Is there a better reason to throw a big party than to host a big family reunion? Weddings, special birthdays or funerals are the reasons families usually get together on a large scale so a family reunion is a lovely way for you all to come together to celebrate the family itself! 

Family reunions are a chance to meet new additions of the family, young and old. No matter how distant the relative, or how many years have passed by, it will feel like old times when you reconnect with long lost family members to relive stories from your past and create some new memories together! 

Whether you have a large or small family, you can extend the invite to the whole family. You can invite 2nd, 3rd or even 4th removed cousins. You can even have a bit of fun and invite family descendants to find out more about your rich and colourful family!

These days, families have lots of commitments and are scattered all around, which makes it more challenging to organise family reunions. To help you with this colossal task, we have outlined 10 things to help you plan and arrange your family reunion and make it a party everyone will cherish for years to come!

1. Start planning a year or more in advance 

Start planning at least a year in advance if you can! You want to ensure your family members can attend so you will need to give everyone plenty of notice so they can mark the date in their diary. You'll also need enough time to plan and organise this big event.

First things first, make a list of all family members and check their contact details are up to date (email address, current home address and phone numbers). Reach out to others to help you track down family members or you can use social media or other online resources. Make up a master record for family contact details which you can use for this and any future family events. 

Planning in advance is also important to allow you time to work out the budget, have a better choice of venues, flights and accommodation and will also mean that you can shop around for the best prices.

2. Choose a committee of helpers 

Planning a family event of any size is a massive undertaking so choose some key, respected (and popular) family members to make up a party planning committee. The committee can help you plan and organise the party (it's not possible to do everything yourself!) Committee members need to be reliable, organised, helpful, capable and they also need to understand the smaller details of family dynamics and individual circumstances. Perhaps choose a matriarch for each branch of the family to help you?

The number of committee members you choose will depend on the size of the event. For a small event, a few helpers are all you need. For a large event (where there are over 100 of people attending), you'll need many more helpers to plan and organise the party and it may be better to assign specific roles to everyone to help with: 

• Tracking down and contacting relatives.
• Choosing the date, theme and location of the party.
• Organising travel arrangements and accommodation.
• Overseeing the catering (purchasing and preparing the food and drinks or booking a caterer).
• Helping to set up the party and clearing away after the party.
• Purchasing the decorations and decorating the venue on the day of the party.
• Managing the budget.
• Arranging party games and activities.
• Organising the smaller details (such as car pools, last minute problems, contingency and back up plans).
• Organising a welcoming party to make introductions, hand out name tags and managing the signing in book.

As the event organiser, you will oversee everything and liaise with each committee member to ensure things run smoothly so make sure you check in with commitee members at regular intervals to see how they are getting on - check if they need extra assistance if the work load is too much. 

3. Send out a poll to all family members 

We all lead such busy lives so the best thing you should do from the start is send out a poll to find out what date / location / venue suits the majority. Explain in a cover email that you are arranging a family reunion and would love it if they could make it. Personalise this to each guest, for example, ask how they are and share some news about you. The short poll or survey should get an idea of their availability and garner some ideas about the type of events they prefer. 

Some ideas for things you can ask in the poll are: 

• What dates are you free?
• What is your preferred date and time?
• Are there any dates you cannot make it?
• Where you would like to hold the reunion?
• What theme would you like?

A good tool to use to set up a survey is Survey Monkey or use a Facebook survey. 

4. Raise funds and work out a budget

How can you raise the funds to pay for the reunion? There's a few different ways to fundraise, such as charging a party registration fee per family, charging for tickets on the day, collecting donations from guests (depending on what they can afford) and organising fundraising events such as an auction or yard sale. If some families cannot afford much, maybe they can offer to contribute to the party in other ways, such as volunteering their time to help with the party. 

Once you have an idea of the funds you expect to come in, you can plan the party based on the available budget. 

5. Pick the date, location and venue

Speak to the committee and refer to the results of the family reunion poll to help you decide on a date and location for the family reunion. Once you choose a date, stick to it no matter what! Go with the majority and remember that you cannot please everyone. 

