Family Reunion Ideas Activities

Fun Family Reunion Ideas and Activities!

Every once in a while we will meet up with our relatives and share with them our latest news. But what family reunion ideas and activities can you think of to play with them?

Family Reunion Ideas Activities

You want to make it more interesting than sitting down all afternoon, or maybe all day, and just chatting.

That is why I want to show you 10 activities that the whole family can take part in, (in some capacity at least).

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Express Your Thoughts Below!

I would love to hear from you.

When Does Your Family Get Together?

Family reunions can be an annual event, or they may happen every few years or so.

Birthdays, weddings, and even engagement parties are also an opportunity to catch up with your cousins, uncles, aunts, and so on.

When does your family all get together?

Is it a regular occasion?

Does every family member attend?

Planning your family reunion!

Before I continue to show you cool ideas and activities there are a few things that you will need to think about and do.

Please watch this short video that explains what you need to do before you gather everyone together and have fun.

Credit:   Gathered Again

What you need to do:

  • Invitations – Who will you invite and how will you notify everyone about the reunion and the details?
  • Meal Planning – The guest list will affect what meals you provide, the quantity, and also whether anyone has an allergy.
  • Accommodations – Does anyone have to travel long distances to get to the reunion venue?
  • Travel Reservations – If anyone is from out of town will they stay with relatives or at a hotel?
  • Activities – The fun stuff. Please check below for my top 10 activities and ideas for you all to take part in.
  • Prizes – Make the reunion even more fun by awarding prizes to the winner(s). This could encourage everyone to join in.
  • Entertainment – Will you need background music, face painting for the kids, etc?

You cannot possibly consider doing all of this planning on your own.

So, share the workload around and get other family members to help you and also give their input.

Please be advised that your budget may affect who you invite and also where the reunion will take place.

It may upset family members if they are not invited, so how about everyone chips in to pay for expenses.


Getting Everyone Involved With The Family Reunion!

It won’t be much fun if everyone is not interacting and having fun. You don’t want to see Aunt July sitting on her own at a table or cousin Todd alone at the bar.

Family Reunion Everyone Involved

What sort of reunion is that right?

Reconnecting each other!

If that is the case then you might think to yourself what was the point of a family reunion in the first place.

It may be though that they haven’t seen each other in so long and that they don’t how to break the ice.

They know that they are related but they don’t know-how.

I wrote a recent post that included a family relationship chart that can show you how you are all related. Please check it out.

Or the reason why they are not interacting may be because they may just be shy and need someone to help introduce each other.

How to get the family reunion started?

If you have taken the responsibility of organizing your family reunion then you will also need to make sure that everyone is having fun.

You may though wish to delegate that task to someone else or a few family members.

Whoever you decide though it needs to be a person who has a personality. It needs to be someone who is approachable and who can instill fun into people.

And importantly someone who can encourage others to join in with the games and activities that you will be playing.

Suggestions to introduce each other

Display your genealogy research

Have a table set up showing family trees, photos, research, and anything else that you think will be of interest. Don’t go overboard with the display though as you don’t want to overwhelm people.

Having a display though will be a great talking point.

Distribute a survey

You can treat this like a game where you go around from person to person asking questions if you are not sure of the answer.

Ask questions such as, “which family member recently got married in California“, or “who has recently retired and has taken up golf?“.

You don’t need to have the same questions listed on each person’s copy of the survey. Try though to include questions that will relate to each family member.

Find someone who

Similar to the survey activity you can go around and find people who can juggle, who can sing, or who can yodle.

It doesn’t matter what criteria that you select. This activity will make you interact with each other.

Photo babies

How about you gather photos of your family members as a baby. The family then guess who they are.

As some of the photos may show signs of age you may want to scan them and then display them as black and white pictures instead.

Photo display

A great way to introduce each other to your life is in pictures. So, bring along pictures of your home, your car, your neighborhood, your hobby, etc.

You could otherwise make this a game where everyone guesses who the display matches.

Write your bio

It doesn’t have to be a story, just a few key points about your life. You could also include little-known facts and then the rest of the family, (or a group of family members), can guess who they correspond to.

Which one to go for?

You can choose one, a few, or all of these activities if you wish. The point though is that you want to break the ice and get people talking.

So, whatever you do choose it will be the right choice.

And one thing that I must stress is that these activities can be played throughout the family reunion.

Not just at the beginning.


The Family Reunion Ideas and Activities!

The icebreakers that I suggested in the previous section were all to do with introducing yourself. They focused on your family history.

Family Reunion Games

But that doesn’t need to be the case with the following ideas and activities that I will discuss here.

Firstly though I would like to acknowledge Michelle Valenti from Reserve America for the following suggestions.

