Glow in the Dark Party

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Aunt Mo

If it glows in the dark I’m probably going to love it! In fact, this year at our family reunion we’re having a glow in the dark 5K race- it’ going to be so cool!

For my oldest son’s birthday this year we had a glow-in-the-dark party and we tried a lot of fun, new ideas.

Black Lights

Black lights will really help your party glow. 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 party.

We put black lights everywhere for the ultimate glow!

Glow In the Dark Jello
I decided to try my hand at glow in the dark jello. The secret ingredient is “Tonic Water”. Tonic Water is found on the soda isle of your grocery store. HINT: Don’t use diet Tonic water. HINT: Tonic water taste nasty! Use as little as possible. The recipe below calls for 1 cup of Tonic water- I cut that in half and it worked great!
2 8 serving boxes of Jell-O- I used blue.
1 cup of Tonic Water- I used 1/2 cup
1 1/2 cups of Water- if reducing Tonic water increase this to 2 cups
Bring the Tonic Water and the water to a boil
Stir in the Jell-O mix and allow it to completely dissolve
Pour into clear cups and refrigerate until set.
To serve put on table with black lights and let the glow begin.

Glow in the Dark Kick Ball

The best part of our party was glow in the dark kick ball. Glow in the dark anything is really hard to photograph but here’s a picture of a kick ball my daughter ordered online. It is available from flybynightsports.com/ for less than $20.00. You just add 4 glow sticks to the ball and it glows. These glow balls are called “volleyballs” but we were afraid the glow sticks would make the ball uncontrollable so we choose to play kickball with them. We’ve used the ball three times and kicked it to death but it seems unaffected by all the abuse. You can find glow in the dark volleyball instructions at familyreunionhelper.com/.

Mark bases with glow necklaces and sticks and make sure all the players are decked out in their glow finest.

Glow in the Dark Whiffle Ball

Another glow in the dark favorite at our family gatherings is glow in the dark whiffle ball. Wiffle Ball is a fun game that is played like baseball but the balls and bats are made out of plastic. We were always sad when the sun went down and we had to go inside but no more- now you can play Glow in the Dark Wiffle Ball and the darker the better.

No matter what glow in the dark activity you choose you can find many great glow products in the family reunion helper store.

Planning a Family Reunion- the Basics

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Aunt Mo

I recently received a mailbag question from a visitor to Family Reunion Helper. They asked, “How do we plan a family reunion? Please give me specifics? Dates, locations, committees. How do we finance a family reunion?”

I have a lot of respect for someone who is building a family reunion from scratch. I did it 25 years ago and although reunions can be a ton of work they are so worth it.

Family Reunion Helper has addressed all the questions asked above in previous blogs so I though it might be a good idea to put all those blogs together to be easily accessed if someone is planning a reunion for the first time. Just click on the link below each heading to read more “back to the basics” about planning a family reunion.

Three Keys to a Successful Family Reunion

http://familyreunionhelper.com/3_keys_to_a_successful_family_reunion.php

Family Reunion Checklist and Timeline

http://familyreunionhelper.com/reunion_checklist.php

Family Reunion Committees

http://familyreunionhelper.com/committees.php

How to Pay for Your Reunion

http://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2011/03/planning-to-pay-for-your-family-reunion/

Family Reunion Locations

http://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2012/04/location-location-whats-your-favorite-family-reunion-location/

Family Reunion Themes

http://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2011/05/family-reunion-theme-ideas/

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Aunt MO

Genealogy Themed Photo Books

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Aunt Mo

I’m so lucky because I had some ancestors that wrote things down and family members, like my Mom and my brother, Scott who made sure old photos were labeled, digitalized and stored safely. My contribution to their efforts is to share some of my ancestors life stories in digital photo books.

Tell Your Ancestor’s Story

Besides making a reunion scrapbook each year, I have also made family history or genealogy books. This is fun to do if you have a lot of stories about an ancestor. The book pictured below is about an ancestor and the decision they made to come to America. I didn’t try to tell their whole life story just the events that led up to their coming to America and their arrival here.

As you might expect, part of the challenge when making this type of photo book is getting enough pictures to go in the book. I handled that problem by finding generic pictures on the internet and using them in my books. For instance, if Grandma got a 1950’s blue Schwinn bike for her 8^th birthday search for that image on the internet and add it to your book. (Note: be sure images are not copywrited) In the picture below you see a page that is telling about a conversation our ancestors had in their kitchen. Of course I didn’t have a picture of their kitchen but I did find a picture of cooking utensils they might have had in their kitchen and included that in my photo book.

I repeated the same idea with this page. Although not personable to my ancestor it is representative of life when the story took place.

