How to Easily Display Family Photos

Perfect for permanent displays at Grandma’s house or temporary displays at a family reunion

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My mother in law is grandma, great grandma and great great  grandma to over 100 children.  She does a wonderful job at remembering their names, their birthdays and anniversaries.  “Cookie Grandma”, as some of her great grandkids call her, has worked hard to keep pictures of her prosperity hanging on her wall.

At first, she kept frames of all of grandkids on her wall but there are so many kids and they changed so much that it became a real chore to change photos and rearrange the frames every time she got a new photo.

Through much trial and error, I think Cookie Grandma finally found the perfect solution to hanging all those photos.  Now, she uses photo/curtain clips and wire.

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Each photo is glued to a piece of poster board or heavy card board and can easily be changed by merely turning the card board around and gluing another photo on it. The clips she used are inexpensive and simple to use.

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You can purchase the clips here by following this link

Hanging the wire was simple and didn’t put near as many holes in the wall as hanging frames.  Grandma did get some help with this part of the installation.

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This is great idea to hang photos in any home but I also thought it would be a fun way to hang photos at your family reunion.  It could be an easy way to display photos of ancestors, of a past reunion, or a way to honor those that have past.  Of course, you shouldn’t be screwing eye bolts into the wall of your conference center or into a tree, but a piece of string tied between two posts would work perfectly with these clips.  And look at the cute LED photo clips I found on Amazon. 

Photo clips make it so easy to swap out and rearrange  photos and it was the perfect solution for Cookie Grandma to display all of her posterity.

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Moon Rock Easter Eggs

I have to admit, I am having a really hard time getting my creative wheels turning after this COVID thing we’ve been going through.  In our area, we are slowly opening up and it looks like we’ll be able to have the family reunions we planned for 2020 in 2021.

Let me remind you that I was planning a “Our family is out of the World” reunion and I was taking you step by step through the process. 

One of the activities I planned was a “Moon Rock” hunt for the little children in our family.

Moon rook treasure hunt

Kids love treasure hunts and it’s a pretty easy activity for a family reunion and the Easter seawson is the  perfect time of year to gather supplies for your space rock treasure hunt. 

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Purchase round plastic Easter eggs and fill with space themed candy such as Milky Way, Mars bars and Starbursts.  I found a couple of resources for round eggs on Amazon.  These are 2 inches and you get 50 for under $10.00.

If you like baseball or soccer, you can get 16 of these eggs for under $10.00.  These eggs look like they’ll be a little bigger but I can’t find the exact dimensions. 

(If you can’t find round eggs you can use egg shaped eggs but they look more like tin foil eggs then moon rocks.)

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Wrap eggs with tin foil that you have scrunched up so that it looks like a “moon rock”.  I like use the foil sheets that are already cut.  Just pull them out and wrap. I actually found mine at Dollar Tree.

Then the fun begins- hide eggs around your reunion site.  You can do this hunt inside or outside. 

This is a great time to get the tweens in your family involved in the reunion fun.  Put them in charge of filling eggs, wrapping them and hiding the rocks.  They’ll love being in  charge of something and it’s just one less thing you have to worry about. As “payment” for their help, give your helpers a full size version of your space themed candy bars.

Family Reunion Helper Is Having an Etsy Sale!

Family Reunion Helper Is Having an Etsy Sale!

Whether or not you had your family reunion or postponed it until next year, at Family Reunion Helper, we’re celebrating a new family reunion season ever by offering 20% off our reunion theme packages.vista

Typically, Memorial Day is the “official” beginning of family reunion season, but January is the month families choose a reunion theme and start making their plans.

In 2020 our family was only able to attend one of our family reunions, a smallish one- just 35 people, but cancelled our Labor Day  reunion of over 100 family members.  We also didn’t celebrate with extended family a 90th birthday and a 65th wedding anniversary.  We kept those celebrations a lot smaller and more intimate.

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This year, we’re moving forward- no more canceling family reunions and celebrations. We will certainly support health guidelines, but instead of wondering if we are having a reunion- we’re going to plan for it!  

For all of you that are moving forward with us, FAMILY REUNION HELPER IS HAVING A SALE IN THEIR ETSY SHOP! Follow the link below to receive 20% off any reunion theme package.This even includes the wildly popular Family Reunion Brag Badges! But hurry, sale ends January 24th . Here’s to a great 2021!

