Our Motto
family reunions are more than just a picnic.
We believe reunions have the power to nourish and strengthen families of all races and ethnicities. Reunions can encourage healthy extended family relationships, provide a sense of belonging, restore family pride, nurture and respect all generations, and impart wisdom, knowledge and a shared purpose. Our goal is to strengthen, inspire and support family reunion planning; share useful information and resources; and advocate for the teaching of family and reunion history, values and experiences.
Planning a family reunion? Click below for tips on:
- WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW
- GET ORGANIZED
- COUNTDOWN / TIMELINE
- REUNION ACTIVITIES
- SUZANNE & DOUG'S FIX FOR 1ST TIME PLANNERS
- SWEET TIPS FOR FAMILY REUNION PLANNERS
STICKY REUNION SITUATION - Throwback
Transitioning Family Gatherings into a Reunion...
I haven’t been able to convince my family to have a reunion because most of the family always gets together on major holidays. Is there something we can do during the holidays besides eating and playing games to make it more like a reunion, and help convince family members we need to have one?
PRACTICAL FAMILY REUNION PLANNING / FUNDRAISING
If your family reunion has fundraisers, kudos to you. If not, it’s something you should seriously consider. Getting family members to pay their share of reunions—in full, on time and without complaint—is one of the top reasons fundraisers should be on your reunion planning agenda.
When you consider that some family members spend frivolously on a number of things, it’s hard to understand why they’re so frugal when it comes to the reunion. As reunion planners we can’t control family members budgets (or their minds). However we can do our part to plan a reunion that is budget friendly. And part of being budget friendly is raising money that can be used to defray the cost of the reunion. After all, who wants to pay full price when you can get a discount?
Along with raising money for your reunion, fundraisers can help bring the family closer together, strengthen family bonds, get family members engaged and provide support for the reunion.
For 2022 challenge your family to consider doing more fundraisers, or experiencing your first one.
FRI 2021 SURVEY DATA
survey results...
One of the goals for the Family Reunion Institute's 2021 Virtual Family Reunion Planners Workshop Survey was to receive first-hand information regarding the needs of family reunion planners. Outside of identifying where help was needed most from our list of 17 topics, planners indicated 10 additional topics.
Thanksgiving Blessings...
From our FRI family to yours,
have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday.
REUNION TIP OF THE MONTH
REUNION TIP OF THE MONTH
REUNION TIP OF THE MONTH
This month we all have a need to feel hopeful, thankful and grateful—especially as we continue to live through the ups and downs of our covid-infused lives.
To help family members think positively about where we are and the future, start a Thanksgiving Day Journal. Have members write three things:
1. What they’re grateful for (what they appreciate);
2. What they’re thankful for (what they are pleased and relieved about ); and
3. What they are hopeful for (what they want for the future).
Have them date and sign their journal entry and if they can, place a photo on the page. Get as many family members as you can to make journal entries. Then store the journal in a safe place until November 2021, when the family will revisit the entries, reflect on the year that's passed, and make new entries for review in November 2022,
FAMILY TIME
REUNION TIP OF THE MONTH
REUNION TIP OF THE MONTH
Looking for something to do with the family this month?
November is full of lots to do, celebrate, eat, enjoy and make good family time out of. Family Days to celebrate this month include: Family Stories Month, National Family Caregivers Appreciation Month, National Family Literacy Month, National Family Week, National Housewives Day, National Men Make Dinner Day, and National Parents as Teachers Day. In November we start the end of year holiday season with Thanksgiving, Advent, Chanukah and un-official reunions full of family, friends, meals, desserts and so much to be grateful for. And while this year’s celebrations may not be completely back to normal, we’ll all do our best to keep our family members close and our family time as familiar and comfortable as possible.
Worth repeating
a poem for thanksgiving
a poem for thanksgiving
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
- Melody Beattie
“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
- W.T. Purkiser
“Encouragement is the fuel of hope. It's true that people become what you encourage them to be, not what you nag them to be.”
- Zig Ziglar
"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
- William Arthur Ward.
a poem for thanksgiving
a poem for thanksgiving
a poem for thanksgiving
THANKSGIVING DELIGHTS... by Joanna Fuchs
On Thanksgiving Day we're thankful for
Our blessings all year through,
For family we dearly love,
For good friends, old and new.
For sun to light and warm our days,
For stars that glow at night,
For trees of green and skies of blue,
And puffy clouds of white.
We're grateful for our eyes that see
The beauty all around,
For arms to hug, and legs to walk,
And ears to hear each sound.
The list of all we're grateful for
Would fill a great big book;
Our thankful hearts find new delights
Everywhere we look!
STICKY REUNION SITUATION - Throwback
naming the family reunion...
We’re planning our first reunion but having trouble identifying an official name. My great-great-grandfather was a Smith. He married twice. His first wife’s maiden name was Greene, his second wife was a Jones. He had a total of 14 children—six girls and eight boys. Initially we were going to call the reunion the Smith Family Reunion. Then some family members wanted to make it Smith Greene Jones. Now they want to add the last name of the married children. That would make it Smith Greene Jones and six additional names (as there were six daughters). Since we all have the Smith name in common, wouldn’t it be easier and wiser to just leave it at Smith rather than continue to add names? Is there a rule of thumb to follow when selecting a reunion name?
(photo by Rajiv Perera on Unsplash)