5 Family Reunion Ideas That Made Our Weekend Unforgettable (And How to Recreate Them)
We recently had a family reunion with people ranging in age from 8 to 78, and I wanted to make sure we did more than just eat together and take a group picture. 😂
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE sitting around catching up with everyone, but I also wanted to plan a few things that would get people interacting, laughing, and making memories together.
And after the weekend was over, there were five things I knew I'd absolutely want to do again.
Some took a little planning ahead of time, some were ridiculously easy, and one required absolutely no planning at all.
So if you're planning a family reunion, here are the five things I'd recommend—and exactly how to recreate them with your own family!
1. Secret Challenges That Lasted All Day 👀
This was probably the funniest thing we did all weekend.
I'm sure everyone has watched Million Dollar Secret by now. My aunt had the idea of people secretly trying to accomplish something while everyone else tried to figure out what they were doing.
So I adapted the concept for our family reunion.
At the beginning of the day, everyone drew a slip of paper from a bowl. Most people received a card telling them they were a Guesser, but a handful received a secret challenge they had to complete without anyone figuring out what they were doing.
Some of our challenges included:
Mentioning Dolly Parton in five separate conversations.
Getting three people to say, "Are you serious?"
Finding out five people's middle names.
Secretly moving four objects around the house.
Putting removable stickers on four different people without them noticing.
I made a separate bowl for the younger kids that contained only Guesser cards. The preteens were mixed in with everyone else, so they had the chance to draw a real challenge.
The best part was that we gave everyone the ENTIRE day to complete their missions.
People were swimming, eating, talking, playing games, and secretly trying to accomplish the most ridiculous things without getting caught.
That evening, we all circled up and went around sharing things we'd noticed that seemed suspicious.
People pointed fingers, made accusations, and then the accused person got a chance to defend themselves.
My favorite was someone accusing another family member of having a challenge to wear their shirt backwards.
Except the shirt actually WAS backwards.
And it was a complete accident. 😂😂😂
After an entire day of suspicious behavior, only ONE person correctly guessed someone else's challenge!
I wrote a separate post with the full instructions and made two FREE printable sets of Secret Challenge cards—one for family and friends and another for corporate events, trainings, and retreats.
Seriously, this is one I'd recommend for almost any group gathering.
2. Matching Family T-Shirts (Without Collecting Everyone's Money!) 👕
We decided to make matching family reunion shirts, and I wanted the design to be something people would actually want to wear again.
Our family name is May, so naturally we couldn't resist a few terrible puns. 😂
After a quick vote in our family group text, we went with "We are fa-MAY-ly" on the front and a design featuring a little ceramic horse that has become part of our family's history.
I also intentionally left the year off the shirts so they wouldn't feel outdated after the reunion.
But the BEST part was how we ordered them.
Instead of collecting everyone's sizes, shirt preferences, and payments myself, I used the Group Order feature on Custom Ink.
Here's why I loved it:
I uploaded our design and set up the group order.
Everyone received a link to choose their own shirt.
People could select the style and size they preferred.
Everyone paid for their own shirts directly through the website.
All the shirts were shipped together to me so I could distribute them at the reunion.
With 42 people, this saved me SO much work.
I didn't have to chase down payments, keep track of who ordered what, or worry about accidentally ordering the wrong size for someone's kid.
And I loved that everyone could choose a shirt style they were comfortable wearing instead of forcing everyone into the exact same T-shirt.
My tip: Start the group order early and give everyone a firm ordering deadline. You'll want plenty of time for production and shipping before your reunion.
If your family has a last name that works for a pun, I highly recommend leaning into it. The worse the pun, the better. 😂
3. A Kahoot Trivia Game About Our Own Family 📱
This was another favorite because it got everyone involved, from the kids to the grandparents.
Instead of doing regular trivia, we created a game using fun facts about our own family members.
Before the reunion, everyone was asked to send one person a fun, surprising, or interesting fact about themselves that most of the family probably wouldn't know.
The more unexpected, the better!
Then we turned those facts into multiple-choice questions using Kahoot.
For example, you might have a question like:
Which family member once accidentally ended up on the news?
A. Aunt Sarah
B. Uncle Mike
C. Grandpa
D. Cousin Emily
Everyone guesses, and then you reveal the answer.
The best part is that you end up learning all kinds of random things about people you've known your entire life!
How to set up your own Kahoot family trivia game
Step 1: Collect the facts.