The best pages are those that feature actual photos of ancestors to illustrate real stories from their life’s.

The easiest photo books to create are those of loved ones that are still living. When my Mom celebrated her latest milestone birthday we gave her a book of lessons learned and fun experiences we had growing up with her. We titled it “Teachings, Tall Tales and Inspirations” and Mom loves it.

Sharing Your Photo Book
You can buy copies of your book to give as gifts to family members, auction them off to raise money for your reunion or just let family members know the book is there and let everyone buy their own copy.

Emory University concluded in a recent study of children ages 14-16 that “a child’s ability to retell family stories was linked to lower instances of depression, anxiety and less acting out due to frustration and anger”. There is an African saying that "a people without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots."Kind of reminds me of my favorite reunion quote, “A tree without roots falls over.” The moral to this story- share the stories of your ancestors whether it be around the campfire or in a genealogy themed photo book.

Aunt MO

Scrapbooking Your Reunion with Digital Photo Books

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Aunt Mo

After we’ve played all the reunion games, roasted all the marshmallows, sang all the songs and I’ve taken 700 pictures of the action, I can hardly wait to get back home and see what amazing pictures I’ve taken of my family reunion. I load my pictures on my computer and begin to make a family reunion DIGITAL scrapbook.

Making these reunion scrapbooks is fun for me- much less time consuming than the “olden days” when I had to measure, cut and paste everything. And did I mention the MESS- there is NO mess with digital scrapbooking. You just slide your digital photos into predesigned layouts, add digital stickers and some suitable digital paper backgrounds and and then you send it off to the printer. Setup and cleanup are literally as easy as pushing a button. Everything is contained within your computer- NO SETTING UP OR PICKING UP AFTERWARDS.

I recently read an blog by Bradylou that lists about 10 reasons why digital scrapbooking is a good alternative to traditional scrapbooking- she has some great ideas- read her blog at bradylou.com

I always make a reunion scrapbook for myself and one for Grandma and Grandpa (taking advantage of BOGO sales.) Everyone enjoys reliving reunion memories when they visit Grandma and look through the books.

I use two scrapbook companies for my digital scrapbooks- Picaboo and Mixbook.

Picaboo Photo Books

I prefer Picaboo when I have a lot of photos I want to include in my book. Picaboo does not force you to spend hours uploading photos before you can create a project. Rather, with Picaboo installed, you can make a complete, ready-to-order book in a short amount of time. Picaboo has amazing customer service and I love their “chat” service. When I have an idea but don’t know how to implement it I just chat with their helpful costumer service people. Picaboo has cool and FREE backgrounds you can use- thousands of them- I love the pizza one pictured below.

Picaboo is running a deal this week for up to 40%.

Up to 40% off Classic books and calendars. Ends 7/16. Use code: SUNNYDAYS.

Mixbook Scrap Books

Mixbook does not require that you download their software. The feature I like most about Mixbook is that it allows you to choose one of their professional designs (or you can start from scratch) and easily and quickly create a photo book. I also like the “stickers” you can add to yourbook. You can move, crop, rotate, pan and zoom on photos; add stickers and backgrounds; and create custom layouts.

Right now Mixbook has a deal going-

Deal:Get $15 off $50!
Code:15OFF50
Valid: 07/12/12 4:00 am PST – 07/16/12 11:59pm PST
Restrictions: This offer is only valid with coupon code 15OFF50. This offer cannot be combined with other coupons, vouchers, Groupons, or applied after an order has been placed. Discount applies only to completed projects. No adjustments on previous purchases. Shipping and taxes will apply.
Offer expires 07/16/2012 (11:59 pm PST).

Once your scrapbook is completed you can sell additional copies for family members that preorder them or auction them off at your net reunion auction as a fundraiser.

Check Aunt Mo’s blog next week to find out how to make genealogy or family history photo books.

Planning a Genealogy Themed Family Reunion

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Aunt Mo

Summer is family reunion season- a time to bring together family members that share the roots and branches of the same family tree. But WHO do those roots represent and how deep do they go?

A family reunion is the perfect place to share the family history and genealogy of your own family tree. Here’s ten tips to help you plan a genealogy themed family reunion.

1. Make a Wall or Poster Sized Family Tree

To put your family history into perspective print a large wall chart of your genealogy. A professional source for printing your family tree is http://www.ancestryprinting.com/. They specialize in printing genealogy charts and offer several different formats. Hang the chart in a central location at your reunion and watch as family members explore their heritage in a way that is easily understood.

