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Aunt Lynn’s Camping Match Game has been a favorite activity at our family reunions for over 20 years. You play this game like you do most match games but instead of only one winner, everyone that finds a match receives a prize.
To play the game lay the cards face down on a flat surface.
Youngest player goes first.
Players take turns turning over 2 cards at a time.
The cards must be turned over completely so that all players can see them. A player makes a “match” if the two cards turned over are identical. (When printing the cards you will need to make two copies)
When a match is made the player puts the pair of cards beside them and takes the prize associated with that match. (see list below) and the next player takes their turn. We don’t let the person that finds a match continue to make matches until they don’t make a match. That way more people are able to earn prizes.
Examples of prizes for matches include-
Hike- Rocky Road
Logs- Tootsie Roll
Mosquitos- Slap Stick
Mountains- Mounds
You can give a grand prize to the player with the most matches if you want to.
You can download the complete printable game here.
My family is really enjoying punch boards. A punch board is an exciting way to award prizes. This game show activity allows each person to punch through the tissue paper to find a toy or treat, or whatever you decide to put in it. We have even put gift cards in them. Punch boards are perfect for family reunions, especially if your theme is a circus or carnival theme.
You’ve seen punch boards on the popular TV game show, The Price is Right, but a punch board can be a fun addition to your family reunion. A punch board is a fun way to distribute prizes bit you can also use a punch board to make assignments or choose what activity you will do next.
A larger board can also be a fair way to divide into teams- for example- write families names on slips of paper (Aunt Geri’s family or Uncle Dan’s family etc.) Punch two or more holes- those families join together to make a tug a war, softball or family skit group. You can use the same strategy to assign seating for meals to mix things up a bit.
We have one punch board at our house that we change to fit the theme of the party we are having. If you’re having a super hero party or reunion the punch board becomes the perfect- Smash Hulk board.
To create your punch board you will need:
The first punch board we created we used one sheet of tissue paper to cover the entire back of the board. Since then we have found that covering each hole with individual squares seems to work best as punching one hole may pull the paper from around other holes. Tape each square securely around individual holes.
There are several options for hiding prizes behind your punch board. My favorite option is plastic bowls. Carefully run a line of hot glue around the rim of your bowl and attach it to the inside of the tissue covered holes, with the prize inside. Be sure and put your prize or secret message inside the bowl before attaching it to the board. Other options include taping a lunch sack to the back of each hole or plastic sandwich bags.
Punch boards also make fun advent calendars. Create yours with 24 holes and 24 prizes. Punch out one prize each day to help count down days until Christmas or your favorite holiday.
It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t admit to you that building your own punch board may drive your crazy. Taping all the bags on the back and making sure the prizes stay in place can be frustrating so if you don’t want to go through the hassle of making your own punch board you can purchase a reasonably priced board by following this link.
I’ve been a Shrinky Dink fan for probably 30 years or better, way before they had the fancy kits they have now. When I first started making Shrinky DInks we called them Shrink Art and we used either plain sheets of plastic or clean or clear #6 plastic we got from the bakery.
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, Shrink Art is made with thin plastic sheets that shrink down about 45% when you put them in the oven. Not only does the material shrink, but whatever artwork you draw/print on them will also shrink with it. So, you can draw and color a design in it’s large form where it is easy to see and work with and then shrink it down so it is more the size of a charm or an ornament.
I love to use shrink art for family reunions and parties. They make great dog tags, charms, pins and beads. Our Oz inspired family reunion includes a template to be used with Shrink Art. We had so much fun making the dog tags and our family loved wearing them during the reunion.
To make Shrink Art,preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
Trace your design on the plastic using a permanent marker such as a Sharpie marker. You can draw your own design or trace a clip art picture you found on the internet or use a coloring page.
Color your picture with permanent markers or colored pencils. If your plastic has a rough side, color on that side.
