Category Archives: Family Reunion Fun

Family Reunion Road Rally Scavenger Hunt

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A road rally scavenger hunt can be a fun activity at your next family reunion or party.  A road rally scavenger hunt is really nothing more than an  scavenger hunt using cars.

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There is no limit to the number of teams you can have with a scavenger hunt just be sure you  have a seat belt for each person in your car and an adult driver for each car.  Give each team team a digital camera or ask teams to bring a camera on your invitation to the reunion.  Require that photographic evidence be taken of each task that is completed.

Create a list of tasks that are safe and time friendly.  Give each task or challenge a point value.  The photo that would the hardest to get should get the highest points.  You can award additional points for creativity or for extra effort.

Set a time limit for the group to be back. It should be reasonable-anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, enough time to get the amount of photos in the scavenger hunt.

When the group comes back, compare pictures. It is most fun to project the pictures up on a large screen or wall so that everyone can see the photos the other teams took. There will be lots of cheering and booing but being able to view all the photos just makes the activity that much more fun.

Award prizes to the winning team and consider giving the driver of the winning car a gas card.

Road Rally Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Below is a list of suggestions for your road rally scavenger hunt:

1.  Find a gumball machine and buy one gumball for everyone in your car.  Take a picture of everyone blowing a bubble- score 1 point for every bubble in the picture.

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2. Find an out of state license plate take a picture.  Score 1 point, 2 points for an Alaska or Hawaii plate.  Or perhaps license plate with the letter "Q" on it.

3. Make a human pyramid in front of the fountain at the Mall. Ask someone to take a picture for you.

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4. Take a picture of someone walking a dog.

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5.  Find someone to dance on Main Street and take their picture.

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6. Do a Chinese fire drill at a stop sign.

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7.  Take a picture of a moon. (This photo scored extra points for creativity because the team went into a book store and found the moon on a book.)

8. Find a phone booth. See how many of your team can fit into the phone booth. Have someone take your picture.  Score one point for each person in the booth.

9. Go to a Department Store and act like mannequins until someone notices you. Get a picture in the store.

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10. Go to a gas station and put 1.00 worth of gas in your car- take a picture of the pump with $1.00 on it.  Deduct one point for every cent you are over or under.

11. Go to a motel or hotel and take a group photo by room number 222.

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12. Go to the slide of the nearest playground and get of picture of each team member going down it.

13. Go to a convenience store like 7/11 and have everyone walk in backwards up and down the aisles. stop at register, buy a candy bar and walk out backwards. Take a picture of the 7/11 door.

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You can also ask teams to get pictures of a spire, school or perhaps a sign with your family name on it.   If you are getting together during a holiday season ask teams for pictures of holiday decorations- for instance, a turkey at Thanksgiving time or someone sitting on Santa’s lap during the Christmas season.

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NOTE:  You can also plan a scavenger hunt using public transportation but will need to budget more time for the activity.

You can find more automobile themed party ideas in a blog Aunt Mo wrote about a Family Reunion Hot Wheels Party.

Shoe Box Floats for Your Family Reunion

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It seems everyone is making “shoebox floats” for their Mardi Graw celebrations and it got me thinking- how about a shoebox parade as a family reunion activity.  

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A shoe box float is just a shoe box flipped over with the lid attached to the back to form a backdrop.  These boxes are then decorated like a parade float.

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To decorative your shoe box float gather objects such as glitter, buttons, costume jewelry, feathers, sequins, tissue paper, scrap paper, small shells or rocks, tinsel, foil, markers, paint, crayons, photos, pipe cleaners, buttons, dolls or action figures, or small toys.

Place the large part of the shoebox upside down and attach the lid of the shoebox at one end. Paint the boxes, or cover with paper and decorate.

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Choose a theme for your shoebox float parade.  At a family reunion, you could ask participants to decorate their float to represent themselves- a great “getting to know you” activity or assign each family an ancestor to research  and then decorate their float to represent that ancestor.

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Rules you might want to consider for your shoebox float parade:

1. Do not place the shoebox on a piece of cardboard larger than the shoebox.

2. Do not create a diorama float using the inside of the box.

3. Float dimensions: The shoebox float must be made of a cardboard shoebox no larger than 13” x 9”. A completed decorated float should not exceed 15 inches in height..

Of course, you’ll want to give out a few awards for the “Most Beautiful”, “Most Creative Use of Materials”, “Judges Choice” and Most Unique floats.

I found a great website for step by step instructions for shoebox floats that might  be helpful.

http://blog.mardigrasoutlet.com/2011/02/create-mini-mardi-gras-parade-float-out.html

When planning your 2012 family reunion consider a shoebox float parade and see just how creative your family can be.

