When planning family reunion events, you may need to take into consideration that the conversation doesn’t flow as freely with some of the more far-flung family members as with your favorite cousins, whom you see all the time. Sometimes you’ll need to play “icebreaker” family reunion games to liven up the party and get everyone feeling at ease. According to family reunion planner “Mr. Spiffy,” one of the best icebreaker games is called “Give Me Your Juiciest.” To play, each family member gets an index card with a person’s name on it. When prompted, each player should mingle with all the guests except for whose name is on their card, asking for all the juiciest gossip and information about the person whose name they received. At the end of the mingling period, the information written on the index cards can be read to give an interesting — and often times, funny — portrait of each family member!
Karaoke is another classic idea for family reunion fun and inter-generational bonding. There are many ways to facilitate a bar-style karaoke event. If one of your family’s youngsters has a Playstation 3, Wii or Xbox, then they can hook up the Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Sing Star or Karaoke Revolution Party game. Another option is to rent a bona fide karaoke machine for the day. For instance, www.nationwidekaraoke.com will rent you a system with two microphones and over 1,000 songs for just $49/weekend. However, if you think you may be using this karaoke machine again to create future family reunion memories, then you may want to simply buy one for $79 to $200. Some top-selling models at www.amazon.com include the Memorex Sing Stand, the Singing Machine SMG-137, the Singing Machine STVG-535 and the Singing Machine STVG-999 Pedestal Karaoke Machine. You can be sure there will be lots of laughs once your family members begin to belt out their favorite hit songs!
When you’re planning family reunion fun activities, it’s a good idea to come up with something active and amusing. A scavenger hunt is the perfect way to involve family members from 8 to 80. Divvy up your family members into mixed-age teams and give each team a list of objects to find, including household items, funny items and obscure items. For instance, you could hide your uncle’s bowling trophy, family photos or grandma’s socks. Then, set a timer and see which team scores the most loot. Some family reunion games can get pretty involved. For example, your scavenger hunt could start teams out along a paper trail, where they need to move from clue to clue or riddle to riddle before they solve the mystery of where the family heirloom treasure is hidden. The first team to reach it wins!
Family history trivia is great to include when planning family reunion events and games. Before the gathering, ask each family member to give you 3-5 trivia “facts” about themselves and other family members. At the reunion, divide family members into teams and begin reading questions. Some might say: “I once played tuba in high school. Who am I?” Or “Which country did Great-Great Grandpa Brown emigrate from?” Or “True or False - Grandma O’Sullivan was the youngest of 8 children?” Perhaps one day you can assemble all these facts into a book about family reunions as a memorable keepsake.
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