Cut out your picture and if you will be putting it on a string or chain punch a hole in it. You will not be able to make any holes or cuts once your picture has baked as it will be too thick.
Line a cookie sheet or tray with foil or baking paper. Arrange your pictures,color side up on the tray.
Bake in the oven for 3- 5 minutes. Keep your eye on them as they bake (that’s half the fun). At first your pictures will curl up but don’t panic, they will flatten out again. Once they flatten out bake for a few more seconds then remove from the oven. If they aren’t quite flat you can flatten them by pressing them a little more with a hot pad or wooden spoon.
When cooled remove them from the pan and you’re ready to use and enjoy your Shrink Art.
The Shrinky Dinks brand makes some fun pre-printed designs that you can purchase if you want to try out the process before striking out on your own. You can purchase the pre- printed Shrinky Dink designs or sheets of plain Shrinky Dink plastic by following the link below.
Easter Eggs, Horses & Family
Our Stewart family’s horseback Easter egg hunt has become a tradition that we have celebrated for the past seven years, ever since we moved to Bear River City. Easter is one of my favorite holidays and horses are my favorite animal, so it just seemed natural to put them together.
I tell my adult children, “I don’t care if I have to share you on Christmas and Thanksgiving, but I want you for the Saturday before Easter.” And they come, sometimes bringing friends or other family members. Each year it seems our family changes and grows and we plan our Easter egg hunt around those changes.
To make things more fair for the inexperienced and younger riders, Uncle Steven and I hide the eggs according to color. Each rider has a different color or style of egg. For instance, last year we had basketball eggs for Kory, purple eggs for Megan, football eggs for Ryan, chicken shaped eggs for Brynna, pink eggs for Janie, and so forth.
We’ve been collecting eggs for years, and since we ask everyone to leave their eggs and just take the candy home, we have quite a collection. Assigning each rider their own color makes it possible for us to hide the eggs according to the rider’s ability. Uncle Steven especially likes to hide eggs in unusual places- like hanging them from tree branches.
A few of our family members are experienced riders and we love hiding their eggs in difficult locations- over ditches, in trees, through gates and around obstacles such as wood piles and water hazards. For our lower level riders, we have a rule that you have to be touching some part of your horse when you pick up an egg. This makes it possible for riders with less experience to get off their horse to get an egg.
Last year we added “jumbo” sized eggs to the hunt and they sure made things more challenging and interesting .
After the riders find their designated colored eggs, they are allowed to hunt for the prized golden eggs, which hold items like movie tickets, gift certificates and money.
This is the most exciting part of the hunt, as riders become a little more daring and often find themselves racing for the same golden egg as another rider.
Last year we had more little ones, so we did a hunt for them before the adult riding hunt began. We have to work the hunt around the weather, so it usually begins at about 11:00. Following the hunt, we usually play with the horses, give them their annual vaccinations and worm them, eat barbecue and potato salad and play badminton.
This year we add a new son-in-law and grandson to the mix so we’ll need two more colors of eggs and two more chairs at our Easter table. And as our family continues to grow and change, so will our Easter Egg hunt.
As for our horses, they aren’t too fond peanut butter eggs or jelly beans but they do receive their own prizes in the form of carrots, apples and other treats.
Aunt MO
If you get melted chocolate all over your hands, you’re eating it too slowly.
If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves.
Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.
When my kids were little, it became tradition at my house to have “funny” food for one of our April Fools Day meals. For many years I made “Flannel” pancakes. I don’t know why but I fooled my family for probably 5 years in a row with my flannel pancakes.
Now that my kids are grown with kids of their own we continue the tradition but have added additional pranks- my favorite being my delicious Aprils Fools Brownies. Actually they are BROWN- E’s.
Brown- E’s
To make my delicious Brown-E’s I put a bunch of brown capitol E’s in my special brownie pan and cover it with foil. At the end of dinner I ask everyone if they still have room for a brown-E. This prank has been going on for about 3 years and I’m afraid this year the older grandkids will remember this trick.