Aunt MO

Glow in the Dark Volleyball

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Anything you can play on the dark with glow sticks and black lights is sure to be a huge success at your family reunion or party.

Played in the dark, the net, ball, out-of-bounds line and related equipment come alive with the glowing magic of glow sticks, bracelets, tape and black lights!

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You will have to do some advance planning and gather the following equipment for your glow in the dark game.

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Purchase glow in the dark tape to wrap around volleyball, beach ball, plastic play ball or purchase a real glow in the dark volleyball available at Family Reunion Helper.

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Glow Bracelets

Buy lots of glow bracelets.  You will need them for the net and for everyone to wear. Glow bracelets are pretty inexpensive- a hundred for under $10.00 in the Family Reunion Helper store.  Glow sticks are also fun to hang on the net.

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Black Lights

You can rent black lights for about $10.00  a day but we found black light strips at Walmart for under $20.00 which included the light bulb and stand.  We only needed two lights to light up our small gym.

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Other black lights as are available.  Tape to the wall for added fun.  Don’t forget extension cords for all these lights.  

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White T-shirts

Ask family members to wear white t-shirts for extra fun.  Some will forget but it won’t interfere with the game.  Most shirts that are 100% cotton will glow in the dark under black lights.

You can play glow in the dark volleyball using just glow sticks but adding black lights really gives the game an illuminating boost!

For refreshments serve glow in the dark lemonade- the secret to glowing food is tonic water (diet tonic water works too).  It contains quinine, and guess what happens when you expose quinine to black light yep, it glows!  Tonic water can have a bit of a bitter taste to it so use as little as possible.  Hint:  Serve glow in the dark Jell-O by replacing some of the water with tonic water.

“It’s better to illuminate than merely to shine.”

Aunt MO

Recipe for Ooey Gooey Gax

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I was going through some old family reunion papers and found this fun recipe for Ooey Gooey Gax- some people call it “slime”.  Kids love Gax/slime and it’s a perfect family reunion craft especially if you’re outside.  It’s a great Dinosaur reunion or party craft- just call it swamp goo.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons white glue
2 Tablespoons water
3-4 drops food coloring
1 Tablespoons Borax – usually found in the laundry detergent section of your grocery store
Plastic bag for storing Gax

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Directions:

  1. Mix 1 Tablespoon of Borax powder to 1 cup warm water.  Stir until all the powder has dissolved.  This makes sodium borate.
  2. In a smaller separate bowl, mix 2 Tablespoons glue and 2 Tablespoons water and stir well. 
  3. Add 3 drops of food coloring to the glue/water mix and stir.
  4. Add 1 Tablespoon of the sodium borate to the glue/water mixture.
  5. Stir and let sit for a few minutes and then it will be ready to play with.
  6. Place in an airtight container (Bag). 

Hints: Don’t leave Gak on fabric, vinyl or wood.  Do not eat Gak.  Make a batch of Gak before getting to your reunion so you know how it works.

This recipe only makes a small batch.

To make Glow in the Dark Slime: Add several drops of glow-in-the-dark paint during the mixing in stage 1.

Family Reunion Hot Wheel Party

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I love to do family reunion presentations to church groups and women’s conferences.  At my recent presentation one of the dear grandma’s that attended expressed some concern about doing a three day family reunion and it occurred to me (kind of like one of those “could’ve had a V-8 moments in the commercials)- have I ever mentioned that your reunion doesn’t have to last three days or two or even all day?  A family reunion can be a fun afternoon with your family at the park, swimming pool or the family homestead.  Any time you can get together as a family is a good thing and counts as a family reunion.

So I thought I’d tell you about a fun party idea for abbreviated family reunion.  My family loves to have their own car races- Pinewood Derby or Hot Wheels race.

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If you know anything about scouting you know how fun and popular a Pinewood Derby can be. About 10 years ago we had derby at our family reunion. We let anyone that wanted to participate bring a derby car. It could be one that they had made in the past or one that they made just for our derby. We awarded prizes for how the cars looked and how they performed.

We arranged for a man in our local to bring his derby race track and timer for our event. He charged us $20.00. Our reunion was held at a campground and we asked the camp hosts to be the judges at our derby. We invited them to stay for Dutch oven cobbler after the races and I think they really enjoyed being part of things. We gave trophies for the fastest car and also gave out the following awards:

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Best Paint Job
Most Colorful
Most Realistic
Most Original
Best Workmanship
Best Funny Car
Coolest Design
Most Unusual

image I heard of a family that passed out unfinished Pinewood Derby kits to their family as they arrived at their family reunion.  They gave them an hour to put their cars together and make whatever alterations they wanted to their car.  When the hour was up they began the race with roughly finished cars.

