Any unique ideas for destination family reunions

[senior citizen]

Any unique ideas for destination "family reunions".....??

Please share your own family reunions that have been lots of fun & successful in the planning stage through to actual gathering. Open to suggestions.

The past half dozen years we've hosted various "nuclear family reunions" to include six adults (us plus our two adult kids/their spouses) plus six grandchildren....as they were added to family. So, twelve bodies....plus several friends with their children dropping in, if they lived in area close to where our lodging was.

They've been VERY SUCCESSFULL as it was easier to plan for a small group.......plus we hosted & paid for summer beach home rentals in Maine, Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont (Sound of Music fame), alternating with trips out west, plus our own home (to which they all came plus were able to see their old college friends with their families as well, as it was fairly easy for everyone to travel "back home" for backyard barbecues & an open house..........BUT hosting everyone here is exhausting, esp. if it includes the ENTIRE family (not talking our own kids, etc.)

Lately, maiden aunts, etc., etc. neices, nephews, cousins, etc. have expressed an interest in a larger all inclusive family reunion........as we are all aging.

We've attempted that in the past.

Approximately ten years ago, we thought gathering everyone together in Bar Harbor Maine would be a great adventure....touring Acadia National Park, great lobster dinners, plus hiking, climbing, etc. for the younger set. A place we ourselves would return to over & over again.

We sent out all the invites.........to our entire family. Feelers.
The younger families all had some excuse why they couldn't come......while the older ones apparently did want to join in but never got around to responding.

We sent maps, tourist info, hotels, motels, campgrounds, rental homes, etc......tons of info. This was all sent more than a year ++ ahead of time.

It never panned out , ultimately due to some deaths in the family plus some of the younger marrieds having to relocate coast to coast for new career opportunities, new homes, etc.

Others had cost issues.......some parents didn't want their 20 somethings bringing their significant others or sleeping in the same rooms......the problems escalated.............enough to give one a major headache.

Again, it is very hard to set even a week aside that is o.k. for all.

It really is difficult to get everyone "on the same page" for the same place & time.......for a family reunion.

This is why so many families only see each other at weddings and funerals............and even those are now few and far between since everyone lives all over the country........north, south, east & west.........with busy lives.

We still plan to host our own nuclear family yearly........but how does one get the other "elders" like maiden aunts, plus the younger generation (neices/nephews) with children of their own, to "chip in" or even cooperate on the planning stage.

They all LOVE each other when they do manage to visit.

When we host our own, it is heart warming to see the six little cousins bond while having fun........lots of love to go around.

Maybe it is truly an impossibility to expect to gather the ENTIRE CLAN????? One last time?

((Meaning brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neices, nephews, myriad of babies, toddlers, pre teens, teens, etc. plus all those who married into the family......plus childhood friends of theirs, who all bring their own new "little ones" to meet our grandchildren. ))

EVERYONE HAS TO TRAVEL, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.......THAT IS THE DILEMMA. EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT WORK SCHEDULES, KIDS ARE IN SPORTS, EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVIES, AND SO FORTH.

MANY THANKS FOR SHARING WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.........

I'll echo: "Maybe it is truly an impossibility to expect to gather the ENTIRE CLAN????? One last time?"

[manaboutown]

Our family has had them on cruise ships and in Hawaii. They worked out very well.

[PR1234]

We are 'trying' to use this place in July. Lake Barkley State Park Resort in Cadiz,KY. One of the reasons we picked it was it has a price point for everyone. Cabins, campsites and a hotel lodge.
Lake Barkley Cabins - Land Between the Lakes Lodging - Lake Barkley Lodging (http://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/lake-barkley/default.aspx)

[Bonny]

Every cruise I go on I see several reunions.

[2newyorkers]

I have a slightly different suggestion. My mom was one of 12 children. We have had a family reunion almost every year since I was a baby. I have 40 first cousins and many other cousins. The main part of our reunion is just for one day. Plan the reunion with your core family for as long as you like but make one day for a family bbq. Have it at a location that the majority of relatives live. Invite everyone and let them decide how long they want to stay. We usually have between 60 to 90 relatives attend. It so much fun but the day goes too fast.

[Mudder]

I too want to try for one, probably last, big reunion. I've decided that since most of family still lives in Massachusetts or New Hampshire that the massive reunion should be somewhere up there. However, then it involves great expense for the three families who live out west. They say they are the ones who have to always do the major traveling, yes, that's true, but it doesn't make sense the other way around.
The whole family had a strong connection to Cape Cod, but it's way to expensive in the summer now so that's out. I do think it is important to have it somewhere that is familiar to everyone and has a large amount of different things to do. We have some who want 5 star hotel and others who want a campsite, some want ocean, some want lakes.......it goes on and on.
Anyway I am starting to focus in on New Hampshire as the ocean, lakes and mountains are all pretty close. Last summer we spent a week with some family members at one of the big ski resorts in NH. They are slowly turning into all season resorts but are not the yet so the prices are still reasonable in summer.
It is a hard thing to pull together but well worth it I think. Those who can't come will just have to look at the pictures. It is impossible to please all the people all the time! I also think a year in advance is to long to determine where to go, etc...for some, it just seems to far away so they don't really give much thought to it. I plan to send out information in early February. We'll see what happens!

[Sable99]

I have a slightly different suggestion. My mom was one of 12 children. We have had a family reunion almost every year since I was a baby. I have 40 first cousins and many other cousins. The main part of our reunion is just for one day. Plan the reunion with your core family for as long as you like but make one day for a family bbq. Have it at a location that the majority of relatives live. Invite everyone and let them decide how long they want to stay. We usually have between 60 to 90 relatives attend. It so much fun but the day goes too fast.

There were 13 kids in my Mom's family and we used to have a family reunion at a lake near their hometown. The actual reunion was always the last Saturday in July and was a 2 1/2 - 3 day event. We had to have a pretty good excuse not to be there! Everyone stayed with Grandma, siblings or a local hotel. The reunion was on Saturday for my grandmother (Gramps was gone by then), all her children and the grands. On Sunday, Grandma and her kids and spouses had lunch at a local restraunt and on Sunday afternoon everyone got together again with my Grandother's siblings before they all headed home. We had the reunion for over 40 years but it dispanded a few years ago because Grandma and all but 3 of her kids were gone. My mother and her two remaining sisters still get together every year for a 5 day Labor Day Weekend! They call it Sister's Weekend. (I'm allowed to attend as I drive Mom up there and a cousin comes to do the cooking! Thats it, no one else is allowed on their time together.) Mom is the oldest one living at 90.

My late father's immediate family are all gone but hadn't gotten together for years. But, the descendents of my great grandfather and his siblings get together every two years in the Dakotas for a huge reunion. They celebrate everything German and bring their accordians and have polka dances! Unfortunately, I have never made that reunion but it is on my bucket list.