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How to assemble your gang and go!
For maximum attendance, nail down the dates and destination a year ahead—and consider your crew’s tastes. Are they set on room service, or would they rather a cabin in the woods? If pleasing everyone gets too tricky, hire a planner.
With large groups and advance planning come bargains, especially from cruise lines (see cruisecompete.com) and resorts. Most convention-and-visitors bureaus (browse them by state at reuniontraveldirectory.com) have reunion specialists who will send your specs to local hotels, restaurants, and attractions, and present you with their offers. At groople.com you can book rooms, rental cars, and flights—and set up a system that lets everyone pay on their own at a discounted group rate.
Reunionsmag.com, the online component of a magazine devoted to planning family gatherings, has an archive of stories, a by-state resource guide, and a forum so you can gab with other reunion planners. In preparation for next year’s bash, download comment cards at family-reunion.com—and find out what the brood really thinks of those goofy name tags.
Track down far-flung brethren with free people-search Web sites like switchboard.com, infospace.com, and lycos.com. Hello, Uncle Wally!
Before the date, build a family profile on myfamily.com, familyreunion.com, or triphub.com. This will keep everyone up-to-date and may even serve to entice a few skeptics.
On arrival, hand out a cell phone list so that no one goes missing. Designate meals as gathering time. And if you’re heading off on a cruise, consider bringing walkie-talkies for free and easy communication.
The purpose of a reunion is to be together without destroying convivial kinship, so no need to overdo it. A weekend might feel just right.
If togetherness is the priority, come up with activities that both 7- and 75-year-olds can enjoy. Pack board games—Apples to Apples ($25 at amazon.com) is great for groups— and rediscover charades. Who will ever forget the time Grandma got down on all fours and pretended to be a pig?
After the festivities, get snap-happy relatives to post images on a photo-sharing site, such as shutterfly.com, from which everyone can order prints. And for the ultimate souvenir, assemble standout shots into printed and bound photo flip books, available at mac.com and snapfish.com for about $5 each. Mail them to all the relatives, and you’ll be the hero of your reunion.
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