It was quite surprising to me how excited everyone was about participating in the derby. One of my nephews even had his car professionally painted.

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Hot Wheel Car Races

When my brothers and I were little we used to have Hot Wheels races and the tradition continues with our children today. In fact, if any of my nieces and nephews read are reading this blog just remember Aunt MO ALWAYS has the fastest car!! The track we used to use is now orange “vintage” track and you cannot buy it at the store or online. However, you can, always find it on eBay. The most important part of your race is the starter which you see pictured here.

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We love to get Hot Wheels cars in our Christmas stocking and then have a “race day” during the holiday. At other times of the year we converge on the local toy store in search of the fastest car rolling them back and forth in their clear containers and checking them for weight. We limit everyone to just two entries in our double elimination tournament.

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I’m always on the lookout for Hot Wheel and Nascar type prizes and store them in a box until the next family race day. Notebooks, stickers, candy and even Spaghetti O’s make fun prizes for your race.

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One final idea that I have never tried but sure sounds fun is to play a car relay race as a warm up before the big race.

CAR RELAY GAME: Have teams line up and each person in the team has a certain action to do. For instance, the first person in each group is a flat tire and hops on one foot; the second person is a broken steering wheel and runs zig-zag; the third person is a rusty transmission and takes three steps forward and two backwards; the fourth person is stuck in reverse and runs backward; the fifth and sixth people are a car with a trailer – one runs behind the other grabbing on.

The movie “Cars” sure made it easy to find auto type decorations and novelties.  Wilton put out a Cars cake pan that was fun and fruit chews and cookies helped complete the party theme.

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Aunt MO

A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing (car racing) and missionaries. Will Rogers

Roasted Peeps!

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What  a surprise I received Saturday when I dropped by my Mother-in-laws house.  She had invited a few of her great-grand children over  for an Easter celebration and they were having a grand old time roasting PEEPS marshmallow candies over an open fire. 

image There’s something unsettling about that for me- I mean WHO would roast those sweet little marshmallow chicks and bunnies over a FIRE?  And why would Grandma, of all people, encourage such a dastardly thing? The thought of sweet, innocent children putting a skewer through a marshmallow chick or bunny and roasting it over an open flame makes me cringe.

So what’s all this craziness about?  Roasted PEEPS!  According to Grandma- everyone is doing it.  PEEPS are marshmallows with sugar on top! When you roast them, the sugar caramelizes to make a hard crunchy shell. 

image As Easter draws to a close and family reunion season quickly approaches and all the pastel candy starts crowding the supermarket and drugstore shelves, consider buying some extra Peeps now for a Peep Roast at your reunion.

One thought- Peep S’mores?  Does that make them S’meeps?

10 Fun Family Reunion Ideas- part 1

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I’m not going to say these are my “Top Ten” family reunion ideas but if I made a “Top Ten list these ideas would certainly be in the running.  However, if I had to choose my number one favorite family reunion idea it just might be #1 in this list- the Cat-Eye Hike!

Family Reunion Idea #1- CAT-EYE HIKE

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This is a hike that is best done when it is very dark. Cut cat’s-eye shapes from reflective tape, available at bike stores or RV stores. It is best to set up your hike the night before guiding groups on the hike. Put cat eyes on markers or apply cat eyes to index cards and then use the cards to mark the trail.   You can find more information about Cat-Eye Hikes in the “Caveman” family reunion theme in the family reunion helper store.

Family Reunion Idea #2- BEADS!

Oh how I love beads- pony bead to be exact.  When used as rewards they are great motivators.  We have used beads as rewards at “Boot Camp” and “Beach” themed family reunions.  Award beads when family members complete certain tasks or activities.

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Family Reunion Idea 3- “A GAME OF CLUE”

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Murder Mystery Game for Your Family Reunion. This is a family friendly murder mystery game that has been simplified so that it will work for most ages at your family reunion. If you want to make it more difficult you will need to make adjustments to the clues. It is very important to have a practice with your cast before you present the game. (We practiced for about an hour and went through the scenes three times working out all the details) I sent the cast a copy of the script about a month before our family reunion and asked them to get their own costumes and props. I did not tell them who committed the crime until the practice. Most of our actors used their scripts and did not memorize their parts.

This murder mystery game includes the script, score cards, character name tags and lots of pictures for costume ideas and is available as  free download at http://familyreunionhelper.com/a_game_of_clue.php

Family Reunion Idea #4- WHEEL OF DOOM

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For a girls camp my daughter attended, she was asked to create a “Wheel of Doom”.  The idea was that the girls would spin the wheel to determine what kind of utensil they would eat with for dinner.  The girls had so much fun with the wheel that we decided to use it at our family reunion.   We used it several times and the family loves it every time!

