Planning a Family Reunion 2023
This article has been updated on 2/21/22.
Elevate your event with family reunion t-shirts.
Hosting a family reunion is a wonderful way to bring your loved ones together and strengthen your family ties. Many families are willing to travel long distances to attend a reunion, making it a great opportunity to catch up and celebrate important milestones such as weddings, births, graduations, and career advancements. However, planning a successful family reunion can be a daunting task, especially if you’re new to the process.
If you’re a first-time host, don’t worry! The details below will help you get started on planning a memorable family reunion. And if you’re an experienced host, we’ve compiled a list of valuable resources to help you take your reunion to the next level.
By following the steps below, you can ensure that your family reunion is a huge success. From setting a budget and choosing a location to planning activities and creating a menu, we’ll guide you through every stage of the planning process.
So, whether you’re a seasoned pro or a first-time host, our guide will provide you with the information and resources you need to plan a memorable family reunion that everyone will enjoy. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to strengthen your family bonds and create lasting memories.
When To Start Planning
The first order of business is to gauge the level of interest and plan for the number of attendees, decide the dates, and possible locations that will work for your family. Assuming most people have a social media account, you could post and tag each of your family members there to start a stir. If they only have email, you should reach out to them personally. If email isn’t an option, a letter or phone call will have to do. There are many resources to collaborate on a time, location, and assign tasks. A few that we recommend are:
Evite
Evite helps to create e-invitations and send them through email or text. You can track your RSVPs and ask your attendees to sign up to bring items like food, giveaways, and more. You can even request donations for the event within the invitation to help cover reunion expenses.
Meet-Up
Meetup is a platform built to help people find and build local communities. Meetup is commonly used to meet new people but is also great for organizing a family reunion.
Make sure to plan ahead when organizing a family reunion (even 6 months in advance). The beginning steps of organizing your attendees can take time to organize.
Find Volunteers
Planning a successful event can be a daunting task, even for the most seasoned event-planning superheroes. That’s why it’s important to ask for help and delegate tasks to dependable and energetic volunteers.
To ensure that your family reunion goes off without a hitch, it’s essential to assign tasks to specific individuals or committees. These tasks include making reservations for the location, planning the menu, confirming details, decorating, organizing activities and excursions (if your reunion will span multiple days), hiring a dedicated photographer, and coordinating the cleanup crew.
Ideally, you should select volunteers for these tasks at least four months ahead of your chosen reunion dates. It’s important to prioritize the reservation and handling of the location and to have several backup volunteers in case your primary appointee is unable to fulfill their duties.
To streamline the volunteer coordination process, you can use VolunteerSpot, a scheduling tool that offers calendars, sign-up sheets, and the ability for volunteers to view your schedule. Best of all, VolunteerSpot is free to use!
Choosing A Location
When choosing your locale, keep in mind the different levels of physical ability your attendees have. Also, keep in mind financial resources. Ask yourself if an expensive resort is the best choice for families with lots of children or single parents on their own? You can request volunteers when making your outreach to attendees. With platforms like AirBNB, you can also choose to stay in someone’s home vs a resort. Many properties can accommodate larger groups and make AirBNB a viable option for your family reunion.
This AirBNB in Dallas, TX would great for a family reunion.
Looking to take your family reunion outdoors? Some of the most popular destinations are parks, lakes, and campgrounds. Because of this, they tend to become booked up pretty quickly in the summer months. One of the best resources to find and review potential outdoor venues is The National Park Services website, choose your state and find basic information about all the parks available in your neck of the woods. State or city tourist and visitor guides can also be helpful to locate options you may not have even thought of such as a guest ranch or farm. These sites also offer deals on local attractions and excursion ideas. State vacation guides offer additional links to resources and discounts along with temperature expectations for your family reunion dates and available amenities.
Planning and scheduling a menu can coincide with the location choice in the form of themes such as a campfire cookout, bbq, seafood buffet, or potluck if there are cooking facilities for each family. If the destination is off the beaten path, make sure to locate the nearest grocery store and include the name and directions in the final invite, RSVP deadline, and published agenda. For potluck, remind each family to bring the appropriate cooking vessels and ingredients.
