Nature Scavenger Hunts for Your Family Reunion.

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Aunt Mo

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!

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

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-

guess the candy_edited-1.jpg

Answer Key

So Now What? Corona Virus and Your Family Reunion

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Aunt Mo

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:

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.

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.

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!

Handprint Quilt

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Aunt Mo

An Idea to be Treasured

Image result for handprint png

I had never heard of a handprint quilt until one of my piano students asked me to add my handprint to her quilt. I love this idea and feel some regret for not creating a quilt for my own children when they were growing up.

My student’s quilt will include handprints from people that have made a difference in her life. I considered being asked to add my handprint an honor and it meant so much to me.

To collect my handprint, Kit and her Mom brought a large ink pad to my house which we used to make my print.

My print was added to my student’s book of handprints and will eventually be part of her quilt of memories.

For many of you, the thought of creating a handprint quilt may seem overwhelming and way out of reach, but I found a resource that can help with that. The quit pictured below is from an Etsy shop called PrettyCraftybyLinda. After collecting all of your handprints, Linda will create your quilt for around $300.00, depending on the size of course.

Custom made handprint quilt image 0

Making a handprint quilt could be a really wonderful part of your family reunion. You could collect the handprints at one reunion and auction the quilt off at the next reunion. A quilt full of grandchildren’s handprints would be a wonderful anniversary gift for grandma and grandpa. There are so many options, but what it really comes down to is a quilt full of memories to be treasured.

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.

Space Camp Family Reunion

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Aunt Mo

Name Badge Designing

My favorite part of planning a family reunion is designing the name badges, invitations, water bottle labels and anything else that gives me a chance to be creative. I decided to create my name badge first and hopefully, in the process, come up with some sort of logo for the entire reunion theme.

The challenge with this name badge is that I can’t use copywrited images. At some point I’ll add a Space Camp reunion theme to my store and I can’t do that if I use copywrited materials. That means I can’t use anything NASA and that really makes this space camp theme difficult.

I’ve been playing around with some ideas but haven’t settled on a favorite. Take a look at my rough drafts.

I like the simplicity of this name badge but I’m not sure it would be that exciting for the kids in our family. I don’t know if I like the “Space Camp” logo on the top or the bottom of the badge.

Here’s an example of the logo at the top with “space camp” on the planet- I really like that.

This is my attempt at adding an astronaut to the badge- since we’ll be “astronauts in training”. Just not sure I have the “right” astronaut.

I don’t think I’ve nailed down the right name badge yet. If you have a comment or a suggestion, let me know.

Where, Oh, Where?

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Aunt Mo

Choosing a family reunion location

One of the most difficult things about finding a family reunion is finding a location. If your family holds reunions at a hotel or on a cruise ship the process is pretty easy- just do an online search, but if you’re looking for someplace different, and perhaps cheaper, the task gets a little more daunting. The BIG challenge is finding a place large enough when you have a BIG family.

On one side of our family, we need to accommodate about 35 family members. We love holding our reunions in Bear Lake, Utah. It’s pretty easy to find a cabin that will accommodate 35, but as our family grows it will get more difficult.

Reunion locations for large family groups

My daughter has married into a family that plans for reunions of about 200 people. Many of them come from all across the country, many flying to the reunion. There are locations that cater to these large groups but the cost gets pretty high. This family has a lot of experience planning for these large reunions and they have a couple of great ideas for keeping costs as low as possible. Their reunion is held every other year and they schedule their reunion during the middle of the week when rates are cheapest. My daughter has been surprised at all the people that show up for these reunions considering that most have to take off work to be there.

This is Blacks Fork River Lodge in Wyoming. It’s a beautiful location that can accommodate large family groups.

Blacks Fork River Lodge is ideal for Family Reunions, Corporate Retreats, or any large group use, situated on 51-plus acres including a ½ mile of the beautiful Blacks Fork River. The lodge is located in Bridger Valley, Wyoming, less than 2 hours drive from Salt Lake City, Utah. The main lodge is a three-story 5,400-plus square foot lodge with 9 bedrooms, 8 baths, large kitchen, living, and dining rooms, oversized back deck, all with beautiful river views. The Lodge rental sleeps 50 with cabin and ranch house included. There is also a 3 bedroom ranch house and a 2 bedroom cabin.

https://blacksforkriverlodge.com/

The May Family Ranch in Idaho is an ideal location for your family reunion, retreat, camping, hunting or fishing trip. They can easily accommodate from 1 to 200 persons. We are in one of the premier recreational and hunting/fishing areas in Idaho. The mountains surrounding us have numerous hiking, biking, &ATV trails.

The Ranch is open year-round and they offer a variety of accommodations. The Lodge sleeps 28 and the Miners’ Cabin sleeps 14. Both are both self-contained units. They have 8-person family cabins, private loft rooms, a bunkhouse that sleeps 26, private rooms with baths, as well as many tent spaces and RV hookups. http://www.mayfamilyranch.com/

Roughing it is fun!

Image result for box elder campground

The Stewart side of our family has grown to over 100 members. We ALWAYS spend our reunions at a campground. This year we will be camping in Mantua, Utah. For our large family we reserve two group area and may soon need to increase that to three. For our reunions we need a location for both RVs and tents.

Our Favorite Family Reunion Location- Elwood Utah

We have the greatest little reunion site It’s called Hansen Park in Elwood Utah. It has a huge covered bowery with a kitchen, a fire pit, restrooms and even a baseball diamond and small basketball court.

Someone must have told the good people of Elwood what a treasure they have because they have now made it as difficult as possible to reserve the park and our family has just given up trying to get it- but if you can find a friend that lives in Elwood they may just be able to help you out.

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RV Camping

If your family loves RV’ing, there’s a new online resource for finding your perfect campground. As an avid RV’er, Mark McKinney, used to get quite frustrated with how slow and laggy many of the existing RV & campsite websites were, so he decided to create the website that he wished existed. His website is https://www.findrvparks.com. The site is great for finding a family reunion campground. I searched for the Mantua, Utah campground we’ll be staying in this summer and sure enough, there it was.

If you have an RV, this site is perfect for you. You can use the filters on the site to search for electric, water, waste and whether or not pets are allowed. You can also search for RV campgrounds that have Wi-Fi and laundry.

Mark even wants you to contribute to his collection of reviews and photos for your favorite RV Parks by submitting photos and experiences of your favorite campgrounds.

Space Camping

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I’m glad we’ve locked down the reunion site for our Space themed reunion this year- now I just have to turn it into the “moon” or perhaps “NASA”. That’s one of many decisions I haven’t made yet.

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!

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