Though most of us spend time with our immediate families every day, it’s been more difficult to see our extended families in recent years. Now may be the perfect time to plan a family reunion, so you can maintain strong family ties and facilitate new relationships.
Where do you even start?
Generally, kicking off a conversation with family members to get a date on the calendar needs to happen first. Summer months generally work the best for family reunions, when those who have children in school can more easily make a commitment.
These days, digital invitations and social media make it easy to get the message out.
Need ideas for what to do?
We’ve hosted many family reunions at Carol Joy Holling Camp, Conference & Retreat Center as well as Sullivan Hills Camp. Here are a few of our suggestions to kickstart your creativity:
Ask everyone to bring a photo or family keepsake and share a story about it.
Gather fun facts before the reunion, and hold a trivia competition.
Ask anyone who has done some exploring on ancestry.com or other sites to bring their findings to share.
Ask everyone to share a baby picture. Convert them all to black and white so age isn’t a factor and have a fun guessing game at the reunion.
Pair younger individuals with older individuals at the gathering with questionnaires that encourage the sharing of family history.
Make sure you plan for a family photoshoot!
If this inspires you to begin planning a family reunion, we would love the chance for you to experience our places set apart!
Sullivan Hills Camp can accommodate up to 60 people overnight and many more for an indoor or outdoor gathering.
If you’d like a more full-service reunion, Carol Joy Holling Camp, Conference & Retreat Center can accommodate groups from 10 to 150 for the day or for a whole weekend, and you can leave the cooking to us. (What family cook doesn’t enjoy a break from meal prep?!?)
Two new pavilions at Carol Joy Holling Center are already a hit—providing electric outlets for everyone’s crock pots, a gas grill ready for your grill master’s favorite recipe, and plenty of shade from the summer sun.
If you’d like more information about our spaces or are ready to discuss dates, reach out to our Manager of Event planning, Dana Jahn, at DJahn@NLOM.org or 402-944-2544.