You said yes to planning the family reunion, and somewhere between the venue quotes and the exploding group text, you started wondering what you got yourself into.
That’s completely normal, and it does not mean you are failing your family before you even start. Let’s take a deep breath and break down some common experiences you’ll probably face planning your reunion and how to deal with them.
Where do I even start?
Honestly, the hardest part of this entire process is just getting over the starting line. Everyone will want to talk about T-shirt colors and who’s doing the food and how, but you need to clear the big hurdles first.
Pick dates first.
Everything else gets easier after that. Talk to the three to five relatives whose presence is absolutely non-negotiable, find a date that works for them, and lock it in. Once the date is set, the rest of the family can plan around it, and you can actually start looking at venues without guessing.
Consider a One Day Reunion.
If this is your first reunion, you may want to do a one-day event instead of committing to a multi-day reunion. It will be less expensive, fewer things to plan, and less of a committment by your relatives for whom this will be a new thing to do.
One day events work well when most of your family are located in the same area or within a reasonable travel distance. For those relatives who need to travel to the event, consider having a one-day event at the place your family considers home. This way relatives who will incur travel expenses to get there can make a weekend of it through other informal family meetups that you don’t have to plan or pay for.
How do I handle all the opinions?
Your cousin will probably ask for an elaborate themed catering menu, and your aunt will definitely remind you how things were done back at the 1998 reunion. Although usually shared in love, this part of being the reunion planner can add more stress to your job.
Here are some tips to manage this:
- Set the tone early. Let your loved ones know that you won’t be forming a committee for every tiny choice that needs to be made for the reunion. Ask them to trust those doing the planning to make the best decisions for everyone.
- Thanks but No Thanks. It is completely okay to smile, say “thanks for the input,” and make the executive decision. Your family isn’t showing up for perfect logistics; they are showing up to see each other. If you provide a place to sit and some decent food, you’ve already won.
Focus on one thing at a time
Yes there are a lot of decisions that needs to be made in planning a reunion but you can’t decide them all at the same time. Focus on nailing down on thing at a time in priority order:
- Date(s)
- Location (city)
- Type of Event – example: picnic vs banquet
- Venue – example: park, hotel, someone’s house, etc.
- Theme (optional)
- Food
- Activities
- Budget/Fees
- Communication – how will you let family members know about the event(s)?
Don’t worry about booking a caterer or designing t-shirts if you don’t know where the reunion will be. Follow the right order in building your reunion plan and you’ll find things fall into place much easier.
You are doing great, and your family is going to be thrilled to sit down together, even if the group chat is a little loud right now. If you’d rather not track the guest list and responses in a spreadsheet you don’t fully trust, Gettagether.com can handle all of that tracking for you.