Planning a family reunion? Stressed yet?
Planning a reunion can be quite the undertaking in booking a site, assigning responsibilities and actually getting everyone to go. In the midst of planning, consider incorporating the relevant theme of family history and genealogy.
“Genealogy is something that should be part of every reunion, even if it’s a little corner of it,” said Marci Wahlquist, a service missionary and teacher at the Riverton FamilySearch Library, who has been involved with genealogy work and its technologies for more than 30 years.
She once helped put family history into her own family reunion of 500 people, and she managed to make it interesting. “We do want to know who we are,” she said.
People are curious. If done right, family history can be fun and exciting to the reunion attendees.
The following list of ideas compiled from lists and information posted on websites like About.com, TheReunionZone.com and JPMResearch.com, along with tips from Wahlquist will help in planning a successful family reunion.
1. Base the reunion around a culture. Pick a prominent culture in the family’s bloodlines and plan the food, decorations and activities accordingly.
2. Choose a reunion site with significance. This can be a place where an ancestor was born, where the old farm or ranch is or once stood, or even in a town that was settled by your ancestors. Taking a field trip or a tour can be a great idea, too.
3. Make a display. Display current photos, a large family tree, a timeline or a pedigree chart.
From the family’s common ancestor, Wahlquist created charts of every branch that was planning on attending.
“It took hours and hours and hours to do, but it was a hit. I was really pleased,” Wahlquist said. “The more visual you can make genealogy, the more interesting it is. Pictures are a must.”
Memorabilia and artifacts will also catch attendees’ eye.
“People like looking at old stuff,” she said.
4. Play games that have been passed down through the family. Wahlquist’s family played old games like “run sheep run.” Stick pull and leg wrestling are classics among pioneer descendants, and children will enjoy playing them. Include games from more recent history like kick-the-can because it was grandpa’s favorite as a kid.
5. Utilize technology. Whether it’s creating a group on a social network, using email or incorporating genealogical software and databases, there’s a vast amount of technology that can be used to share family information.
6. Bring in an outside presenter. Invite an expert to teach the family about genealogy or track down a historian who is an expert on a certain ancestor or time period.
7. Base the reunion around a milestone birthday. Grandma’s 90th can be a wonderful opportunity to explore the life of someone who is living history.
8. Make time for story time. Turn biographies of ancestors into stories or assign older family members to tell stories from their past. Wahlquist believes that through story telling, “you get the spirit of family history.”
Wahlquist particularly likes the quote by Alex Haley hanging on the wall in the family search library: “In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage — to know who we are and where we have come from.”
“I think that the spirit of genealogy in a family reunion satisfies that hunger,” she said.
Email: hbowler@desnews.com