2. Hold a Genealogy “Church”

Give a family history presentation about one of your ancestors each year. These shouldn’t be long, boring presentations, but stories and pictures of your ancestors’ life and history. Highlight an ancestor each year and before long family members will have a repertoire of family stories they can recite.

3. Serve Food from Your Homeland

Serve food from your “homeland”. If your roots go back to Scotland serve scones or shortbread or if you claim Ireland as your homeland serve an Irish stew.

4. Share Photos

My brother, Scott, has become the official family photo organizer. He has worked with our parents to categorize and label photos from our families history. He makes these photos available on online storage sites such as Flickr. You can ask family members to bring their old, historic family photos to the reunion. Be sure photos are labeled with the date and location the photo was taken. A reunion is a great place to identify the people in photos. Ask someone to bring a scanner and laptop computer with CD burner, then set up a scanning table and create a CD of everyone’s photos or sign up to have photos printed at a later date.

5. Play a Genealogy game

Create games using game show themes such as “Wheel of Ancestors” or “Family Feud”. Ask questions to test your families’ knowledge of their heritage. Make a crossword puzzle, coloring book or word search to help our family learn about their ancestors.

6. Heritage Cookbook

Collect family favorite recipes. Include a little history about the recipe and why it’s a family favorite. Use a professional cookbook printing service or put together your own book at a local copy store.

7. Family History Skits & Re-enactments

Using stories from your own family history, act out fun family stories and experiences. Everyone in the Stewart family knows the story of Aunt Ann and the banana because we acted it out during our family history church.

8. Tour Family Homestead or Cemetery

If your family reunion is held near where the family originated, then schedule a trip to the old family homestead, church or cemetery. You may also want to hold your reunion near the family home or in the town where one of your ancestors were born, raised, married or buried.

9. Involve the Kids

Get children involved in building your family tree by using Family Reunion Helper’s “Super Sleuth” Challenge which guides children through the process of discovering their family history. The challenge is part of the “Family Heritage” reunion theme. Create a coloring page of your family crest for children to color or help them dress in authentic costumes from the country their ancestors originated from.

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10. Life Histories

We value the life stories of our ancestors so much. I wish I could say that all of our family are keeping wonderful descriptive journals for their posterity but we aren’t, so for more that 20 years we have asked our family to take a few minutes to fill out a “journal” page at our reunion. On the journal page, they record their experiences from the past year and then Grandma stores the pages in special binders. Some day these journal pages can be compiled into family history books.

Questions that are typically asked on the journal page are- What is the best thing that happened to you this year? What is the saddest thing that happened to you this year? What was the best movie you saw this year? For a more complete list of questions and sample journal pages, please download Journal Page Printable.

Anyone who has worked on their family history knows how exciting it can be. The more information they discover about their ancestors, the more real these people become. By learning about ones ancestors, it helps us understand ourselves, our heritage and the roots and branches of our family tree.

Cruisin Family Reunion Theme

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Aunt Mo

I’m so excited for our 2012 family reunion theme- cruisin’. We will visit 6 different “ports” while camping out at Box Elder campground.

Each of the 6 “original’ kids in my husband’s family will be responsible for one meal and a 2 hour block of time. Every family is choosing a theme and planning their meal and activities around that theme. During that 2 hours they can plan any activities, crafts or games they want. This will give every family the opportunity to plan an activity they have always wanted to do or to choose a family reunion favorite.

I’m pretty excited about this reunion format- I think it will relieve some of the stress I have when planning a reunion and give everyone a chance to make the reunion exactly the way they want.

Aunt MO

HINT: I got the backgrounds for these “beach” themed flyers from http://delightful-doodles.com/.

Memorial Day- the Start of Family Reunion Season

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Aunt Mo

$5.00 off any Family Reunion Theme Package

Memorial Day seems to mark the beginning of summer and the family reunion season. To help jumpstart your family reunion planning www.familyreunionhelper.com is offering $5.00 off any of our reunion themes for 5 short days- until June 1st. (This includes only $19.99 theme packages)

First step is to select the family reunion theme packages that best fits your family. Each reunion theme comes with free downloadable games, activities, recipes, printables and templates to simplify, inspire and guide your reunion planning.

You will need to login or enter your credit card information before you can enter coupon code reunion2012 and receive $5.00 off your reunion package- but hurry, this coupon code expires June 1st 2012 at midnight!

Happy Reunion Planning!

Shocking “Bloomers” Game!!

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Aunt Mo

A Game That’s Perfect for the Whole Family

I first played the “Bloomers” game at a family party when I was a teenager and was scared to death. I was so afraid that the music would stop and I would be stuck with the box of “bloomers” that was being passed around. Thirty years later whenever I think about that game I laugh- it was so intense and I was so relieved at the “surprise” ending of the game.

