A pretty sweet printable game- and it’s free!
Whenever I plan a I 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.
Nature Scavenger Hunt {with free printable}
Nature Scavenger Hunt- fun activity for your family reunion
If your family reunion location is at a park or a campground this Nature Scavenger Hunt is a wonderful excuse to get outside, have some fun, and spend time together as a family.
Just print off our fun Scavenger Hunt printable on heavy cardstock and give everyone a copy along with a pencil and let the fun begin. You can work as teams or individually, it can be a race or a contest to see who finds the most items. Allow everyone an opportunity to show off their favorite find.
You can find the link for our Nature Scavenger Hunt below- or right-click on the picture above, save it to your computer, and print.
Potatoes in a Bag
A Delicious Idea From My Nephew, Brayden, for Your Family Reunion
Sometimes I get in a rut- I forget that some people don’t pack up and head for the mountains when they plan a family reunion or family gathering- instead they head for the BEACH! And it was to the beach we went for a fun family party with my brother and his family.
We packed up the surf boards, sunscreen and mashed potatoes- yes, MASHED POTATOES! “Potatoes in a bag” is a fun and easy tradition Uncle Brett and Aunt Lisa have implemented in their family and would be a yummy idea for your family reunion no matter what location you choose.
Most of the prep for “Potatoes in a bag” was done at home. Everyone measured 1/2 cup potato flakes in a plastic baggie and added their favorite “mix-ins” to give their bag of potatoes their own special flavor.
At the beach, Uncle Brett heated up the water in his portable heater. When the water was hot we added 1 cup to our bag of potatoes and squished it up in the bag until it was well mixed and creamy. The potatoes were delish! The beach was chilly and wet, and the hot potatoes were a welcome treat.
Directions: Mix 1/2 cup of potato flakes with 1 cup boiling water. Stir until blended. Add your favorite mix-ins: salt, dry ranch Salad dressing, dry onion soup mix, Butter Buds, dried parsley flakes, beef jerky pieces, diced cheese stick and a beef stick. For thinner potatoes, add more water; for thicker, add more flakes.
If you’ve done eggs in a bag at your family reunion I think you’ll have fun with this idea. Set out all the ingredients and mix-ins and let your family create their own delicious mashed potatoes. Your bigger eaters may want to use 1 cup of potato flakes with 2 cups of water.
Thanks, Brayden, for a delicious family reunion idea! And if you’re looking for fun beach themed ideas for your family reunion, check out our Beach family reunion for lots of fun in the sun ideas.
Aunt MO
NOTE: Whenever you add boiling water to your baggie, always use heavy-duty or freezer zip lock bags. Although there have been no claims of injury or illness, Ziploc® states their baggies are not intended to be used at high temperatures, so use at your own risk.
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PSYCH! A Multiplayer Game For Your Phone and… Your Family Reunion
I recently attended my nieces wedding, luncheon and reception. Everything was beautiful and I loved being part of the festivities but like most weddings and such there is a lot of downtime for those of us who are basically spectators. During one of these downtimes my brother introduced us to a fun game you can play on your phone that involves everyone.
The name of the game is Psych! Choose from a variety of fun categories in which each player makes up fake answers to real trivia questions.
According to the games own description- the idea behind the game is to get together with a bunch of friends and answer ridiculous trivia questions. The catch is, the multiple choices you’re given include the correct answer as well as a bunch of incorrect answers which are provided by the other players. So, say for instance the question popped up of “Who is the Editor in Chief of TouchArcade?” “Eli Hodapp” would be in there somewhere, along with whatever else anyone playing decides to toss into the mix as possible answers.
Anyone who knows me will understand that, after playing a few rounds of Pysch! with my family, my “reunion” brain kicked into gear and I immediately began to think of ways to use the game at a family reunion.
Can you imagine how excited the teenagers in your family would be if you asked them to get their cellphones for a game they would be playing. Psych! is a clever way to get family members that just can’t seem set their cellphones down to join in a game or activity to participate with the group.
Psych! is also a pretty fun way to get to know family members that you see only once a year at the family reunion. Some of the game options give you a real opportunity to see into your cousin’s psyche.
“PSYCH!” is the perfect app for game night, road trips, or even waiting in line. So grab your phones, gather ‘round, and get ready for a gaming experience unlike anything you’ve ever tried!
NOTE:There’s in-game ads as well, which can be removed for $2.99. If you’re just downloading the game to play with a friend (who might have bought a ton of stuff in-game), it’s totally free.
Mashed Potato Bar
What’s a Mashed Potato Bar?