Before the reunion, ask everyone to send one surprising fact about themselves to a designated person. You can do this through a group text, email, or a simple online form.
Try to encourage facts that aren't common knowledge.
Step 2: Create your Kahoot.
Go to Kahoot, create an account, and start a new quiz. Turn each fact into a multiple-choice question with four possible answers.
Make sure you mark the correct answer when building the quiz.
Step 3: Connect your computer to a TV.
You'll want everyone to be able to see the questions and answer choices on one large screen.
Step 4: Have everyone join on their phones.
When you start the game, Kahoot displays a game PIN and joining instructions. Everyone uses their phone to join the game.
Their phones essentially become the little answer devices you used to see on old game shows!
The questions appear on the TV, and everyone selects their answers on their phones.
Step 5: Play!
Kahoot keeps score and shows a leaderboard as you go, so it gets surprisingly competitive. 😂
One thing to keep in mind: Kahoot's player limits and available features depend on the plan you're using, so check that your account supports your group size before the reunion. You may need a paid plan for a larger group.
My tip: Mix funny facts with genuinely surprising ones. The best questions are the ones where everyone is convinced they know the answer... and then realizes they were completely wrong.
And don't make the questions too obvious! Half the fun is everyone shouting, "THERE'S NO WAY THAT WAS GRANDMA!" 😂
4. Watching Old Family Videos Together
This one was less about an organized game and more about something I think every family should make time for.
We gathered everyone in the living room and watched old family videos together.
And I don't think there's anything quite like watching your kids see their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles as children.
The old hairstyles. The clothes. The voices. The family members who aren't with us anymore.
It's funny and emotional all at the same time.
How to make this happen at your reunion
Start asking around ahead of time.
Find out who has old home videos, DVDs, digital recordings, or even VHS tapes tucked away in a closet.
If they're on old tapes, you'll need to have them converted to a digital format before the reunion. I uploaded a few to youtube for easy viewing on any TV!
Get everything organized beforehand.
Try to collect the videos in one place and make sure you have a way to play them on a TV.
Depending on the format, you might use a laptop connected with HDMI, a USB drive, or a streaming device.
And PLEASE test everything before you have 40 people sitting in the living room waiting for a video to start. 😂
Don't feel like you need to watch hours of footage.
You can pick out some favorite clips or put together a shorter compilation that includes different generations of the family.
I also love the idea of making the digital videos available to everyone afterward.
Old family videos are one of those things that become more valuable every year, and it's so nice to know they're preserved somewhere other than a dusty box in someone's closet.
5. Leaving Plenty of Time to Just Be Together ❤️
This might sound silly after giving you four different things to plan, but I think it's the most important one.
Don't schedule every minute of your family reunion.
We had activities planned, but we also had lots of time where nothing in particular was happening.
The kids swam, played, and ran around with their cousins.
The adults sat around talking, laughing, and catching up on life.
People wandered in and out of conversations, and nobody was worried about getting to the next scheduled activity.
And honestly, those are some of my favorite memories from the weekend.
It's easy to get so caught up in planning the perfect reunion that you forget the whole reason you're gathering everyone in the first place.
You don't need constant entertainment.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is create a space where everyone can just enjoy being together.
I think that's also why I loved our Secret Challenge Game so much. It happened in the background of our normal activities instead of requiring everyone to stop what they were doing.
We still had plenty of time to visit, but everyone was secretly watching everyone else. 😂
A Few Things I'd Do Again When Planning a Family Reunion
If you're the one organizing your next family gathering, here's what I'd keep in mind:
Plan a couple of activities that bring everyone together. Games that work across different ages are especially great.
Handle the logistics ahead of time. Things like shirt orders, trivia questions, and collecting old videos are much easier when you're not scrambling at the last minute.
Give everyone a way to participate. Not every person needs to love every activity, but it's nice when there are options for different ages and personalities.
Don't overschedule. Leave plenty of room for spontaneous fun and long conversations.
Take pictures and videos! Someday those will be the old family videos the next generation gathers around to watch.
I'm so glad we made the effort to get everyone together.
Coordinating that many people isn't always easy, but seeing the kids make memories with their cousins, hearing stories we'd never heard before, and laughing until we cried made every bit of planning worth it. I'm very thankful to my mom who took on the cooking and most of the set up for the weekend! It's a big task!
And if you're planning your own family reunion, I hope you steal every single one of these ideas.
Especially the Secret Challenge Game. Just make sure you check that your shirt isn't backwards first. 😂❤️
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