Follow the link below to the Family Reunion Etsy shop.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FamilyReunionHelper?ref=search_shop_redirect

Brownie Hack for Reunion Pot Lucks

The secret to cutting brownies

I’m not sure what this has to do with family reunions, except that a lot of brownies show up at family reunion pot lucks, but here’s my hack for cutting brownies.

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I hate when I’m cutting brownies into squares and the knife pulls pieces of the  brownie into clumps that stick to the knife. It helps when the brownies are cooled but they still look so messy.  The solution is simple- cut your brownies with a PLASTIC knife. Plastic knives are naturally non-stick and won’t tear up your brownies as you cut them into squares.  Your brownies will have straight edges and look as good as they are to eat.

Family Reunion is Having a Sale

Family Reunion Helper Is Having an Etsy Sale!

Posted on September 7, 2020

Whether or not you had your family reunion or postponed it until next year, at Family Reunion Helper, we’re celebrating surviving the strangest  family reunion season ever by offering 20% off our reunion theme packages.vista

Typically, Labor Day is the “official” end of family reunion season. We were only able to attend one of our family reunions, a smallish one- just 35 people but cancelled our Labor Day  reunion of over 100 family members.

We’ve decided to look forward 2021- no cancelling reunions just postposing. For all of you that are looking forward to next year with us, FAMILY REUNION HELPER IS HAVING A SALE IN THEIR ETSY SHOP! Follow the link below to receive 20% off any reunion theme package.This even includes the wildly popular Family Reunion Brag Badges! But hurry, sale ends September 15th, 2020 . Here’s to next year!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FamilyReunionHelper?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Marbles and Your Space Themed Family Reunion

Marbles Make Great Planets

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These are not marbles, they are planets.  Each marble represents a planet (yes, we included Pluto) and will be given to older children at our space reunion as they complete planet oriented challenges and activities.

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At one time, you could purchase marbles that represented each planet but I could only find Earth marbles and Jupiter marbles. For the other planets, I had to search for marbles that in some way highlighted a distinguishing feature of each  planet. I choose red Rooster marbles to represent the “red  planet” Mars and because Neptune is the coldest planet due to its proximity to the sun, I choose Ice Queen marbles. 

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I purchased my marbles from a local toy store and paid $3.25 a bag (24 marbles and 1 shooter).  When I searched online, I found marbles for $3.50 a bag plus shipping.

Shooter marbles are the large ones used for “shooting’’ when  playing marbles.  There is one in  each bag, so I’m currently looking for a good resource and price for 1 inch  shooters.  I’ll let you know  when I find them.

I loved playing marbles as a kid and so we plan to teach and play marbles with our kids at the end of our planet fun. 

Marble planets are going to be great for the older children at your family reunion but for the toddlers you might want to consider these Universe Stress balls.  They’re $9.99 at Oriental Trading for all 9 balls.

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Pick Your Present!

My New Favorite Way to Give Gifts

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I have 2 sons and a son in law and this year I tried something new for their Fathers Day gifts- I let them pick their own gifts.  Well, not totally, I put together 3 boxes and after the boxes were  filled with surprises and wrapped, then they got to pick their gift.

Each box was different- I had a technology box, builder box and a snack box. Each box contained a gift card and then a couple of things to go along with it.  Value of each box was about $30.00.

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I wrapped all three gifts in plain old newspaper- nothing fancy about it and with no clue to what was inside.

Crafty Holiday Gift Wrap - Craft Critique

We had a little competition to see who got to choose their  present first but you could do it oldest to youngest or by roll of the dice etc.

The $20.00 Bill

Just as the guys were about to pick their  present, my husband put a $20.00 bill on the table and gave them the option to chose the cash instead of a box.  There were no takers- everyone went for the boxes.

This is also a fun way to give out  prizes at family reunions. Just wrap a variety of prizes and let the winner  pick the prize they want from the pile- they get a prize but it’s a little more exciting and  extends the fun a little longer. 

Nature Scavenger Hunts for Your Family Reunion.

How to Plan a Scavenger Hunt | A Healthier Michigan

I love scavenger hunts! I remember the first scavenger hunt we did at a family reunion.  The kids in our family were little then so Uncle Brad had a big rope and made all the kids hold on to it as they hunted together.  Times change and now those once little kids are all grown up and they enjoy more challenging activities.