Another fun way I’ve fooled my grandkids, which all live with a 1/2 mile of my house, is to put a “For Sale” in my front yard. They didn’t that was very funny and fortunately, neither did our good neighbors.
Frozen Breakfast
Put cereal and milk in a bowl and let it freeze overnight. You can freeze it with the spoon in it or not. The next morning right before breakfast, take the bowl out of the freezer and pour a little bit of fresh milk on top.When your hungry kids try to dig in, they’ll find that their cereal won’t budge.
Flannel Pancakes
When cooking pancakes put a piece of white flannel, about 3”x3”, into each pancake and cook as usual. Flannel makes pancakes impossible to cut and eaters will become quite frustrated until they realize they’ve been fooled. This is an easy trick to do when serving many people. Put one flannel pancake on a plate with two or three other pancakes.
Non-drinkable Juice
What you’ll need:
Clear drinking glasses, Jell-o, Straws
The night before make some jell-o in clear juice glasses. Use a flavor that matches the juice they drink – such as grape, orange etc. Fill the glass about ¾ full and after it starts to set, insert a drinking straw. Once it is set, it will look like a normal glass of juice with a straw in it. Simply set it at their place at the breakfast table. Provide spoons so they can eat the gelatin when they realize they can’t drink it.
And here’s one more fun idea. Take a few quarters and Gorilla glue them on the sidewalk or walkway leading up to your house. When the grandkids, or your guests, try to pick them up they’re stuck. Warning- the glue will leave a dark spot on your concrete when you pry it off.
At Familyreunionhelper.com we sell reunion theme packages. What’s a theme package you ask? Most of our digital downloads include 45 or more pages of invitations, name tags, water bottle labels, games,activities, templates and printables that compliment the theme you have chosen.
The following is an example of a name tag from our Heritage Reunion.
This cute invitation is from our Circus reunion. Just print it off and then fill in the blanks with your personalized reunion information.
Our Caveman reunion invitation is sure to get the kids excited about attending all the prehistoric fun.
Water bottle labels are a wonderful way to address your reunion theme and if everyone writes their name on the label, bottles don’t get mixed up or lost as easily.
Our theme packages also include pages and pages or games and activities that go along with the theme you’ve chosen. You can spend hours searching the web for your ideas but these have been tried and tested and we know they work. Here’s a page from our Superhero reunion.
Our reunion theme packages include tons of extras like these certificates from our Medieval Reunion and printable signs from our “No Place Like Home”, Oz inspired reunion.
Each of our reunion theme packages includes printable games and puzzles that go along with your theme. Like this Valentine’s game that is part of our “Home for the Holidays” reunion.
Our reunion themes also include food ideas that compliment your theme. Check out this recipe for “Parrot” (tastes a lot like chicken”)- it serves 100.
Serves 100.
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 ounces dehydrated onions
7 pounds 3 ounces catsup
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 pound 8 ounces brown sugar, packed
48 pounds chicken, cut-up
For barbecue sauce: Simmer chicken stock and onions over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add catsup, garlic powder, and brown sugar. Simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside.
Rinse chicken in cold water. Drain well. Arrange 25 pieces of chicken on each sheet pan (18 x 26 x 1 inch). Brush 3/4 to 1 quart of barbecue sauce over chicken in each pan. Bake uncovered until tender, checking frequently. Cook in conventional oven at 425 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Many of our themes have printable food tents like our Western Reunion food tent featured here.
We’ve tried to think of everything we could to make your reunion planning easier and less stressful. Check out Family Reunion Helper.com today and choose the reunion theme package that best suites your family. You can be sure that each package is jammed packed of ideas, game, activities and printables to get your creative juices flowing. Click on our logo below and follow the link.
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:
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.
Check out this fun Olympic themed crossword taken from the pages of our Olympic themed family reunion and party.
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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.