Our Wheel of Doom is made out of piece of particle board.   You can easily change the wheel to fit whatever your family reunion theme is.  We printed off pictures that go along with each category  and taped them to the wheel.  You can even repaint the wheel for each reunion theme.  For instance we painted the board in different camouflage colors for the Boot Camp family reunion and we painted it with glitter paint for the Medieval family reunion.   As you can see, our wheel is not too fancy but it’s given us some fun and SUSPENFUL moments at our family reunions.  It’s fun to watch the children as they anxiously wait to see where the arrow will land. 

You can read more  about the “Wheel of Doom” on Aunt Mo’s blog at http://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2010/03/wheel-of-doom/

Family Reunion Idea #5- HERITAGE COLORING BOOK

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Make a family heritage coloring book about the life of one of your ancestors.  If you’re an artist then this is probably going to be a fun and easy project for you but if you have little artistic ability then this can be quite a challenge.  To make my Heritage Coloring books I searched through old coloring books, magazines and of course the web to find “pioneerish” looking pictures and adapted my story to the pictures.  Although a Heritage coloring book is a lot of work it is a wonderful way to share the story of your ancestor’s life’s with the younger ones in your family.  You can find more information about about Heritage coloring books and resources for making one in the “Heritage” family reunion theme by clicking here.

When You Were My Age- Ideas for Your Milestone Birthday or 50th Wedding Anniversary

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Family Reunion Helper is excited to announce the release of their latest family reunion idea- “When You Were My Age”.   This exciting package is the perfect tool to helping you plan an 80th birthday party or 50th wedding celebration.

The first time my family presented a “When You Were My Age” program was for an 80th birthday party and I spent hours and hours and hours and HOURS at several different library’s doing research, now thanks to the internet it just took hours and HOURS to do the research.  

This is such a fun program, fashioned after a Bill Cosby Show episode and was called, "When Mom Was my Age." We have done variations of the program for 70th and 80th birthdays and 50th wedding anniversaries. Each time we do "When You Were My Age" everyone is a good sport and excited to be a part of the celebration. Everyone has a part on the program and an opportunity to highlight world events and significant family happenings throughout the life of your loved one.

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Ideas are included for every year from 1920- 2005 to help that special family member celebrate a significant birthday or anniversary and relive some of the most memorable moments in history- the world’s and their own.

“When you were my age the year was 1921. A gallon of gas cost 20 cents, and a loaf of bread cost 12 cents. In 1921 Lie Detector was invented and Franklin D. Roosevelt at 39 years old contracts Polio. Channel Number 5 perfume was introduced and Albert Einstein receives the Nobel Prize in Physics. When you were my age the Chicago White Sox Baseball team was accused of throwing the World Series and Irving Berlin’s song "All By Myself" becomes popular.”

imageBesides the "When You Were My Age" program you will find information on making your loved one’s 80th birthday or 50th wedding anniversary a recognized holiday in your community by issuing an official proclamation of the event. You will also receive a fun "Older Than Dirt" test that will help determine just how old you REALLY are.

This is a great way to honor Grandma or Grandpa on their special birthday or Dad and Mom on their 50th anniversary. Celebrating a landmark birthday or anniversary is always going to be a lot of work but with this fun new “When You Were My Age” package you’ll be well on your way to saying "We love you" in a very special way.

Aunt MO

May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.
–Frank Sinatra

I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now.
–Anonymous

www.familyreunionhelper.com/

Win 500 dollars in free custom t-shirts from ClassB

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Are you planning a family reunion for the first time? Then you’re eligible to enter the “First Family Reunion” essay contest and you could win $500 in free custom t-shirts from ClassB!

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At ClassB, they love talking about t-shirts almost as much as we love talking about family reunions. Why did your family decide to hold your first reunion? Was it some sort of event that brought everyone together? Or perhaps you just decided that it’s about time you all got together! Whatever the reason, ClassB wants to hear all about it.

To enter, just submit a brief essay explaining why you’ve decided to hold your first-ever family reunion, what types of events and activities you plan to do, and what things you’re looking forward to the most. Remember, familyreunionhelper can help you with this part of your essay. Each of our reunion theme packages is loaded with fun activities, crafts, games, food and decorations to make your reunion planning so much easier.

ClassB judges will choose one winning essay and the person who submitted it will receive a $500 ClassB Gift Card to use toward custom t-shirts for your first family reunion. So on top of starting a new family reunion tradition, you’ll be starting another tradition— awesome family t-shirts!

Your essay must be 250 words or less, and only one essay per family will be considered. Deadline for submissions is midnight on March 31, 2011, so get those submissions in soon!

Click here for complete contest rules and to enter now.

Good luck!