Marbles and Your Space Themed Family Reunion

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Aunt Mo

Marbles Make Great Planets

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.

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.

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.

Universe Stress Balls Audio Thumbnail

How Sweet It Is- Candy Bar Games

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Aunt Mo

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

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

St Patrick’s Day Party Games

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Aunt Mo

GAME IDEAS FOR YOUR IRISH PARTY

Whether celebrating St Patrick’s Day or considering your Irish roots at your next family reunion here are a couple of fun Irish game ideas.

Musical Shamrock Game

Make very large green shamrock shapes about 2 feet square. They don’t need to be fancy just simple shamrock shapes. The ideas is similar to “musical chairs” game- you want to have fewer shamrocks than players. Scatter shamrocks over the playing area. Explain that as the music plays all the players must keep moving but must stay off the shamrocks. When the music stops players run to a shamrock. However, each shamrock must have three players on it. Those with only one or two as well as those that have nowhere to stand are eliminated. Remove a shamrock or two after each round. (You always want to have fewer shamrocks than players) Winners of the game are those who have not been eliminated when only one shamrock remains. Give out green lollypops, cupcakes or stickers for prizes.

Irish Scavenger Hunt

Divide into teams, giving each team an identical list of green items. Tell each team that they must stay together when searching for their green items.

Some ideas to search for:

Something that grows green
Something you are wearing that is green
Green crayon, green colored pencil, green marker
Find a plastic item that is green
Find something soft that is green
Something hard that is green
Find something you can build with that is green
Green snack
3 leaf clover
Fruit that is green
Vegetable that is green
Pop Can

Irish “Road Bowling” Game

Croquet is supposed to have come from a game called Crookey in Northern Ireland but another fun “real” Irish game is “Road Bowling”.
Road bowling is an unusual version of bowling that is particular to Ireland. It is played with a steal shot, (or use your own idea for a ball of some sort) which is tossed under arm by the player down a twisty road. The player who gets to the finish line with the least amount of throws wins.

Why should you never iron a 4-leaf clover? You
don’t want to press your luck.

May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

Bottle Rockets- an “Out of This World” Reunion Activity

Posted on March 9, 2020 by Aunt Mo

When I decided on a space theme for our 2020 family reunion, there were two activities I was sure I wanted to do. The first was moon stilts (I’ll write that bog when I get some good photos) and the second, was water bottle rockets.

Our family has a big party every Independence Day and one our traditions is making and launching water bottle rockets. We invite all of our guests to make a water bottle rocket and bring it to the party but, for our reunion, I’ll bring the supplies, poster board, duct tape, markers and bottles and let reunion goers make their rockets on site.

Basically, to build a bottle rocket, you start by rolling a piece of paper into a cone shape and attach it to the bottom of an empty 1 or 2 liter plastic bottle. To help your rocket fly, you need to cut out 4 cardboard triangles to make your rocket fins. (There are lots of videos on YouTube to walk you through this process.)

At our Independence Day party, our seasoned rocket builders come up with some pretty creative designs for their rockets . Most add parachutes to soften the landing and some even include small, plastic toys that they send into space. No matter what the design, spectators love to watch the rockets blast off and their landings can be quite exciting.

For safety reasons, we only let adults operate the launcher. We have a homemade launcher and one we purchased from Amazon. Both work great but, keep in mind when planning your reunion, that you need to have a water source and hose available to fill the rockets with water.

AquaPod Bottle Launcher

At our reunion this year, we will give prizes for best design, most unusual design and most creative design. We will also give an award to the rocket that stays in the air the longest which we will determine by timing with a stopwatch on our phones. At our Independence Day parties, that award has been won by my son in law for the last 4 years. He’s a very talented engineer and his rocket designs are quite impressive and fun to watch.

Plastic Egg Moon Rock Hunt

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Aunt Mo

Moon rook treasure hunt

My husband and I do an Easter Egg hunt on horses every year for family and friends. As I was doing some online searches in preparation for the hunt I stumbled across this fun idea for my space reunion- a Moon Rocks Treasure Hunt!

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

Package of 12 Easter eggs basketball image 0

Purchase round plastic Easter eggs and fill with space themed candy such as Milky Way, Mars bars and Starbursts. (If you can’t find round eggs you can use egg shaped eggs but they look more like tin foil eggs then moon rocks.)

Wrap eggs with tin foil that you have scrunched up so that it looks like a “moon rock”.

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.

Out of This World Family Reunion

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Aunt Mo

Coming in 2020

Image result for planets

My family is in charge of our Stewart family reunion this year. It’s been 5 years since my family has had this responsibility. (The Stewarts rotate each year and now it’s rotated back to us!) I’m excited to take our turn again but already a little tired and yes, I’ve started planning.

I had an idea… how would you like to follow us along as we plan this new reunion. Check out our progress and maybe find a few good ideas for your reunion too.

The very first thing we did was choose a theme and the theme for this reunion is TA DA- Our Family is Out of This World, a space theme. We felt that a space theme would go along with the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. Also; three family members worked on the Space Shuttle, when there was a Space Shuttle program, including the patriarch of our family. Besides the picture below, we also have a photo of Grandpa with an astronaut that we will enlarge for display at the reunion.

We already have the date for our reunion, Labor Day, and the location, a campground and we’ve told everyone to “save the date” so now it’s time to start gathering ideas.