Family Reunion Swag And Merch
Commemorating your family reunion not only elevates the experience but gives family members something to remember. It’s no secret that custom family reunion tees can really elevate your event. DesignAShirt makes family reunion t-shirt souvenirs an easy, and affordable, option. Some of our design templates have been used annually for nearly 20 years!
Free 10-day shipping means you have ample time to collect t-shirt sizing and payment from your family members. We’ve created a Family Reunion T-Shirt Order Form to make it easy for you. You can print out the form and collect sizing information from your family members as well as payment. Pricing discount increase with volume, so you can estimate your printing costs before you order. Contact us for more information. Click the image below to download your own family reunion t-shirt order form.
Download the family reunion t-shirt order form.
After you’ve collected sizing information, you’ll want a design everyone will love. DesignAShirt offers many customizable family reunion t-shirt templates to make your own shirt. If you find one you like, you can change the color combinations, fonts, and replace lineart with your own custom images or choose something different from our digital library of t-shirt art. The t-shirt product the template is designed on is easily changed too with lots of different options for infants, kids, juniors, women, and unisex options. Ordering your print on different products is no extra charge if the design and ink colors stay the same on the different options. A different size of art for infants and children would incur a small charge since additional printing screens have to be made.
If you want something completely unique to your family, you could ask an artistically inclined family member to come up with a custom design. They would just need to submit the finalized art in a 300 dpi file in the format of .eps, .pdf, .psd, .tiff, .ai, .cdr, .gif, .jpeg, .ppt, .png, or .gif. We have a blog article on designs that you can view for more family reunion design tips.
Want a profession design made for you? Our T-Shirt Concierge offers free expert designs with a rapid turnaround. Create a custom family reunion t-shirt design today at T-Shirt Concierge.
Keeping the costs to a minimum is as simple as choosing a one color design on a lower cost t-shirt product like Hanes Tagless Tee’s, (which is our most popular choice.). Don’t worry though, if you only order 35, you still pay less per piece with every additional shirt. You also don’t have to order personalized t-shirts. A hat or even a tote bag is a fun, creative option too. Take a look at our specialty items, which a great for family reunions.
Excursions and Events
Scout around for the cost and availability of local guides, jeep tours, horseback riding, ATV and bicycle rentals, etc.
Once the location choice, meal planning, and family reunion souvenirs have been finalized and/or reserved, you should have a general idea of how much attendance should cost per person. Fees for additional excursions should be optional or adjusted for individuals that can’t or don’t care to participate. To more accurately quote the price for each individual, you can create a signup form for activities and t-shirt sizes. Add some cushion in the per-person cost in case of unanticipated fees. If there is money left over, you can put it in reserve for next year’s family reunion.
We have found that AirBNB now offers event planning and is a great option.
Tour guides can accommodate families of any size.
Payment and Agenda
There are lots of options for payment collection to the organizers. Here are a few top recommendations according to Nerdwallet.
- #1 for instant transfers: Zelle
- #1 for friend groups: Venmo
- #1 for investors: Cash App
- #1 for frequent online shoppers: PayPal
- #1 for digital wallet users: Google Pay
- #1 for Apple users: Apple Pay Cash
- #1 for social media power users: Social media money transfers
Final Steps
Once you’ve finalized your family reunion details, it’s time to give them to your family members. You should publish your family reunion agenda once it’s finalized. This agenda should include the dates and time, location, activities, projected weather forecast, menus and planned meal times, lodging and rates information if this is not included in the price per attendee, payment due dates, and any additional warnings or notices. You should have this in place at least two months in advance of the family reunion.
Now it’s time to reserve any equipment you’ll be using for the reunion like tables, chairs, tents, stages, generators, food service equipment, heating and cooling, lights, etc. Then confirm attendance and reservations, and prepare any signage if applicable. The countdown is on to your next family reunion!
