Do you have them? If so, how often? What type of places do you go? For how long? Do you find them enjoyable?
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My family has them, but they are miles away so I rarely go.
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MIL has organized a few over the years. It's basically her siblings and kids and grandkids. Most everyone lives in the same area anyway so they don't all come. It's usually a potluck lunch at a park with picnic shelters and a playground for the kids.
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My mums family (both sides) always host a Christmas party and summer reunion. Sometimes we go, sometimes not. It just depends on life.
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DH's moms family just scheduled one, it's at a marina by his uncles boat. Not very kid friendly since everyone will be hanging on out on the dock near the boat. The invite said "all day" which to me is very bizarre. Like, if we go at 10am before DS's nap, will anyone be there? My family doesn't do reunions since we all get together pretty frequently.
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We do with my dad's brothers and their families. Every 3-4 years, we pick a location that has a big house or several houses/cabins that we can rent and go there for 3-5 days. We are spread out across the country, so the locations change, but we've done Colorado, Lake Tahoe, Florida, and North Carolina and we are thinking about Tennessee for the next one.
We always go, because it's the only time we get to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins and we find them enjoyable. Several of the cousins have kids around the same age, so it's always fun to get them all together.
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DH's family has a big reunion every year - it's always at the same place (a pavilion in a park) and always on the same day (last Sunday in July.) It's ridiculously huge - it's for descendants of his great-grandmother, who had 6 kids, and they've just continued to multiply. Each family brings a covered dish, and there are games/prizes/half-the-take to cover other expenses. We all really look forward to it, since it's the only time of year we see most of these people - you're always meeting someone new, or seeing babies you've only seen on social media, or having a really interesting conversation with an older family member. It really makes you feel like part of something big and lasting.
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@raspberries: having the conversations with older family members is one of the really great parts for me too. We've started asking our uncles and my dad (the elders of our get-togethers) to tell us stories from their childhood as entertainment on one of the evenings we are there.
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@mrs.shinerbock: It's so cool - I'd love to record some of the stories his grandma and her siblings have to say - they're in their late 80s/early 90s now and have lived through soo much!
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my MIL's family has them every 3 years. they are all around the country and she goes to them all, even though in the last 5 years, we've become estranged from her siblings, but still talk to a few cousins. it can be awkward, but she enjoys seeing the rest of the family (it's the line from her mom and mom's siblings, so all sorts of relations) and we want to support her so we keep going! R and I are going for the night this weekend because this one is driving distance.
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It's fun to hear everyone's experiences. Families are so different. My FIL's family is currently conducting a poll where family members are voting between like 10 locations for the next reunion (held every two years). Looking at the votes so far, I am thinking everyone in the family has very different ideas about what they want a family reunion to be. Not sure how we'll choose a location when the votes are sooooooooooo different!
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We don't have them often but occasionally (with my dad's family). I think I can remember 3 in my life (I'm 30). The last one was 4 years ago at a park with an indoor shelter near where we are all from. Everyone made food to bring and there were a bunch of outdoor games. It lasted all afternoon, it was really fun!
I sort of think we should start doing them more often. My grandma passed away last month and I feel like she was sort of our last real link to each other. We all (or most of us anyways) usually got together with her for Christmas every year so we would usually get to see all the aunts/cousins once every year or two for that. Now that she is gone I don't expect I'll ever really see my cousins for Christmas anymore (we already don't do thanksgiving with them) so if we don't have reunions I have no idea when I would ever see them.
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I really don't care for them. Although, one year we had one in my dad's side that was cool! Each family had a different color shirt showing how they were related.
We also did fun relay races, games, etc. Against the other fams! There were 100+ people there, we did it at a park. I think the key is not to do it that often, otherwise it's too boring in my opinion. Every 10 years or so is fine I think.
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In our family they are called "weddings". Haha that is pretty much the only time my family gets together but my family is big and there is at least 2 weddings a year.
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We just got back from one up in NJ. It was 2 nights and the last one was 4 years ago.
It was fun to catch up and see extended family
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