancestor or a special family member. Dignitaries are anxious to grant such requests especially if the family has a long history of service in the community. Some communities will even dedicate a week to your special event, cause or industry.

Don’t forget to let your local newspaper know that it is officially your ancestor’s or families’ day. Make it interesting and they may just want to do a write up in the newspaper.

My Grandma’s birthday came and went, the birthday cake was eaten, the crepe paper thrown away, and family and friends returned to their homes, but forever and always, November 1st, 1997, will be “Martha Hooton Day” in Lyman, Wyoming. It’s an official proclamation!