More Ideas and Suggestions for Family Reunions - Photos, Trading Post - Service

I didn't want to take the time on the other post to go into detail on the games, activities or service projects that I mentioned but will go into them a little bit more here.

The Walking Stick - Everyone can find their own long straight sticks or you an assign someone who may have land in a forest etc to pick some out and bring them. Let everyone know that you will be making walking sticks and if they would like to carve one, they will need to bring carving tools.

I made these with my children one year and I took colored markers, string, feathers, pipe cleaners, bells and little decorative beads such as pony beads for them to decorate the sticks. I haven't scanned those photos yet so I don't have a picture of those to post but we used them several times to go hiking before they "out grew" those sticks.

For the bottom of the stick, cut off round sections of tire retread that you can pick up off the side of the highway or go to a tire store and see if they would cut off some. You can use a round drill bit about 1/2 in size across and make it easy on yourself. It does stink when you are cutting out the rubber but these will make great rubber grippers for the bottom of your sticks. You can use small screws to attach it to the bottom of the stick and use super glue on the bottom of the stick before you screw the screw into the bottom. It will give the stick some grip. Once you have the tire bottom on securely, you can use a file to file off any excess of the sides so the tire doesn't show except on the bottom where it should.

On the top of the stick, bring some kind of cording or leather string to wrap around the top to give it a grip. You can offer feathers, beads or charms for people to "hang" off the leather etc 

You could have a contest for the carved sticks and a contest for the kids decorated one's. You can also take a few different colors of stain and spray on varnish to protect the stick when it is finished. Make sure you take some photos of everyone with their sticks and smiles. Maybe even plan a small hike for everyone to "try out" their new sticks on the last day.

Blankets - For the Fleece blanket service project, you can see if a local store will donate the fleece if you are going to be doing the work and can show where the blankets will end up as "charity." The woman I know contacted the sheriff's office in the city of the reunion and asked what they could do to hep. Sometimes the woman shelters or local hospitals get lots of help. She did contact several places asking what they could do to help but this was the one that was best suited for a larger group. Here is a post how to tie the ends of the blankets. You don't have to have two together, you can just tie the ends of one to make it decorative. Since they may be used to cover children or adults in accidents, you would want a variety of fabrics. If some place isn't willing to donate the fabric, perhaps a local business would be willing to donate funds to purchase the fabric since you will be willing to make them. There are lots of options. make sure to tell people to bring scissors or perhaps a store will donate some for the cause. Otherwise, buy the three packs at ACE dollar days sale where you can get three for $2 or so.

Neck or travel pillows - could be a service project as well if the police think they could use them for younger accident victims. Highway patrol would probably use those more than city officers. Here is a link to the neck pillow and here is a link to the travel pillow.  I guess I never described how to make the square pillows. I thought we had. Basically sew a square and leave a little opening of the sides. Sew it in about 1 1/2 inches in on the sides once you have turned it out. Cut strips every 1/2 inch on the sides making sure not to cut the side seams and then tie them off once you have stuffed the pillow.

You can have "donation" tags made and sew them on the blankets or pillows stating that the "Crafty" (your name here) made and donated these items.

 Games -"Penny" get to know you game. You can pass around a bag with pennies in it. Everyone takes one and then has to go to the microphone and give something about them selves that happened the year of the penny. You may need a "kids" bag so the pennies aren't too old for them. Something like, "I got a penny that was made in 1999. I have my youngest child that year. Now your turn is over.

Fun Fact info - Or, a variation. You have to give facts about you, one for each year. At each activity or group meal, have one person get up and give their facts. For example, Suzie is 16 so she would get up and say, Dance, sing, play guitar, love cheesecake, broke my ankle, Capricorn, Never kissed, Can't drive, etc up to 16 facts. It would take about 30 seconds for most people if they list quickly and you have them fill in the blanks ahead of time and just read them once they have them all listed.

Bouncy Ball game - I have a bag of small to large rubber bouncy balls. When we were over scouts, we would throw the balls into the large room and let them bounce all over. Whoever collected the most balls, got a treat. There is another option to use it as a get to know you name. If you can get into a gym type building. You have everyone write their name on a bouncy ball. Put them all in a bucket after that and throw them out into the room. Each person has to find the ball with their own name or you can do a version where they have to find the person that has their name and hold their hand

The "Name" game - is a good get to know you game most kids and adults can play. Here is a link to that post.

Kids Treasure Hunt - For the kids to get to know cousins etc, each person can bring a treat to use in this game. Have each person think up a question or two that they can have the children ask them and one or two, they can ask the children that are "get to know you" type questions. Maybe if they are a singer, you can have them sing for their treat. Kind of like "Trunk or Treating" but for family information.

My friend did one where they got to know the campground better. They had icee pops at one stop, treats, little toys and at the last stop, they got small coins. She said the kids were entertained for some time and enjoyed their games.

Country Stores - I think I explained this fairly well in the other post but people can donated services, games, prizes, toys, crafts etc for the store. The store also sold candy bars, baked goods and everyone could view the auction items before the big event. The auction is held to cover costs of the camp ground, printing,  prizes, game supplies, name tags etc

Photos - Hiring someone or paying a friend to come take a group picture may be worth it if people have come in from out of town. Our family had a picture last June at our reunion and sat on the hill for the picture hoping we could see everyone. It was really hard in the summer sun to see everyone. Dusk or dawn is better in the summer for these type pictures so no one has the sun in their face but it can take a few minutes to get group pictures. You can schedule people for a "Family photo" where you take one just of their spouse and kids. My fathers last big reunion I went around and took pictures of each family just to show where they were at with their kids and ages etc. It may be 20 years before I get the next picture of them. Pick a nice background for the group. If you are at a lodge, take it under the big sign or in the center of the driveway / dirt road or in a field with flowers etc.

Themed pictures can be cute as well. In this Tee Pee one, we all have on those cheap crazy glasses you can purchase by the gross online. Having everyone dressing western or wearing different colored tee shirts for each family group. You can assign the color they should wear before hand. Or, get t-shirts printed with your family name and the date with your "theme" design on the front and just order different colors for each different family line. That can be a fun way to get to know which child belongs to which parent quickly. There are so many options for pictures as well.  

Catered food for a few meals makes it nice for all involved to enjoy the reunion and not have to clean up. It can very expensive if you have a large group. If you assign out meals to family groups, it can be a better way to work it or our family likes to do our own meals during the day and have different families take dinner on our summer camp out.

We enjoy camping and our reunions but they can be lots of work. This was just to add to the other reunion posts I have done before in hopes that something will work out for your family and mine making getting together a wonderful experience. You can theme them anyway you like but who doesn't like Western? Taking a big Tee Pee can be fun. Perhaps the auction and store could be in there. Wouldn't that be a fun "trading post!"