Family Reunion

Author Jennifer Crichton knows what she's talking about, having helped organize her own 125-member reunion. Whether your family has hundreds of people or only a dozen, her advice is clear and always helpful. Topics covered include record keeping, choosing a site, entertaining kids of all ages, and etiquette ("Thou shalt orchestrate spontaneous praise unto the reunion organizer"), as well as the dynamics and logistics necessary when herding a large group of people. Peppered with examples from American families large and small, Family Reunion makes reunion organizing manageable, rewarding, and even fun. See you next year! --Rob Lightner

Product Description
Today more than ever, American families are scattered to the wind. Yet perhaps for this very reason, families have also been getting together for reunions in unprecedented numbers.

Planning a reunion is a pleasurable but complicated undertaking that requires foresight and planning, and here to assist is Family Reuinion, an indispensable guide and sourcebook that shows how to organize and conduct four basic reunions: a Backyard Barbecue for siblings and cousins, a Homecoming Weekend, an Extended Family Reunion, and a Family Camp, which typically lasts a week and gathers up to 100 participants.

Accessible and packed with ideas and information, the book shows how to create a workable timetable (18 months before a large reunion is not too soon to start planning), organize a committee, and set up a fund for expenses (and to help less-well-off members attend). There are chapters on location, including little-known church camps and family resorts; on scheduling activities for kids and adults, day and evening; on genealogy; on recording the event; and even on etiquette, including how to handle black sheep, in-laws, and stepchildren. With case studies of real-life reunions and duotone photographs throughout, this is the book that helps us connect.

Great for us first time reunion planners!

Get this book and have a great time with your family!


Family Reunion   July 19, 2000
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

We teach genealogy classes and for a fun topic for the summer months, we gave a class on having family reunions and/or how a reunion can help you with your genealogical research. This book was a must have. Jennifer did a great job in putting together many ideas in planning various types of reunions from a picnic to a week long camp and everything in between. Thanks for a great tool that we will pass on to all the branches of our families.