Many of us associate the holiday season with family. Big dinners, parties, celebrations. As we gather together to enjoy the festivities, what better time to start planning that next family reunion? Of course, planning a reunion can be a substantial undertaking. Not sure where to start? What with invitations, reservations, and a hundred tiny details that lie ahead, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. That's why we've put together a simple five-step list to help you break up the job into manageable pieces.

1. Getting Started: Plan, plan, plan!
   The best way to avoid last minute aggravations is to plan ahead as much as possible. When should you start planning? Right away! It's best to start planning at least a year in advance. If you're planning an international reunion, you'll want to start even earlier, probably around two years before the event takes place. So, pick a date nice and far away to give yourself plenty of time to arrange everything. The next big step is to choose a location. Just close your eyes and stick a pin in the map, right? Probably not. You'll want to get your family's feedback for both the date and the location. No matter how great a planner you are, it won't be much of a family reunion if no one can come. Consider sending out a general announcement and a questionnaire: you're planning a family reunion next year and want to know when everyone would be available and where they'd like to have it. To avoid being overwhelmed by possibilities, give them a few specific options and ask them to let you know which would be best. Once you get the responses, you can sort through them and decide what would be the best option. How do you narrow it down to those few specific options? Here are some things you might want to consider:
   • Ancestral home town: Where is your family from originally? It might be nice to plan a trip back to the old homestead, if possible. That's one way to connect with your deceased relatives as well as the living ones.

   • Distance: Nice as it might be to visit great-great-grandpa's farm, sometimes that just might not be practical. Keep in mind how far everyone will have to travel to reach the reunion. If your family's going to be coming from great distances, try to pick a central location that everyone can get to.

   • Room and board: Where are your relatives going to stay once they get there? Make sure to check out hotel accommodations.

   • Attractions: What sort of activities are you planning? That might influence where you'll hold your reunion. Planning a lot of outdoor games and picnics? Check into reserving a park. Want to spend some time delving into those genealogical mysteries? Try to plan your reunion near a research center or library.

   As you start thinking about location and activities, you'll probably realize that it's going to cost some money to pull this off. But you shouldn't try to foot the bill by yourself. Early on in the planning process, try to set up a basic budget. How much money do you think you'll need? How many people are you expecting to come? Using that information, decide how much each person or family should contribute. Let your relatives know that up front. What if you end up with more than you need? Consider saving it for the next reunion or donating it to a charity. Whichever you decide, it's probably a good idea to let your family know that's what you're planning on. For more tips about Organizing Reunions click here to consult the books that we highly recommend.

2. Getting Help: You don't have to do it all!
   Starting to feel overwhelmed yet? Don't worry, you don't have to do it all by yourself! In fact, you shouldn't try. Remember, this is your whole family's reunion, not just yours. Having others help you will make them feel more involved and will probably result in more people showing up. Put Aunt Elsa in charge of scoping out hotel arrangements or Uncle Joe in charge of keeping everyone informed about what's happening. Just make sure that they report back to you, as the chairperson of the reunion committee. How do you get people involved? You'll probably find that many of your relatives will be happy to help out if you give them the chance. However, if you just send out a general cry for help, they might not know what to offer. Instead, think about putting together a checklist of things you need done. That way everyone can see what help you need and tell you exactly what they're willing to do. You might also consider giving specific jobs to the relatives you know have certain skills. For example, is Grandma the family genealogist? Consider asking her to come up with a few ideas about how to share information and research during the reunion.

3. Getting the Word Out: Keeping everyone up to date.
   We've already mentioned sending out questionnaires and checklists. The best way to get people to your reunion is to make sure that they know what's going on. Send out announcements as soon as you start planning and keep sending them out as you work your way through the process. In fact, that's a good job to delegate. Put someone in charge of keeping the family informed and gathering information. How should you send information? In our world of computers, it's easy to want to stick with email. As quick and easy as that may be, however, remember that not everyone uses email. And even those who do would probably prefer to get a paper invitation. It's more personal and easier to hang up on the fridge. It's a good idea to send out at least the first invitation by snail mail. After that you can rely more on email or phone calls. Another thing you might consider is setting up a website for your reunion. That will give you someplace to post announcements as they come up. Your family can check on the progress of the plans whenever they like. There is a new site soon to be launched called Free Family Pages where you can make pages to advertise your reunion. It's a great way to keep in contact with your family members, even when you're not planning a reunion. We're always happy to help you advertise your next family reunion here at MyTrees.com. Just send an email to feedback@mytrees.com with your reunion details and we'll post the announcement in our next newsletter.

4. Getting Everyone Together: Planning activities for the whole family
   Families are a broad mix of personalities and preferences. Not to mention ages. It's important to plan for everyone. For example, adults might like to sit around and talk, but it won't take the children long to get bored with just sitting still. Is there someplace for the kids to play while the adults catch up? Are you going to need babysitters? You might want to open the reunion with a fun icebreaker, something to get everyone out of their own immediate family groups and talking. A family scavenger hunt is a good way to get people mixed up. Hand out lists of personal characteristics and have everyone try to find family members who match (i.e. people with green eyes or who were born in the same year). You could also try a regular scavenger hunt, where you send your relatives out in teams to find or do specific things. Once everyone's acquainted, you can move into other activities. If you're planning an outside reunion, games are always an option. Think about having equipment ready for a family baseball tournament or sack races. Meals are also important to think about. Do you want to have fancy dinners for the adults in the evenings or are you going to do a barbeque? Whatever you do, make sure everyone feels included!

5. Getting in Touch with Past Generations: Reuniting with your ancestors
   Of course as genealogists, when we think of families, we don't just think of living relatives. Our ancestors are important members of the family as well, and it's a good idea to invite them to the reunion. Talking about your family history can help everyone to feel more connected and can add an extra helping of enthusiasm to your activities. How can you introduce genealogy into your reunion? We already suggested one way: hold your reunion at a location important to your family history, if possible. You might also consider a field trip to a library for some research or a time set aside for show and tell. Give your family a chance to talk about what they've discovered about your ancestors. You might want to encourage everyone to bring records, photographs, or even portable heirlooms. If you're interested in DNA researching, reunions can be a great time to get everyone tested, since you'll all be together. Afraid that not everyone will be interested in genealogy? You'll probably find that even those relatives who aren't genealogists themselves will still be interested in learning about the family. One way to get everyone involved is to invite older members of the family to talk about their lives, or to answer questions. How did Grandma and Grandpa first meet? What were their parents like? As a final suggestion, try having a few photo albums sitting out when everyone first arrives. Not only will that help to get people talking and reminiscing, but it might bring up some questions or stories that can be shared later.

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