This is a very scary game for boys ages 8- 14. (There is nothing scarier to a boy of this age than women’s underwear) This game is a good game for any party but is especially fitting for a mixed crowd that includes young boys.

Bloomers!

Everyone should sit in a circle. Ask if they know what old fashioned bloomers are. Explain that in the olden days they used to call women’s underwear “bloomers”.

Hold up a box that is neatly wrapped. (In advance, you should have wrapped the box in at least ten different layers of wrapping paper.) Tell your family that inside the box are a pair of bloomers. It is IMPORTANT that you use the correct wording- you don’t want to say that there is UNDERWEAR in the box you just want them to THINK that there is.

Everyone will pass the box around the circle while music is being played. When the music stops the person holding the box must unwrap one layer of wrapping paper.

Start the music again and begin passing the box again. Continue until all of the paper is off the box. The person who removes the last layer of paper must open the box and model the bloomers for everyone to see.

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HINT: Be careful how you word your instructions because inside the box is not a pair of old fashion women’s bloomers but a pair (two) bloomers from the garden. The shocked look on the person’s face when he realizes that it’s just “flowers” he is modeling and not “underwear” is a joy to see.

Family Reunion in an Afternoon

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Aunt Mo

You want to have a family reunion but…

You don’t have a 3 day weekend for your family reunion.

You don’t think you can stand listening to Uncle George’s lame jokes for an entire weekend.

You can’t stand the thought of feeding all those hungry people.

Planning all those games and activities is just too overwhelming.

In my family reunion presentations I tell people that ANYTIME you get together with your family can be a family reunion. There are no rules that say you have to spend a certain amount of time with your extended family to make it an “official” reunion.

A typical family reunion will assemble grandparents, aunts and uncles and tons of kids that share the same surname for a meal, some games and activities and maybe even some genealogy discussion and if all you have is a Saturday afternoon in the park then start planning!

Let’s look at a possible schedule for a possible family reunion in an afternoon.

Things to do in advance

Be sure to reserve your location if holding your reunion at a park or hall. Ask family members to bring a sack lunch for the noon meal and make food assignments or ask everyone to bring a potluck dish for the evening meal.

Send out invitations

Include food assignments and items such as swim suits or softball equipment. If you are planning to go swimming, golfing, bowling etc. include how much these activities will cost.

Choose a theme. A family reunion doesn’t have to have a theme to be successful but creating a theme for a family reunion is a great way to interest people and make them more likely to attend. A reunion invitation that invites you to a “Prehistoric” reunion for Brontosaurs burgers is more interesting than an invitation that invites you to a family reunion at “the park”. It also makes things more fun when it comes to being imaginative with food, games, activities, invitations and just about every other aspect of the reunion.

10:30 Registration

Set up a registration table for attendees to receive a name tag and schedule of activities. This is a great time to get family member’s phone numbers, email and home addresses. Provide an activity that family members can participate in while waiting for everyone to arrive. Try a huge game of badminton or volleyball for the teenagers, sugar cookie decorating or a coloring page for the youngsters and printable Older Than Dirt Game for the older generation.

11:00 Ice Breaker getting to know you games.

My favorite ice breaker game is DO YOU LOVE YOUR RELATIVE?

The group sits in a circle with room in the center. The person that is “IT” does not have a chair and stands in the center of the circle. “IT” walks up to one of the people in the circle, points to someone and asks, “_________, do you love your relative?” The individual pointed to can say one of two things:

“Yes I love my relatives (everyone sitting in the circle must move to a new chair)

“No, I don’t love my relatives but I love everyone _____________________.” Fill in the blank with things like- everyone that is wearing green, everyone that likes chocolate, everyone that has a dog or everyone that wears glasses. (Only the people that meet the requirements move to a different chair.)

In both situations, the person that asks the question runs to sit on a chair. The person left standing, without a chair to sit on, is the new “IT”.

Family Reunion Helper has lots of fun Ice Breaker Games. You will need to plan on playing two to three games.

12:00 Sack lunches and family photo

After lunch you will want to take a picture of your family. It doesn’t need to be professional, just a record of who attended the reunion.

1:00 Extra Curricular Activity

Arrange in advance for your family to go swimming, bowling, roller skating, hiking or a road rally scavenger hunt. Some families like to split up during this time so people can participate in several activities- some may go golfing while others shop or make a craft. This will be your major activity. For some activities such as boating or visiting an amusement park you may need to schedule more time.

3:00 Theme Activities Craft or Fund Raiser

If you have chosen a theme for your reunion now is the time to do some of those activities. This is also the time to do any fund raising such as an auction or raffle.

