Family Reunion Games and Entertainment?

I have a few ideas for you and hope they help. We have a lot of BBQ's and we started to have scavenger hunts, everyone loves them, We also took our tractor hooked a trailer to it and give hay rides, another thing is get poster boards and get each family member to send you copies of their baby pictures and give a prize or prizes for the most right and the most wrong. I also play with the kids watermelon spitting, toss the clothes pins in the jar (I use a big jar with wide mouth); Also you can do things like a egg on a spoon and the team that gets theirs to the other end without dropping it wins, (Oh , they have to carry the spoon in their mouth and hand behind their back, also sack races are fun.

Hope these ideas help you and you have a wonderful family reunion. If you would like to bounce anymore party ideas, just email me at froggypjs10 AT hotmail.com Patti

What an incredible imagination and excellent ideas! I am so glad I asked! You sure got the old brain churning now!
Thank you so much!

The picture board sounds interesting especially. The picnics had been going on for a long time until the older generation began disappearing and we seemed to get in this generation gap between sadness and no children. The children will be youngish or teenagers and little in between. The were no picnics for a few years and this one is first one again since.

I think the picture boards would be an excellent way to address, remember and heal this issue and help to chase the apathy away and revive the spirit of it again. I do have lots of old family pics on hand. Would you be able to explain how you go about this one?

It sure helps to eliminate some of my concerns for success. We're not so organized as some of you are. No fee up front....never seem to break even, but that's ok. It will be at my house and I've got lots of land, an outhouse, shade, trampoline and pool. Will be potluck, which is always a success. My biggest concern is keeping it dry should it rain. We're having an incredibly wet year and the thought of 70 people suddenly cramming into my house doesn't attract me, if you know what I mean. I've looked into renting a tent, only to find that it will cost $480 for 3 days...ugh! The picnic is only a day affair. Any ideas on how I could "weather" this one?

I did have a tractor and did the wagon rides once, but the tractor bit the dust, lol! (hobby farm, not a working farm)

I also have horses and could give rides, but it would be something right out of the blue for the horses. They are mostly pets. They are well trained from the ground and I can actually dance with one of them, but I don't ride that often and a saddle and little kids is also going to be "new" for the horses. I know I could ask one of them to be a "good egg" for me, but the thought of all the things that could happen with little fingers, 1200 lb. size and all this newness for the horses scares me to death.

I'm getting pressured for this activity, cause most people who are not horse oriented, think they can just get on a horse and ride it. Not so, and I'm very reluctant and am coming across as a "crumb bum" on this issue, but Murphy's Law is ruling my thoughts on this one. Raising the risk of anyone getting hurt that day is somewhere that I just don't want to go. How do I handle the pressure on this issue? There's no way I can get the training needed in place on time.

One of the games we played at our annual family camping weekend (about 30 family members of all ages) was what I called The Collector Game. I didn't tell anyone what the game was so that even the timid didn't back out. Before the game began, my husband & I scattered small piles of "droppings" (peanuts in this case) over a large area. I divided everyone into 5 teams. I then appointed a person, from each team, as the collector & assigned each team an animal that they would represent. On the word go all team members ran around in search of the "droppings".

When they found a pile they had to make the sound of the animal they represented loudly enough for their collector to hear. They had to remain at the pile, making their animal sound until their collector located them and collected the pile of droppings in his pail. Each then moved on to locate more piles/animal calls. When time was up, they raced back to the start point. The team with the most "droppings" won. This was hilarious with grown men crowing like roosters and kids quacking like ducks, barking like dogs, baaaing like sheep, etc, loud enough to wake the dead, all over the campground. Even the timid had a fun time as did all the other non-family campers who witnessed the game.

EIW

October 25, 20090 found this helpful

Most of these are old games from many community picnics and family reunions.

Count out any type of item or mix of items and put them into a jar. Let each person put there name on a slip of paper with their guess of how many items there are. We have used keys, bathroom items such as Q tip, bobby pin, clothes pin, adding stones to throw the counter off (don't count the stones). Even just a jar of candy that can be the prize too.

We also purchased a cheap bingo game and gave dollar store prizes, even a bottle of soda or a roll of paper towels for prizes.

Now you have it Now you don't is a good game for older less active people. 2 sets of numbers on little cardboard squares - one set in a little tin or bag - other set is distributed between the players. Usually about 3 to 5 per player. A "Caller" then picks and calls a number. The holder of the number then picks a prize from the table of prizes. The next person may take another prize from the table or take the prize of another "winner". When each person runs out of numbers they get to keep their prize or prizes. Some people end up with 2 or 3 prizes and others can end up with none. We usually like to make sure there are enough small prizes so everyone gets one. Say 50 numbers and 50 small prizes. It is amazing how there is always 1 item that will travel all around more than any other prize. Children to Grandma get a big kick of it.

Cut out parts of pictures of everyday household items such as laundry soap, hair spray, cooking oil, mayonnaise, cake mix, Stove top stuffing mix, cat or dog food, anything that is well known to most people. Paste the partial pictures on a piece of white cardboard and number each item. Each person gets a piece of paper and must figure out what the product name is They may only see one letter, but it is distinct and know the product immediately. Others will be harder. The person who names the most products correctly wins. The same can be done for men with motor oil, car polish, men's deodorant, anything a man would recognize.

Easy - Guess the weight of a watermelon/cantaloupe or any item. That item is the prize. Ask your grocer to weigh it for you before you leave the store.

Easy - Peanut scramble for elementary aged children. For interest, add some individually wrapped candy like tootsie rolls or hard candies. Give each child a small lunch bag or plastic sandwich bag to gather the peanuts/candy. Just make sure you clean up all the bags that are dropped.

All but the "Now you have it, Now you don't" game can be put on a table for people to work on as they have a moment. The host will determine the winners near the end of the party/picnic.

Lori

May 24, 20101 found this helpful

At one of our reunions we took two plastic table cloths and one water balloon. Split into teams of 4 (one person for each corner of the table cloth). The idea is to launch the balloon and the other team to catch it without breaking it. There is a trick to this that I will not share - a learning curve if you may. It is so much fun to watch and to play this game!

At another, we took old clothing - bras, granny panties, hats, pants, etc. and put them in a laundry bag that you could not see through. We played music and when the music stopped whoever had the bag had to take out a piece of clothing and wear it. We had priceless pictures of my 80-something grandma in a big bra over her clothes. The grandchildren still talk about this game.

We played a game last year for the adults called 'Bullshi*' Put two things on a card that were random and the player had to write one true one. They could then choose to read the real one or a fake one. The players would either agree or say 'Bull' This had a group of adults laughing until they cried. Email me at kalaidescope2001 AT yahoo if you want ideas.