Welcome Your Family

As family members arrive at the family reunion, your most important job is to welcome them. You can do it yourself or have someone else do it but everyone who attends needs to know immediately that someone is happy to see them. That person can take away some of the uncertainty they feel by telling them what's going on. If they have coats or other items to put away, the welcomer can help them. For large reunions, you'll want several persons to welcome.

Registration

If your family reunion is large, the next step is to register those who attend. Just as you register at a hotel when you travel or for a business conference you attend, you need to provide a registration process for a large family reunion. Registration addresses several needs.

• Recording. You record who attended and you have family members update records, such as a change of address, the names and birthdates of children, marriages and divorces and major accomplishments.
• Providing identification. You give name tags or badges, family reunion clothing, parking and meal passes (if needed) to attendees.
• Providing information. You provide maps, copies of the agenda or schedule for the reunion and other paperwork. If you're using an ice breaker game, you provide instructions for it, too.
• Collecting. Family members may be bringing potluck meals, gifts for a gift exchange or heirlooms to share. You need to take them or help them put them where they need to go. If there is a charge for attending the reunion, you should collect it as part of the registration process, too.