One of my music students came to class wearing this fun reunion shirt and I just couldn’t help but share it with you. Such a fun and simple design. Notice the family name at the top and the date and place at the bottom of the shirt.
We’ve done a lot of reunion shirts over the years but when this cute little guy wore an old shirt his dad wore I was thrilled. Keeping old reunion t-shirts year after year means you always have something to wear to the family reunion!
We’re so excited about our new and updated version of “When You Were My Age Party” that we’re giving away a free copy to one of our subscribers. Just tell us what celebration you might use this party for in the comments section of this blog and we will randomly select one person to receive a free copy on December 1st, 2013.
Our new version of “When You Were My Age” includes a fill in the blank invitation and gives you 37 pages of information for the years 1921- 2010.
This is such a fun program, fashioned after a Bill Cosby Show episode and was called, "When Mom Was my Age." We have done variations of the program for 70th and 80th birthdays and 50th wedding anniversaries. Each time we do "When You Were My Age" everyone is thrilled and excited to be a part of the celebration. Everyone has a part on the program and an opportunity to highlight world events and significant family happenings throughout the life of your loved one.
This is a great way to honor your Grandma or Grandpa on their special birthday or your Dad or Mom on their 50th anniversary. Celebrating a landmark birthday or anniversary is always going to be a lot of work but with this package you’ll be well on your way to saying "We love you" in a very special way.
Take a bag of M&M’s or Skittles candy and tell everyone to grab a handful…or specify a number (I prefer this if you have a large group so it doesn’t take so long- I suggest each family member take 4 or 5 candies) You might also choose to split up in smaller groups such as children under 12, 12 and over, young adults etc. if you have a larger group such as a family reunion.
Assign a different meaning to each color, blue= family, green=hobbies, yellow=animals, brown= work or school etc. Participants must tell one thing about themselves for how many candies they have in their hands using the colors as their guide. They may also eat them as they share their information. (“Blue…I have two sisters.”, then eats the candy. “Yellow…I have a dog named Kodi.”, and eats the candy etc.) If you have two or more of the same color you have to tell one thing per candy regardless the color.
This is a good ice breaker because you can play it as soon as your party is supposed to start and those that come a little late can participate when they arrive.
This is a fun dinosaur game to play outside. Divide family members into two teams, the Carnivores and the Herbivores.
Give each Carnivore a small sheet of dinosaur stickers. When you say "Go", the Carnivores chase the Herbivores. A Herbivore is "caught" when a Carnivore places a sticker on his or her back. The Herbivore must "freeze" until another Herbivore releases him or her by removing the sticker.
Play until the Carnivores run out of stickers. Distribute stickers to the Herbivores and repeat the game.
NOTE: This game comes from our Caveman Reunion Theme.
Caveman Reunion
Five years later and we finally got to dig up our time capsule! Five years ago at our Stewart family reunion we had every family member fill out a questionnaire. We asked questions about the present, their predictions for the future and invited everyone to set some goals that they hoped to accomplish by the time we opened the capsule in 2013.
On the 2nd day of our reunion this year, we went to Grandma’s house where the time capsule was buried to begin our search for the capsule we had buried five years ago. We followed a very funny set of clues that cousin Tyler made up to find the capsule.
The first clue took us to the "”three pronged wooded fork” and then led us to a spot under Grandma’s bathroom window…. but there was no capsule there.
Retracing our steps we realized that we had misinterpreted the clues and on this attempt found the time capsule buried at the corner of the house. It took a little digging and we broke the lid off of the capsule but we found all our questionnaires safe and sound.
We read our questionnaires at the conclusion of our annual family history “church” we hold at each reunion. Some of us found that we had remained focused during the five years and completed our goals and some found that their goals had been forgotten. Some of us predicted what the price of gas would be in 2013 pretty accurately and some found they were living in a fantasy land. We had questioners from old boyfriends that had attended our reunion that year and from a dear Grandpa who had passed away.
Our family time capsule was a big hit and family members voted to make another time capsule next year. We’re already working on the questions for our new questionnaire.
Payback pockets are a fun way to pay back family members for the difference they have made in your life. Payback pockets are a fun way to “pay back” your family for the difference they have made in your life- way of showing appreciation and a way of saying thanks.
Our Payback pockets were labeled in fun way using money terms such as Steve’s Sawbucks, Ann’s Ante and Lynn’s Loot.
Set up a writing “station” and stock it with stationary, stickers, markers and colored paper. Having fun stickers and stationary encourages family members to write notes.
You don’t need to set aside any time for note writing during your reunion. Family members will find their own time to write whether it’s during some reunion downtime or during an activity they may not wish to participate in.
The little ones in our family had fun writing notes, well, actually drawing pictures, and they loved using the markers and stickers.
The reunion planners used the pockets as a way of delivering special treats and surprises during our reunion. One day each Big Six received crackers, chocolate and marshmallows for S’mores around the campfire. Another day bouquet of lollypops was delivered to each pocket.
Back in my 20’s I worked as a disc jockey at a radio station. About the worst thing a deejay could do back then and I’m pretty sure now, is to have “dead air”. Dead air is an unintended period of silence during a radio broadcast. I have been unfortunate enough to experience some periods of dead air when I worked as a disc jockey, usually because I was unprepared, unorganized or because there was an equipment mal-function. I have also experienced “dead air” at a family reunion.
It is most common to experience reunion or party dead air between the time when family or guests are arriving and the time when the planned activities are scheduled to begin. I know you’ve experienced it- people just standing around in awkward silence not sure what they’re supposed to be doing and wishing that they had someone to talk to.