I like to keep a file of all my ideas and a great way to do that is on Pinterest. I created a Space board and add every good idea I find to that board. I like to get as many quality ideas as I can for the next couple of months and then we’ll choose our favorite ideas and start putting together a schedule.

Take a look at these fun ideas:

This solar system necklace is so cool. It would be a great idea for an ice breaker activity as family members arrive or for some down time on a hot afternoon. The idea comes from https://www.handmadecharlotte.com/make-a-stellar-solar-system-necklace/

Make a Stellar Solar System Necklace

We also need to turn our name badges into “astronaut in training” badges.

NAME-BADGE-HALLOWEEN-COSTUME-PROP-NASA-ASTRONAUT-IN-TRAINING-MAGNETIC-BACK

I thought these signs would look cool on the bathroom doors. They’re from catchmyparty.com.

Family members have asked if we can do a murder mystery (I’ve written several for our reunions and they’re lots of fun) and a talent show, two activities I need to get to work on so I don’t have that last minute cram the month before our reunion. (I really don’t like that)

I hope you’ll check back often and see how the planning is going. I’ll keep posting our planning and progress and hey, if you have a fun “space” idea, let me know!

Log Slice Ice Breaker Craft

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Many families gather together during the holiday season for their traditional Christmas parties. To get the party started , I like to have a simple craft or activity that can be done as everyone arrives and these log slice ornaments are just the thing. They’re a fun ice breaker that keeps your guests busy and requires little supervision and they’re pretty inexpensive.

With just a few supplies, you can whip up LOTS of them. Wood slice ornaments are perfect for hanging on your Christmas tree, attaching to gifts, or giving to friends and family. If you don’t have access to tree logs you can purchase pre sliced packages at the craft store. The ones I found cost under $2.00 for a package of 4, but the least expensive option is to cut your own.

After cutting your wood slices, don’t forget to drill a small hole at the top so that you can hang it on your tree or tie to a package.

Purchase chalkboard paint at your favorite craft store. Paint the center of the wood slice.

It doesn’t take long for the paint to dry but if you’re really pressed for time, have a hand held hair dryer to speed up the process. After the paint dries, draw a simple picture or write your favorite Christmas word with chalk. And don’t forget some cute Christmas string for hanging on the tree.

If you don’t want the mess of painting your ornaments and you have a die cutting machine, you can cut a variety of shapes and words and family members can apply those onto their wood slices. You could add a layer of decoupage on top so it will last longer.

Pirate & MERMAID Family Reunion Theme

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Ahoy there, Pirates and Mermaids! We’ve just completed a major overhaul of our pirate family reunion package and now it’s a Pirate & MERMAID Family Reunion. This reunion theme package is now perfect for everyone that attends your family reunion.

The Pirate and Mermaid reunion is for everyone who has ever dreamed of sailing or swimming in the seven seas in search of excitement and adventure. This reunion includes everything the Pirate Themed reunion has plus tons of Mermaid printables and ideas. It’s a treasure chest full of step by step instructions, templates and printables to help you plan a family reunion.

Pirates and Mermaids are so popular right now and there is no shortage of swashbuckling fun with this family reunion theme. Use the over 50 pages of pirate games, decorations, activities and good things to eat to help your family set sail to their favorite Mermaid lagoon or Pirate cove. Your families’ eyes will be filled with visions of gold and jewels as they discover the real treasure in life is family.

You can find the Mermaid and Pirate family reunion theme package here

https://familyreunionhelper.com/products/products.php?ProductID=33

Jelly Bean Bracelets Ice Breaker

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Ice breakers for all kids

Whether planning a family reunion or party, I always like to provide an activity that gives family members an activity to do while waiting for the organized activities to begin. For instance, in the Caveman reunion, reunion goers decorated dinosaur sugar cookies. This is a great way to get family members reconnect with each other and shouldn’t require hands on attention from the reunion planner.

Here are fun idea that fit the bill-

Jelly Bean Bracelets

What could be better then jewelry you can eat?

Purchase lots of bags of Jelly beans (Try buying these at after Easter sales), sewing needles, Jewelry cord that is stretchy and scissors.

Cut the jewelry cord about 7″ long. Tie knots about 1 inch from the bottom of the cord. Thread the cord through the sewing needle. Tip- be sure the the cord you use will fit through the eye of the needle.

Push the needle through the center of each jelly bean to thread them, then push them down to the bottom of the cord. Continue to add jelly beans, about 15- 20 depending on your wrist size, until the bracelet is long enough. When your bracelet is long enough, tie the two ends together securely using several knots.

Tip: If the needle gets sticky give it a quick cleaning with baby wipes to clean off your needle.

Working on this project will kids talking and help them get reacquainted. I think you’ll be surprised at the fun color combination your family will come up with. Have I mentioned that this is a fun idea for your Easter celebration?

Family Reunion Helper Is Having a Sale!

Posted on September 7, 2019 by Aunt Mo

We’re celebrating the surviving the family reunion season off by offering 20% off our reunion theme packages.

Yay, we did it! The “official” family reunion season has come to an end and we survived! To celebrate, 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 .

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FamilyReunionHelper…

Family Reunion Helper

Your number one source for family reunion organization

Category Archives: party games