1. Charades

Everyone knows this very popular game, and why not because it’s so much fun to play.

You can decide whether you want to play a traditional game set or maybe you would like to come up with your suggestions.

You may want someone to help you with ideas for your version.

Traditional categories include:

  • Book
  • Famous person
  • A saying
  • Movie
  • Song

Please check How to Play Charades for directions on how to play the game.

2. Egg and Spoon Race

Another very popular game to play is the good old fashion Egg and Spoon Race. Although not everyone will be able to play.

But that’s OK because grandma Peg can cheer on from the sidelines.

Your family will first need to pair up and decide who will go first. You will then need to stand 30 feet apart, (or however far you wish).

Then place the spoon in your mouth, place the egg on the spoon and then run to your partner.

Make sure though that you do not drop the egg! If you do then you and your partner are out of the game.

Once you have got to your partner it is then their turn to run back with the egg to the side that you started from.

And obviously, the first one back is the winner.

3. Family Talent Show

Everyone has a talent, don’t they?

Sure I can juggle, a bit. I need practice though but I’m sure that I could put on a show, lol.

So, what special talent do you think your family members can do?

Well, why not stage a family talent show?

It will be best though if they are forewarned because nobody likes to be put on the spot.

Unless of course, they relish the limelight.

Talent ideas:

  • Sing a song
  • Play a musical instrument
  • Perform an act with a partner, could be dramatic or one of your favorite comedy routines
  • Perform a dance
  • Recite a poem
  • Juggle, (something I need to practice)

4. Family Trivia

Who doesn’t like a quiz?

I love them. I don’t have the opportunity to go to pub quizzes, (I have small children), but I love watching quiz shows on TV.

So why not host your very own quiz?

You can find general knowledge questions on the Internet. Trust me there’s plenty out there.

Or you could come up with your questions.

My distribute survey suggestion above could be used here. Although with this game you will need plenty of questions, maybe up to 30 if you wish.

To get answers for your family reunion you can send out questionnaires.

The questions could be the same for each family member, but could also ask questions respective of the person you are asking.

For example, you could ask what year that your Uncle Fred married Aunt Jane.

5. Make A Family Album

I must admit that not everyone will take part fully in this activity, but everyone can at least bring in photographs that they don’t mind being cut up and pasted into an album.

All you need to do is set up an area where your family members can go from time to time.

It doesn’t have to be a huge group, just a few at a time. Although having a couple would be good as they can talk together while they cut and paste.

You will need the following:

  • An album
  • Blank pages
  • Stickers, stamps, and glitter
  • Glue
  • Scissors, (make sure that they are child-safe)
  • Crayons, markers, colored pens, and pencils

6. Play Ball

Yet another activity that is very popular at family gatherings. Although again the older members of the family will not be able to take part.

But they can at least cheer on from the sidelines.

The great thing is that you can decide what ball game that you want to play, and you can also set the rules if you wish. You may even want to play a few games, and that’s cool.

Ball games to play:

  • American football
  • Baseball or softball
  • Soccer
  • Volleyball

7. The Banana Game

You may not have heard of this game and quite frankly I didn’t until I read about it. But it does sound like a lot of fun.

It’s quite wacky really, pretty similar to the Egg and Spoon Race in that regard.

Everyone who wants to play has a piece of string tied around their waist with a length of it reaching the ground.

A banana is then tied on the end so that it is just above the ground.

The idea is then to knock a ball from the starting position to the finish line. You will need to be quite active as you will be swinging your hips quite a bit for this game.

So it isn’t for everyone in that regard. You may want to tell your family beforehand if they are not familiar with the game.

And again like the Egg and Spoon Race the first person to cross the finish line wins.

8. Scavenger Hunt

Always good with children but that doesn’t mean that adults can’t join in as well.

You may want to hide objects so that your family can scavenge for them, a traditional scavenger hunt.

Or you may want to set clues. So the person, pair, or group has a clue which will then lead on to the next clue.

This can then ultimately lead to a treasure of some kind.

9. Story Time

This is a great activity for when the party is winding down and everyone has enjoyed playing the games that you have organized.

If you have a campfire going then this is a great opportunity for everyone to sit down and tell stories.

It could be about themselves or another family member. You may though want to prepare people for this activity.

Sometimes it can be difficult to think of a story on the spot.

So, having some time to think about this is a good idea.

If the story is embarrassing for someone else you may want to check with them first if it is OK to say.

Also, another good tip is to come up with stories that you think may not have been heard by others.

There’s nothing worse than listening to the same story for the umpteenth time.

10. Water Balloon Toss

A popular game that can be played during the summer months is the good old fashion Water Balloon Toss.

For this game, you will need to stand in pairs.

The object of the game is to toss a balloon filled with water and then toss it to your partner and not let it pop.