There is a solution to doing away with reunion dead air- be prepared, be organized and PLAN an activity that doesn’t have to be supervised.
A few of our favorite dead air busters are:
When we arrived at Aunt Karen’s dinosaur reunion twenty or so years ago, we found plastic wrapped dinosaurs shaped sugar cookies tied to trees and fences all around the park where the reunion was held. After checking in, everyone went on a dinosaur hunt to find the perfect sugar cookie and then on to the decorating station where we found frosting, sprinkles and candies to decorate our cookies.
As we frosted and decorated our cookies, other family members arrived and we laughed, talked and ate our dinosaur masterpieces and Bam– dead air destroyed!
The Brown family used a creative idea to not only take care of dead air but to also personalize their reunion t-shirts.
Instead of doing a generic design on their shirts they did stick figures of a family and when family members arrived at the reunion they painted their own shirt using fabric paints and markers. Everyone was so busy and excited about their shirts they chatted and shared ideas and Pow– dead air busted!
Boondoggle will keep most kids, 10 and over occupied for any dead air during your reunion. By taking two strings of boondoggle, you can weave, braid, or otherwise knot it to create some fun projects.
Set out a few spools of boondoggle and a few clips or key chains and before you know it, young and old will be making new boondoggle creations.
You will need someone to man the boondoggle station that knows how to start boondoggle. If someone in your family has been to a girl or boy scout camp they probably already know how to do boondoggle. A good resource for learning boondoggle basics is Boondoggle Man– and Splash– dead air busted!
NOTE: If using an activity for the older children, like boondoggle, don’t forget to set out something for the younger ones such as coloring pages, a kiddy pool filled with sand or a few soft balls.
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Here’s the obvious boredom busters- set up volleyball, badminton, croquet, horseshoes or any activity that will get your family interacting with each other.
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I have a giant Checkers game that I set out at every reunion (it’s tradition) and before too long one of the cousins will challenge an uncle to a game and a crowd will gather around to watch.
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to set these games up but it sure adds to the reunion fun.
When most of your family has arrived at the reunion it’s time to move on to your planned activities, usually ice breaker games, but with some extra planning and effort on your part their won’t be much ice to break- families members will feel right at home because you’ve used your super hero powers to destroy reunion dead air.
Had the pleasure of stopping by the Mower family reunion today. It was so fun to see everyone visiting, enjoying yummy food and kids playing on the toys. Seeing them having such a good time made me excited for family reunion season. Can’t wait to get together with our extended family!
To get the reunion season started off right, family reunion helper is offering 5.00 off any of their $19.95 reunion theme packages. Circus, Caveman, Heritage, All-sport, Western or any of our fun reunion themes.
Just enter the code "reunion2013" at check out. This offer expires at midnight, May 27th 2013, Memorial Day- the start of family reunion season!
Ladies & Gentlemen,
Children of all Ages…
Family Reunion Helper
is proud to present…
A Circus and Carnival family reunion!
No need to run off and join the circus- you’re family will have more fun than they ever imagined when you create a Circus-themed family reunion!
My favorite thing about a circus themed family reunion is that it is so easy to make assignments. Assign individual families a game booth for your carnival. They can be responsible for the game and prizes for their booth.
Assign family members a circus act (silly and creative acts are the best) and don’t forget a ringmaster to keep things lively.
Get the teenagers in your family involved by asking them to be in charge of a face painting booth. Kids love to have fun with their favorite animated characters and cartoon idols. Face painting is popular but you will need more than one painter to accommodate all the children that want their faces painted at your circus reunion.
You can find lots of fun circus party and and game activities in familyreunionhelper.com’s reunion theme package. Consider a game of “Clown Softball”. It’s a mixed up and silly way to play softball that will get team members and spectators laughing.
Or how about a “Big Top” parachute? Parachutes are so fun and can add to your circus theme if you call it the “Circus Big Top”. The best thing about a parachute is that up to 25-30 people can be kept busy and that there are no actual winners and losers in the games.
It’s important to include activities for family members that don’t want to be as physical as the younger set. Pass out copies of the “How Well Do You Know the Circus?” Quiz and give a box of animal crackers to the person that gets the highest score. Test your circus knowledge with this sample question from the quiz.
1. About how long is the RINGLING BROS. AND BARNUM & BAILEY train?
a. 1 mile
b. 21 cars
c. 1.5 miles
The answer- A, 1 mile.
You can find a copy of the quiz as well as lots of fun activities at familyreunionhelper.com. They are included in the Circus themed reunion.
If you’re looking for a family reunion that gives your family a chance to clown around then a “Circus” theme is the one for you.
Thanks to the Banner family for many of the photos posted in this blog. You can certainly tell that they are a supportive and fun family. Organizer of the Banner reunion was the Ric and Jill Crowther family.
Ladies & Gentlemen,
Children of all Ages…
Family Reunion Helper
is proud to present…
A Circus and Carnival family reunion!
Not everything is new about familyreunionhelper’s “Circus” reunion but we’ve made some changes that we think you’ll love.
Our new fill in the blank Circus invitations are so fun. Just print on cardstock, fill in the blanks and mail to family and friends. There are two styles to choose from and a “save the date” card.
The Circus family now includes circus themed water bottle labels that come in three fun styles and circus bag toppers that can be stapled to bags of popcorn, animal crackers or cotton candy.
Although we’ve included some fun circus printables to our circus theme we’ve kept the tried and true games and activities that we know your family will love.
If you’re looking for a family reunion that gives your family a chance to clown around then a “Circus” theme is the one for you.