I had never heard of a “Mashed Potato Bar” until recently when my daughter came home from a family function with her husband’s family and they had hosted a mashed potato bar. My daughter raved about how delicious and fun the mashed potato bar was.
Of course, I’ve eaten at lots of baked potato bars and for any years a potato bar was our go to meal at family gatherings but a mashed potato bar is a fun new twist to that traditional and rather over done family reunion meal.
Here’s how you put a Mashed Potato Bar together for your next family reunion or party.
Of course, the main ingredient is mashed potatoes. You can make your own (see recipe below) or you can use already prepared potatoes such as the ones Costco carries.
Mashed Potato Bar Toppings Ideas
Serve your potatoes in large crock pots to keep the potatoes warm and set out various toppings. I’ve listed a few of our favorites but use your imagination to customize to your needs:
Sour cream
Chopped green onions
Mushrooms
Olives
Crumbled bacon
Finely shredded cheese
Steamed broccoli
Chopped Ham
Shredded chicken
Whipped butter
Sour cream
Frozen Peas
Ranch salad dressing
Grilled zucchini and summer squash
Caramelized onions and peppers
Freshly grated Parmesan
Tomato salsa
Tomatoes
Jalapenos
Grilled tri-tip sliced thin
Onion crisps
Country Gravy (I like to stay away from gravy, it’s the obvious choice and people aren’t’ as creative if they have gravy as a choice)
Salt and pepper
The Idaho Potato Board has their own list of ingredients for a Mashed Potato Bar which you can find by clicking on the link below.
https://idahopotato.com/recipes/mashed-potato-bar
Serve on plain plates or bowls or fancy things up a bit by using goblets as your dishes. You can always find a miss-matched assortment of goblets and wine glasses at your local DI or Goodwill.
A good basic mashed potato recipe includes just a few ingredients. Note: Baking and Russet potatoes tend to be heavier and starchier than Yukon Gold potatoes.
Basic Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- 8 Potatoes
- 1/2 Cup melted butter
- 1 can Evaporated Milk ( I melt my butter in a bowl with the milk for creamier potatoes.
- Salt
- Fresh Pepper
- Peel and dice potatoes and put in pot of boiling salted water. Cover and simmer until potatoes are fork tender (20-30 minutes, depending on quantity of potatoes). Remove from heat and drain.
- Mash potatoes with a potato masher or a hand mixer.
- Add butter and milk
While doing research for this article I found this cute Mashed Potato Bar sign on Etsy. The name of the shop that offers it for sale is the TheDoodleCoop.
Be sure and sign up to receive a copy of familyreunionhelper.com’s FREE reunion cookbook HERE
Mafia Themed Activities for Your Family Reunion or Party
Let us make you an offer you can’t refuse-
When it was first suggested that we use “Mafia” as our theme for the Stewart family reunion I was a little apprehensive but after three days of Mafia activities over Labor Day I’ve decided that “Mafia” is just another word for “Family”. Family can also be friends, and so a Mafia theme for a reunion or party is a great idea. Included in this party pack are invitations and activities for a party or reunion for either your friends or your family.
You will have fun creating Mafia names for your guests using the list of names and name tags included in this party theme package.
Guests can also fill out an application to join the Mafia using the “Complete Mafia Dictionary” to decipher Mafia lingo.
Test your Mafia IQ to see if you should be “The Boss” or “Knuckles”.
If you are having an indoor party consider playing the party game, “Mafia”. The game of Mafia is all about the power of bluffing and knowing when other people are bluffing themselves. You can be a member of the Mafia, a towns person, the FBI or the Moderator in this elimination and guessing game. You will vote out other players and try to avoid being murdered in the middle of the night by the Mafia!
If you planning an outside party play “Steal the Flag” using marshmallow shooters. Instructions for making custom shooters are included.
Printables include invitations, The “Complete Mafia Dictionary”, Mafia Application, Mafia funny money, Mafia IQ test, water bottle labels, Mafia name tags and playing cards for the game, Mafia.
Cosa Nostran (This thing is ours!)
Family Reunion Bingo
Family reunion bingo is a great ice breaker activity for family reunions or parties of any kind. I created a family reunion bingo card several years ago that we have used over and over again. I recently received a request to create some variations to the original game and mix things ups a bit. The competed Bingo game cards are below and ready for you to play.
Family Reunion BINGO- the Basic Game
Give family members a BINGO card and a pencil and allow a few minutes for your family members to mingle as they get signatures in the bingo squares that apply to them. You can only use a person’s signature once on your bingo sheet. The game can end at this point with prizes for everyone that completely fills up their BINGO card or you can take the game a step further.