Every time that you successfully toss the balloon you will then need to take a step back and then toss again.

And the winner then is the last pair who have not let their balloon pop.


My Final Thoughts!

Wow, that is quite a selection of fun games and activities that you can do with your family during reunions?

As I mentioned earlier in the post you want to get everyone involved.

You don’t want some family members just sitting alone at a table or drinking at the bar.

Where’s the fun in that?

It is a family reunion after all and you may not have seen them in quite a while.

So, why not play the games and get interacting.

Please check out 29 Fun Camping Games for Kids, Families, Adults, Campfire 29 Fun Camping Games for Kids, Families, Adults, Campfire at OutsideHow.

Here you will find a lot of fun different activities and games that kids and adults of all ages can play together. Also included are videos to show you how each activity and game is to be played.

Learn about your family history too!

As this is a genealogy site I do want to urge you though to find out more about your family history.

This is a great opportunity to get facts about your ancestors, learn new stories, or try to break down some brick walls and get some answers.

The survey and trivia activities discussed in this post though will help you to get some much-needed research.

But a family reunion can be a good occasion to hear stories, especially at the campfire.

For that reason, you may want to bring a pad and pen to jot the points of the stories down.

If you are a bit fuzzy with the details later on when you type them up then you can always contact your relative to set you straight.

I’m sure that they would appreciate you taking the time to speak with them.

This can then lead to visiting your relative so that you can interview with them.

My Top 20 Family History Interview Questions post will show you how to prepare for an interview and give you questions that you can ask them.


Thank You and Please Leave A Comment

I hope you enjoyed this post showing you fun family reunion ideas and activities. If you have any questions or comments then please leave a comment below.

Please share with family and friends if you think this post will help others by using the social media buttons below.

Summary
Article Name
Family Reunion Ideas and Activities
Description
Learn more about your ancestors with these fun family reunion ideas and activities. Get the party started, and play 10 different fun games with your family.
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The Genealogy Guide
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16 thoughts on “Fun Family Reunion Ideas and Activities!”

  1. Hi Owain,

    My family usually has reunions at Thanksgiving, Christmas or the Super Bowl. We watch football or basketball on TV and talk about various current or personal topics. Your website does bring back memories of playing monopoly,opening gifts and looking at travel pictures with family.

    Thanks,
    Roger

  2. The tips on the certain games that can be played at the reunion helped. i agree that at times, even at weddings, I feel akward breaking the ice with someone that i don’t know. Thank you for the tips

    1. It is difficult to break the ice, unless you are a very out going person. Once the ice has broken you can be talking for hours and really enjoy the occasion.

  3. These are some really great ideas! I never thought about doing a survey to get to know people? It is usually awkward with large family reunions especially with family that you haven’t seen all year and don’t connect with. Thank you!

    1. Surveys are a great idea and I can vouch for them. I once created one in school as I wanted to know more about the new friend that I made. That was the best decision that I ever made as we became quite close friends.

  4. Hi Owain, this such a great idea and I love your ideas. My family is kind of dwindling and are somewhat spread out, so the photo babies idea, I love. I have my immediate family here and of course we get together for all holidays, but reunion’s it is a different story. I am going to at least use the babies photo idea and possibly more. Thanks so much, great post.

    1. Thanks Bobbi for taking on the photo babies idea. That is a really good one. I do think it best that all the photos appear the same. That way you can’t really tell the age of them.

  5. Owain!

    This is an interesting website
    I really enjoyed it, I personally love family, holidays, any special occasion so i can spend time with them.

    Lately one needs an excuse to see far away family, right?

    Would enjoy reading more, so keep posting!

    1. Thank you Candice, I a man glad that you enjoyed. Underneath it all this is a family website, so I like to focus on relationships and holidays.

      I’ve got some really interesting reads coming up so keep checking back for more. Or follow me on my social media links.

    1. Thank you Hamid. There are plenty of suggestions here to keep your family happy. And you don’t have to do all of them for one reunion. Try to mix and match.

  6. My family has a reunion every second Sunday in June. Same place every year, so no need to send invites. It has always been my favorite gathering for years, but sadly, the attendance has greatly decreased as the older relatives have passed on. Our generation is screwing this up!

    1. That’s great that you have a regular reunion. It is a shame that the younger ones don’t attend though. They must realize that family is family, and if they don’t continue to come then they won’t be around for much longer.

  7. Sad to say Owain that most of the time my family only gets together during funerals.
    Weddings are getting more and more rare as people don’t get married anymore.
    New relatives pop up all the time as people get divorced one month and pop up with a new partner and family the next. Quite often I find myself asking people at family gathering , so who are you then?
    If divorce parties take off like i predict they will then maybe there will be a lot more chances for family reunions.:)

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