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When the location, date, and facility have been confirmed
send out invitations to your family members. The invitations
can be a simple e-mail, plain letter, or fun creation that
goes along with a party theme. Invitations should go out
at least 4-6 months before the reunion, and include detailed
information of date, time, place, maps (if necessary),
travel and accommodation information, contact numbers by
which to reach you. If the facility has some particularly
attractive features, include this information to get everyone
pumped up for the event! Have a form for them to RSVP with
the number of people attending, and allow them to send
money to you by a specific date. It is important know who
will be coming to the reunion so that food, trips and tours,
and lodging may be finalized. Be prepared to mail a follow-up
letter (maybe even a brightly colored postcard that they
can’t miss!) closer to the due date and set up a
telephone chain to contact family members who haven’t
responded.
E-mail is a very fast and efficient method of communication;
especially now that people seem to stay electronically
connected all the time. Another way to keep everyone up-to-date
on the happenings and preparations for the upcoming reunion
is to create a family website. There are many options for
free websites, and this way everyone will be watching for
information from time-to-time and their excitement can
build by watching your website fill up with information.
There are resources for family reunion websites in our “Helpful
Links and Resources” area of the website.
After the
reunion, consider sending another survey to the family
members who attended to evaluate how it went. Accentuate
the positive and celebrate your successes, iron out the
rough spots, and encourage ongoing gatherings and reunions.
You’ll find that it gets easier to organize a family
reunion and even more fun as time goes on, and more people
will want to be involved in planning a family gathering
when they see how wonderful it is to celebrate family!
Portions of this text were
inspired by The Family Reunion Institute, School of Social
Administration, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 215-204-6244. |
