There's something truly special about family reunions – providing a golden opportunity to reconnect with loved ones, strengthen bonds, and create precious memories that will be treasured for a lifetime. Whether your family is spread across the globe or only a few towns away, organizing a successful family reunion requires careful planning and consideration. Fear not, for we are here to guide you with invaluable insights and expert tips, ensuring that your trip will be “The Reunion” family members refer to for years to come!
FORM A PLANNING COMMITTEE
Embark on your reunion journey by forming a dedicated planning committee whose first task will be to create and send surveys to all family members. The survey should encompass crucial aspects such as
To streamline this process, leverage user-friendly online survey tools, allowing you to collect and consolidate the survey results effortlessly. Once the surveys are complete, compile the results and create a checklist of various tasks to be accomplished. Start assigning them to the planning committee members. For example, assign information gathering and organizing to one person, lodging research to another, and Itinerary building to yet another. A great online tool to help you organize and coordinate your reunion details where all family members can access itineraries, and maps, share information, store data, and book reservations is Ellipsis Travel. Check it out!
CHOOSE THE DATE AND LOCATION
The survey results should be able to guide you as to the best date and type of place to choose. Most families tend to choose the summer months for reunions since it’s more convenient for relatives with school-age children. Moreover, summer provides ample options for outdoor locations and recreational activities.
Research locations presented in the survey. Whether you are planning an ocean or mountain adventure, domestic or international, available lodging for your group size will be a huge factor to consider. Look into hotel blocks, resorts, campgrounds, or large rental properties, for these havens often extend generous discounts to large groups. Ensure the chosen location boasts ample common spaces, spacious enough to embrace your entire clan.
Equally important are private sanctuaries, offering respite for families to unwind after a long day of togetherness. Remember, when selecting a location, seek a place that caters to diverse interests, abilities, and budgets, featuring various attractions and activities catering to children, teenagers, adults, and seniors alike.
MAKE RESERVATIONS AND CREATE AN ITINERARY
Reserve your lodging early to guarantee availability. Contact the facility and request that a temporary hold be placed on a specified number of rooms or cabins. Subsequently, each attending family should be responsible for booking their own accommodation.
The same goes for transportation. Each family should book their own transportation to and from the reunion. Make sure that everyone shares their travel details or forwards their confirmations to the planning committee so that all arrivals and departures can be added to the itinerary. Tracking that information can facilitate ridesharing and eliminate unnecessary car rentals. Using a travel planning and organization site such as Ellipsis Travel makes the whole process seamless.
Create an itinerary of daily optional activities. It is usually good to provide about 3-4 ideas per day and let the families choose/sign up for what they would like to do. A few ideas could include theme park visits, museums, hiking trails, water sports, or cultural events. You can also use guidebooks and contact local visitors’ bureaus to determine available activities. Reservations will need to be made in advance for some activities, so be sure to encourage families to sign up early. Click here for a list of great activities to include in your itinerary.
Your itinerary should also include mealtimes, locations (i.e., the picnic tables in the grove), and responsibilities of the various families.
MEAL PLANNING
No remarkable reunion is complete without delectable feasts. It’s a good idea to plan for one group meal per day and then have the individual families handle the smaller meals on their own. This approach works especially well when staying at campgrounds, resorts, or large rental properties. For extended reunions, assign different families to prepare meals on specific nights or contribute to a collaborative group meal. Preplanning menus and compiling comprehensive shopping lists will prove invaluable, saving you precious time. Delegate the purchase of necessary items to individual families, ensuring seamless coordination. Entrust one family with acquiring beverages, another with desserts and snacks, and yet another with procuring essential paper goods and utensils. There’s nothing worse than getting to a location and realizing the store is several miles away or certain ingredients are not on hand.
If your reunion involves dining at restaurants, be sure to schedule reservations in advance.
BUDGET AND GROUP EXPENSES
In an ideal scenario, each attending family would be responsible for covering their transportation, lodging, activities, and meals. However, certain expenses pertain to the collective group experience, such as group meals or initial down payments. Although minimizing these expenses is desirable, they are sometimes inevitable. Stay organized by diligently tracking these expenses on your chosen travel organization site, enabling you to divide them equitably among participants at the conclusion of the reunion. Transparently communicate with all family members, ensuring they are aware of their responsibility to contribute to these group expenses.
PLAN FOR A GROUP PHOTO AND PHOTO SHARING
Don’t forget the all-important group photo. Plan for a time when all will be available- usually around mealtime. Consider hiring a photographer to capture the special moment. Once the reunion is over this photo will bring cherished memories for years to come.
Family reunions are all about creating unforgettable memories, and in today's digital era, that often involves capturing countless pictures. However, it can be quite challenging to coordinate a large group and gather all the images in one place. To simplify matters, consider creating an online drive and sharing the link with your family members ahead of time. Even better, use the photo-sharing tools several online travel sites including Ellipsis Travel have created to allow you to upload and share photos within the group. This approach ensures that everyone can access and enjoy all the trip photos without requiring extensive coordination after the journey is over.
Planning a grand family reunion may initially feel like a daunting endeavor, but armed with the wisdom of these expert tips, from choosing your location to itinerary building to photo sharing as well as using some of the free online planning and organization sites, the whole process can become less daunting and downright enjoyable.
Happy planning the best Family Reunion ever!