4:30 Genealogy Spotlight and Business Meeting

Ask someone that is a good story teller to share an interesting story from your family history. It is very important that this presentation appeal to all family members and includes pictures and props. You may also want to take a few minutes to discuss any family business such as when and where to hold you next reunion.

5:00 Dinner

You may do a potluck dinner, a meal that reflects your reunion theme (dinosaur theme- Brontosaurus Burgers, western theme- chuck wagon beans etc.) Other simple meal ideas are a baked potato or taco bar, grilled burgers or have your favorite pizza place deliver a variety of pizzas. Do not serve dessert at this time.

6:00 Talent Show Free Time

This is the time to let family members share their talents. Play Let’s Make A Deal to keep everyone interested between acts.

7:00 Wrap it Up

Serve dessert and thank everyone for attending your reunion. You will be tired and ready to clean up and go home but some family members will want to hang around and visit. Put them to work helping you clean up.

The Branson Family Reunion web site list five reasons to have a family reunion. One reason it lists is “Tradition”. “Tradition should be a big part of your family. Taking the time to come together and teach (in a fun way) the tradition of your family will keep it alive and strong.” Although planning a reunion can be a lot of work bringing your family together, if only for an afternoon, can be a rewarding way to keep traditions alive.

Aunt MO

Prehistoric, Caveman or Dinosaur Family Reunion

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Aunt Mo

I love this family reunion theme! It’s so flexible- with some minor tweaking your prehistoric reunion can become a dinosaur or caveman party.

A “prehistoic” theme can be the perfect choice for someone celebrating a milestone birthday and adds some good natured fun to your celebration.

One of the first family reunions I ever planned was a dinosaur reunion back in the early 80’s. We made large, plywood dinosaur cut outs to decorate our reunion site. We served Brontosaurs burgers and went on a hike to find giant dinosaur eggs.

To throw the perfect caveman party, you will need to look the part. You can find fun Caveman or Flintstones costumes and accessories at costume store or online. (A good resource for Flintstone costumes is http://www.flintstonecostumes.com/) You can also fashion your own out costumes out of fake fur, and animal-print fabrics. Don’t forget unkempt hair, bare feet, bone necklaces and hair bows, clubs and spears!

With this fun family reunion theme you can plan a Saber Tooth Tiger Cateye hike in the dark or challenge family members to work together to make a prehistoric pipeline. Prehistoric “baseball” is a silly way to enjoy America’s favorite pastime.

A fill in the blank invitation is included along with recipes and ideas for "Good Things to Eat". Don’t forget to print off the dinosaur Bunko score card and the dinosaur trivia printable and leave dinosaur footprints all over your reunion site with the footprint printable pattern. Reunion activities for one day or a weekend of prehistoric family fun!

For $19.95 you can let loose your families’ inner beast with family reunion helper’s Caveman theme package.

Prehistoric Reunion Activities include;

Invitation printables
Dinosaur riddles
Dinosaur Trivia printable Game
Baking Soda Volcano instructions
"Lost World" Obstacle Course
Pet Rock Instructions
Dinosaur cookie decorating
prehistoric baseball
prehistoric pipeline
Dinosaur footprint painting
Dinosaur Bunko
"Good Things to Eat"
children’s games and activities
team building activities
dinosaur egg hunt
fossil painting
Slime recipe
costume helps
Saber Tooth Tiger cateye hike. A night time hike with flashlights.

Black Lights

Glow In the Dark Jello

Glow in the Dark Kick Ball

Glow in the Dark Whiffle Ball

Three Keys to a Successful Family Reunion

Family Reunion Checklist and Timeline

Family Reunion Committees

How to Pay for Your Reunion

Family Reunion Locations

Family Reunion Themes

Tell Your Ancestor’s Story

Sharing Your Photo Book

Picaboo Photo Books

Mixbook Scrap Books

1. Make a Wall or Poster Sized Family Tree

2. Hold a Genealogy “Church”

3. Serve Food from Your Homeland

4. Share Photos

5. Play a Genealogy game

6. Heritage Cookbook

7. Family History Skits & Re-enactments

8. Tour Family Homestead or Cemetery

9. Involve the Kids

10. Life Histories

A Game That’s Perfect for the Whole Family

Bloomers!

You want to have a family reunion but…

Send out invitations

10:30 Registration

11:00 Ice Breaker getting to know you games.

12:00 Sack lunches and family photo

1:00 Extra Curricular Activity

3:00 Theme Activities Craft or Fund Raiser

4:30 Genealogy Spotlight and Business Meeting

5:00 Dinner

6:00 Talent Show Free Time

7:00 Wrap it Up

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