Family reunions give people who haven't seen each other in a long time the chance to get together, reminisce, play games and enjoy each other's company. For some families, reunions are an annual or bi-annual event, but for other families, a reunion may only take place once or twice before the passing away of family elders. If you're planning a family reunion, there are several fun activities that can make your event memorable.
Talent Show
A popular activity at a family reunion is to put on a talent show and select different performance categories such as dance, song and comedy. Choose the members of the family that will compete against each other and select a panel of judges (maybe older members who don't want to participate). The judges are free to comment however they want, the funnier and snappier the better. Have them score each performance on a scale between 1 and 10, and tally the results to determine a winner for each category.
Outdoor Games
Family reunions provide a great chance for activities that take place outdoors. You can organize a tug-of-war and divide the sides between old and young or male versus female, whatever sounds the most fun. You can also play the time-honored softball game that takes six hours to play because of all the trash-talking and slow-of-foot players involved. Sack races can also be a lot of fun, especially if you divide your family into competing teams in a relay. You can even play volleyball in the backyard even without a net if you have some rope to stretch between two trees or posts.
Family History
Sharing family ancestry can be a nice way for the younger members of your family to bond with the elders of your family. You can have the elders bring old pictures of their youth, or pictures that show them in the clothing style of their time, which is likely to be considered old-fashioned today. You can mount all the photos on easels and label them, or have family members guess the identity of the person featured in the picture. You can also create a giant scrapbook that acts as a kind of chronological history of your family, using pictures and old letters and whatever items family members have in their possession. You can start from the oldest family member all the way to the youngest, allowing your family to experience its own rich history.
Food
Many families love to boast about the cooking prowess of their households. Reunions give everyone the chance to back up their words. Choose representatives from each side of your family and have them cook their favorite dessert. Have the youngest members of the family act as judges to sample the desserts and choose their favorite. Make sure they don't know who prepared each dessert, though the dessert itself might give that secret away. You can also have the best cooks in your extended family write down their best recipes, bind them in a book and give it to each family member as a keepsake.