Family Reunion BINGO Variation
Write everyone’s name on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. Pull a name out of the hat one at a time and read it out loud. If a person has that name on their sheet they can put an X on that square. If they don’t have that name they do nothing. Keep drawing names from the hat until someone get a BINGO by competing a row, column, or diagonal with X’s.
I have created 5 variations of my original BINGO card that you can download and print by clicking on the file below.
Whether the Weather
Predicting the weather for your next family reunion- yes, there is a tool to help!
A couple of months ago I was directed to a website that promised to provide free long range weather forecasts to help with planning outdoor activities. I was excited to think there was a website like this, because, if you’ve ever been in charge of an outdoor family reunion or gathering of some sort, you know the most difficult thing to predict is the WEATHER!
Since my first visit to their website I have used their information at weathertab.com when planning several family functions and each time their predictions turned out to be accurate. About a year ago, I used the weathertab website to get an idea but how weather would be for our family reunion/vacation (12 months in the future) would be in sunny southern California. They predicted that the weather on the dates we would be in California, it would rain for 3 days and they were right- it rained 3 of the days we were at Disneyland. (Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing- no crowds and no waiting in line.)
The http://www.weathertab.com/ website doesn’t guarantee that their information is 100 percent accurate but their research and science does give you a bit of an advantage when trying to choose a date for your family reunion and they do say that their forecasts “start where others stop”.
The weathertab.com site can show you the predicted weather for 1 day to 18 months in advance, it is always free and requires no subscription or registration.
I put the weathertab.com site to the test when planning my husband’s 60th birthday party. I choose to have his celebration a day earlier because there was only a 13% chance of rain on that day instead of his actual birthday when there was a 39% chance of rain.
I felt lucky when we had a wonderfully sunny, no rain, party on his special day. I’m excited to use the site when planning next years family reunion. Check out http://www.weathertab.com/ when planning your reunion too and see if WeatherTAB’s long range weather forecast can help you find a reunion day with a lower chance of rain too.
The cute graphics in this blog have been purchased from Kimberly Stewart, Scrapbook-elements.com
Fun Ice Breaker Game for Your Family Reunion
This is a fun idea for an ice breaker game for your next family reunion or family party. It is even a fun idea for a work, school or church function.
Divide into groups of about 10. The groups work together to determine the total amount of points they have earned. Each team will need a team captain and recorder.
You can make up your own list of points but here are a few ideas to get you started.
1. Counting January as one point, February as two points and so on, add up the total points of your group.
2. Score one point for each college attended.
3. Score one point for every button on each shirt.
4. Total number of pennies teammates have in their pockets.
5. Total of all sizes added together- one shoe only per person.
6. Hair color score- Black hair- 2 points, Brown hair- 1 point, Red hair- 3 points, Grey hair- 5 points, Blonde- 1 point
7. Five points for everyone that is wearing glasses, 2 points for contacts.
8. One point for every child each person has, twins- 5 points, triplets- 10 points.
9. Minus 1 point for every soda or pop consumed. Plus 1 point for every glass or bottle of water.
10. 1 point for everyone that is wearing a watch.
Add up the total of points each team has and award prizes to the team that has the “most” points, “least” points, “most unorganized” etc.
Bead Geckos- A Family Reunion Ice Breaker
An effective way to jumpstart your family reunion is with an activity that family members can participate in independently when they arrive at the reunion and are settling in. There is that awkward time when family arrives at the reunion and everyone is getting reacquainted. Experience has proven that if there is a low key activity planned it will encourage family members to mingle and get comfortable with each other again. A pre reunion activity also keeps younger family members busy and engaged while their parents are visiting and settled in.
Bead lizards or Geckos are the perfect solution. Collect a supply of different colored pony beads and some satin cording and let your family create their own Geckos.
What you’ll need for each lizard-
- 2 yards satin cording of your choice
- 1 metal keychain or lanyard hook
- 27 colored (shown as green in the above diagram) pony beads
- 21 colored (shown as orange in the above diagram) pony beads
- 2 black pony beads for eyes
They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I really recommend watching the following video to get some great instructions for making your bead Gecko. The great thing is, if you download the video to your tablet, the video will be available to your guests and you won’t spend so much time trying to give instructions as you’re registering your family members and getting them situated- they’ll be able to watch the video! The video lasts less than 2 minutes and it’s actually quite entertaining.
You can find more ice breaker ideas by following the link below
http://familyreunionhelper.com/blog/2010/03/really-cool-ice-breaker-games/
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