Summer and Fall are a great time of the year to have family reunions. Reconnecting with family members that we see only once a year or less gives us a great time to play, eat and catch-up but also provides a perfect opportunity to help secure and build upon your family’s history…in a fun way.

With a little planning and prep work, you can capture valuable family history that will be treasured for years to come.

These ideas take a little planning ahead and some family participation (which can be hard), but the results will be well treasured once the reunion has passed. You do not need to do all these suggestions, perhaps just one.

• Before the reunion, give everyone a heads up that you are looking to collect and capture some family stories to be a part of your family history library. (Using the term ‘library’ loosely - whatever you already have, wherever it is being stored…albums, memorabilia, trophies…this is all considered part of your library.)
  Since there will be multiple generations, you may have to text, email, or call the family members, depending on their preferences. I would recommend email or even snail mail for this…anything that is in writing that they can refer back to, or print/hang as a reminder.

• Ask questions! Assign a techie member to record the (video or at least audio) interviews. There are different ways to come up with and ask questions:

  • You can gather up some sample questions from the internet. Here are a few great sites offering creative and deep questions for a variety of family ages: https://www.joincake.com/blog/family-questions/ https://www.lovetoknow.com/life/relationships/fun-questions-ask-your-family-members
    https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/questions-to-ask-family-to-get-to-know-them-better

  • Or, when sending your planning email, have family members start thinking about questions and then have them send them to you.

    • The questions can be for specific family members or for everyone or just the elders.

    • The questions can be random - perhaps when it’s a family member’s turn, they can draw a question from a hat to answer. No rehearsing the answers ahead of time!

• Time Capsule! Ask everyone to bring a small item to place into a time capsule. This can be something specific to your family or to the year. Open it up the following year, or set a date for a few years in the future.

• Photo Show & Tell! Have everyone bring their favorite photo and share the story behind it!

In reality, some family members just don’t want to participate, or feel comfortable, or have the time. It happens in all families! If that is the case, you can always document the reunion day with photos and video clips. Whether you take that on solo or have smart phone fanatics take photos and send them to you, or share them on a Google or One Drive when they get home. Then create a photo slideshow to share for everyone to enjoy and to watch at the next family reunion!

While you may get a little moaning about people having to do a little work ahead of time, know that the family will absolutely love and cherish whatever videos/pictures come from this special day. Family reunions are fun. They are also the opportune time to collect family stories and place them into your history forever!