Are you holding a day or a weekend long event? This will depend on the size of the party and whether some people have to arrange accommodation as they live far away. Either way, choose a central location that is accessible, convenient and affordable for everyone. Ensure there is adequate accommodation in the area, with good transport links and available parking. 

Ideas for accommodation: 

• Book out a campsite which you can use as the venue as well.
• A lodge or hotel room can offer more privacy and guests can choose their accommodation based on their affordability.
• Other guests close to the family reunion location can offer a place to stay at their home.
• If everyone can afford it, choose a vacation family reunion - some people have arranged to meet up on a cruise liner where accommodation ranges from budget to luxury cabins.
• Make sure there are a range of accommodation options to suit everyone.

Ideas for a party venue: 

• A local park or a beach would be great venues where you can have a barbeque or picnic with the option of having outdoor games.
• A community hall is an affordable all-rounder and is ideal for a buffet or catering.
• Arrange to host the party at someone’s home (if they have enough space) and set up an event shelter outside.
• For something simple, you arrange to meet up for a meal in a local restaurant.
• Make sure you consider how accessible the venue is to ensure it is suitable for anyone with disabilities, ensure it is suitable for children and make sure it has enough facilities for your guests (such as toilets).

6. Party themes and decorations

Depending on where you hold the family reunion, there's a range of themes to choose from. Check the poll results to see what ideas the family has come up with and the committee can narrow down a theme that suits everyone. 

Popular ideas for themes are: Sporting themes, family history and cultural themes, a musical theme (do you have any contacts from a local band or are there budding musicians or singers in the family?) 

Keep the decorations simple. Use banners, balloons, pictures, bunting, table decorations or pictures of family trees (each branch of the family can donate their family trees for this).  Country Living has some original ideas for DIY decorations. 

7. Catering and drinks

Depending on the budget and preferences, there's a range of catering options to choose from. For the outdoors, a barbeque or picnic is a great option so people can either bring their own food or the budget can pay for the food and drinks for everyone. Alternatively, you can arrange a pot luck where each guest brings their speciality dish and the budget provides the other basic food items and drinks. You can use to budget to pay for a buffet spread or arrange an outside caterer. Or you may prefer to arrange to eat at a restaurant.

8. Send out the invites and ask guests to RSVP

Send out the invites as soon as possible so each guest can reserve the date and start making plans for their travel and accommodation. Ask about any allergies, dietary and accessibility needs on the invitation. Put an RSVP date on the invite to set a deadline for responses from guests to confirm their attendance. Drawing up a list of guests who will be attendant is essential as as you need guest numbers to arrange the food, venue and accommodation. MyParty has a free invite template you can personalise to email to your guests and also has an online RSVP tool. 

9. Party games and activities

You can choose games based on the party theme, location and time of year.

• Outdoor games are popular: slip and slide, funny races (such as a three legged or sack race), ball games, a limbo game using a long poll or group sport games.
• For the children or young at heart you can set up little stations with activities like giant Jenga, board games, water based games for the children to cool down on a hot day, arts and crafts, a treasure hunt, a bouncy castle, bubbles or a choice of toys.
• Arrange a story telling circle or set up a table for each family member to bring some family treasures, mementos, family trees or family photos to share with everyone. MyParty website also has an option for you and your guests to upload images and videos of the family reunion for everyone to share before and after the event.
• Arrange a talent show or a karaoke for budding artists (young and old) to take part in.
• Ask each member of the family to contribute towards some family trivia questions to ask in a quiz to see how many guess the answers correctly!
• Play traditional games such as charades or family favourites such as musical chairs.

10. And finally...

We hope you all enjoy the family reunion and to ensure things run smoothly, make sure you plan for all eventualities such as weather, transport delays and anything else that may go wrong. Committee members can sort out any last minute emergencies as they happen but having back-up plans certainly helps with these!

Some online resources can help you plan the family reunion such as Ancestry.com where you can build family tree and search for your ancestors and Family Tree Magazine has a number of tutorials from making a family tree to planning a family reunion. You can also search your family history and locate family members using public records, the national archives and other online resources such as social media.

A great checklist to help you plan a timeline for the family reunion can be found on checklist.com.