What about having a family reunion ?

A family reunion would be a wonderful opportunity to get together with your living relatives, and also to do plenty of family history research.Make sure you have plenty of Family Group Sheets on hand to get everyone to fill out all they know about their family. I've spoken to people on the telephone and by email, and they promise to provide information, but only about 20% of people actually do it unless you continually follow them up. Make sure you get everyone to bring old photo's and documents and other family history stuff with them as this will all help in your search for your ancestors, and will make a wonderful exhibit for other family members to view on the day. It's a great way to get people talking!

Now as anyone knows a whole lot of organizing and planning is going to be required to have a successful family reunion. I'll outline a few basic things for you to think about before you start something that gets completely out of control. Naturally it would be great if you have someone in the family who is a fantastic organizer!

Some basic considerations are:-

• How many people can we handle coming to this reunion?
• How far back should we go, descendants of G.G Grandfather or G.G.G Grandfather and so on?
• What percentage of people will actually attend?
• Do you want it to be a day event or perhaps a 2 day event?
• Should we book out a restaurant or have a barbecue in the park or at home?
• What type of activities should we have to keep them entertained and bring them all closer together?
• Where can everyone stay overnight or the weekend?
• Perhaps get an organization committee together at least 6 to 12 months before the event. The more helpers the better, but make sure someone is in charge!
• How much can we charge people to cover costs? People can be a bit funny when it comes to money. These are just a few things to consider before you jump into holding a reunion event.

Software and Reunion Help.
A website that is really dedicated to helping you with your family reunion is Family-Reunion.com , they specialize in getting you prepared for the big day. They even have family reunion software to make it that much easier for you to keep track of what you are doing.

Setting up a Website
You can even setup a website for the event, so that people can check the progress and direct missing relatives to it, you could include access to the family tree, and perhaps include a directory of people with names address etc, include old photo's and stories and invite others to send in any interesting photo's and stories that they have.

Make sure you promote the event, and get your relatives actively involved in tracking down those long lost relatives. You will find that most people will look forward to the event with great anticipation.

Most importantly make sure that you enjoy yourself on the day. A well organized event will mean that it will run smoothly for you!

Good Luck!

See you again soon.