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.

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!

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.

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!

New Years Man- A Family Tradition

Posted on December 26, 2019 by Aunt Mo

You’ve probably never heard of the New Years Man but it’s a family tradition that has been part of our family for generations.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, it’s customary in Spain to quickly eat 12 grapes, one at each stroke of the clock. Each grape supposedly signifies good luck for one month of the coming year. People around the world celebrate the coming of the new year in many different ways but our families’ New Years tradition is one you’ve probably never heard of.

Every New Years Eve, if we have cleaned our rooms and put away our Christmas gifts, the “New Years Man” will stop at our house and leave one last holiday gift. I have no idea how the New Years Man tradition in my family but it’s a tradition that goes back many generations.

My Mom remembers- “On New Years Eve, at bedtime we would make a “nest” out of our clothes. While we were sleeping the New Years man would come and put goodies in our nest—It was always something to eat, candy, fruit etc. Not toys. Never a lot but we could tell he had been there “checking ” up on us. We thought it was fun!”

The tradition continued when I was a child. My parents used the New Years Man as a bribe to motivate us to clean up and put our Christmas things away.

The New Years Man tradition has evolved to him bringing a small toy, treat or book etc. on New Years Eve for every girl or boy that has put away their Christmas presents and cleaned their room so that it is spotless. On New Years Eve we write our names on a paper plate and if our rooms are clean the New Years Man will leave us a special prize.

I don’t know what the New Years Man looks like and I don’t know where he comes from but I do know that as a child I was extremely motivated to get my room cleaned and my Christmas gifts put away so that the New Years man would leave me one more gift for the season. I’m sure that having the house clean and orderly for the first day of the new year was well the effort for my parents.

Fun Reindeer Party Ideas

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Aunt Mo

Magic Reindeer Food

When you sprinkle magic reindeer food on your lawn on Christmas Eve, it leaves a glittering path–and a sweet treat–for Rudolph and Blitzon and their friends.

Make a bag of Magic Reindeer food for each family that attends your party or as an inexpensive stocking stuffer for each child.

Package this simple recipe in zipper food storage bags, and add a free printable gift tag containing the Magic Reindeer Food poem to make Magic Reindeer Food easy to make–and to give.

Magic Reindeer Food Recipe

In a large bowl or container, mix:

1/4- 1/2 cup uncooked oats
1/4 cup red or green sugar crystals
Small sealable bag
Magic Reindeer Food poem (You can find a free printable of the poem at Magic Reindeer Food Poem)

Package Magic Reindeer food in small food storage bags or holiday gift bags.

NOTE: You can use craft glitter in your magic reindeer food but colored sugar crystals (as used for cake decorating) are safer for other animals or birds that may ingest it.

Reindeer Noses

Another fun reindeer games party favor is a bag of reindeer noses.

I wanted the perfect gift for you-
But couldn’t decide just what to do.
I almost sent you a dozen roses-
Instead here’s a bag of…
reindeer noses

Reindeer noses are simply seven brown candies such as “Whoppers” and one red candy (to represent Rudolf). I used sour cherry candies for my red nose. You may find a free printable of the reindeer nose poem below. Just copy and paste into your document.

Log Reindeer Centerpieces

Log reindeer are the perfect project for your centerpieces. Simply reuse scraps of wood and timber from your woodpile, drill a few holes, and glue it all together. You’ll need a few thicker logs for the body and head; long, thin sticks for the legs, and pronged branches for your reindeer’s antlers. Add bow, bells or tinsel to complete your project. After the party you can give away part of your herd as prizes or save them to give as neighbor gifts.

Reindeer Cupcakes

Bake cupcakes according to package directions and frost generously with chocolate frosting. Top with pretzels for the antlers, a Nilla Wafer for the face, white frosting dots for the eyes, back pearl sprinkles or black icing for the eyeballs, and brown and red candies for the nose.

Santa Pancakes

HINT: We made the pancake base of our Santa pancakes before arriving at the party. Because they are a little time consuming we began decorating them in advance. We noticed that the whipped cream started getting soft and didn’t look as cute. Solution- get more help with the decorating so that you can make them on the spot.

Reindeer Games Minute To Win It

We used the “Minute to Win It” format for our “reindeer games”. We divided into four teams- team Rudolf, team Blitzen, team Dasher and team Donner and competed in 8 different challenges. We projected a countdown clock on the wall so that everyone could join in the drama as the seconds counted down. For more information on Minute the Win It games check out the following link.

http://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2011/10/minute-to-win-it-party-2/

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.

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