I was recently made aware of a website with some great nature hikes and scavenger hunts and I thought I should share it with you.  If your family reunion is outside you’ll want to read some of their wonderful ideas for nature scavenger hunts for kids with free  printables.  The site is called My Open Country and can be found by clicking on the this link-

 My Open Country

The folks at My Open Country will take you through the nuts and bolts of an outdoor scavenger hunt for kids, from the initial prep and planning right down to the itty bitties of ‘treasure’ selection. They want to help you find a fun, safe and healthy way for you and your kids to get out and enjoy your time together.  The “search” feature on their site is great!

Nature scavenger hunt

You can find lots of fun scavenger hunt ideas at familyreunionhelper.com by clicking on the following links.

https://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2016/04/the-ultimate-guide-to-treasure-hunts-and-scavenger-hunts/

https://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2013/08/treasure-hunts-and-scavanger-hunts/

How Sweet It Is- Candy Bar Games

Two pretty sweet printable gams- and they’re free!

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If you’ve decide you can’t just eat chocolate while quarantined, maybe you’d like to play a couple of chocolaty games.

Whenever I plan a  party or a family reunion I like  to have an activity  or game that people can play when they first arrive. The goal is to get family members, or friends, laughing and talking  with each  other.  The “How Sweet It Is” free printable fits the bill and coming up with prizes for the winners is  a snap- candy bars!  I suggest the snack size because you’ll probably have several winners.  This ice breaker game is great for large or small group games and for family members of most ages. You can download the free printable by clicking below.  Don’t forget to download the answer key.

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Do you think you’d recognize your favorite candy bar without the wrapper?  Try this game and see if you’re right.  I got the Almond Joy bar right off but there were a few bars that proved quite challenging.  Now, don’t  peek at the answers until you’ve made you’re guesses.  You can find your free printable here-

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Answer Key

  1. Snickers
  2. Butterfinger
  3. Baby Ruth
  4. Milky Way
  5. PayDay
  6. Whatchamacallit
  7. 3 Musketeers
  8. 5th Avenue
  9. Almond Joy
  10. 100 Grand

So Now What? Corona Virus and Your Family Reunion

germs | Fozia Saeed

First of all, let me say that this- I’m  writing this blog in April 2020. The things I write in this blog today could possibly be a lot different than what I will write in July of this year.

At the very beginning, before we all began  staying home so that we can stay safe, I believed  that in a couple of weeks life  would get back to normal and come Memorial Day family reunion season would be moving full steam ahead but now what….?

Family gatherings are difficult right now.  For example, how was your Easter?  All of our children and grandkids live within 20 minutes of us and we invited them out for a Easter  visit with these rules:

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Everyone scheduled a one hour block of time to visit and they had to leave before the next group arrived. We practiced social distancing with Grandpa and Gramie staying to the side. We had Easter cupcakes for all to enjoy.  They jumped on our trampoline and played in our horse pasture and worked on a simple 100 piece puzzle… and we sanitized.  It was good to see them all but they all left with no hugs or kisses from Gramie.

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Our first family reunion is in  July.  At first I thought we would be safe  to go ahead with those  plans but I  received an  email from the  reunion  planner asking for ideas on how to do an  online family reunion. Since that email I’ve learned that the big air show in our area, scheduled for the end of June, has been  canceled and then, two of the huge “Pioneer” day celebrations in our state canceled.  The possibility of a family reunion in July “is getting more and more remote.

Our last family reunion is scheduled for Labor Day weekend.  That’s the one I’m in charge of.  It’s a space reunion and I’ve got tons of fun ideas that I can’t wait to do  with  my family.  Will it be safe to  bring 100 plus people together for a reunion the  end of August? 

I don’t know, you don’t know and nobody can say for sure and that’s the problem.  How can you hold a family reunion that excludes family members because they don’t feel safe?  How do you plan  a family reunion that puts so many people that you love at risk- AND- will they be at risk in August?  It makes my head hurt just thinking about it. 

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So now what? The “what” in “now what” is that I’m moving forward with my space reunion planning.  I have my doubts  about a reunion during the three day Labor Day weekend but if we do, I’ll be prepared.  If we don’t then just think how prepared I’ll be for our 2021 reunion- it will  be the  greatest family reunion ever!