One year we drew the family tree on a VERY large tablecloth- each family member signed his/her name. Our family is quite musical, so we always have at least one band playing. We have plenty of kiddie instruments for them to play too, especially tambourine- they LOVE that! We also have 4 wheel drive vehicles and a farm to play on, horseshoes, bonfire, horseback riding, etc. Obviously not an option indoors. Everyone brings family albums and lots of time is spent catching up. Our reunions are every other year; last year over 400 people showed up. Then again, we have a very loose definition of family. The tree was pretty twisted LOL!

I think that the cookbook is a great idea.

At our reunion, someone made a huge family tree -- somehow it was all linear -- it wrapped around two walls of the banquet room. We all spent a lot of time looking at that.

Our family loves to tell and hear stories, the same ones again and again, but at an extended family reunion, you will even have some people who haven't heard them all before. Can you ask a representative of each branch to tell a favorite family story?

Have fun.

We have our annual family reunion in July. Since we are spread out across the U.S. we celebrate Christmas in July. Everyone looks forward to it no matter what age. How can you complain about Christmas cookies and gifts in the middle of summer? It's so much less stressful than trying to get together in December. One year Santa came from across the lake on water skis. A month or two before the reunion the organizer sends out a request for recipes and they are distributed at the reunion. This was started before we all had computers so you can imagine how the cookbook has grown. This last year I was in charge of planning. I planned a few games but nothing that required everyone to play at the same time. Google "word search" and find a site where you can do a word search puzzle for no cost. Use family names, special places, etc. (I used names and things related to the family cottage - like lake, fishing, outhouse.) I also made custom wrappers for Hershey's bars. Again, go to Google and search for custom candy bar wrappers. There are a number of sites where you can order them but I just used the sites for ideas. I used family photos - some old and some recent. Another game I planned was "guess the number of items in the jar." The closest guess won the jar. I used silly yet meaningful things like gummy worms, candy that Grandma used to buy, etc. If you can get a few facts from each person ahead of time you can play a game where you try to guess who the facts are about. Facts like I graduated from high school in 1976: I once lived in a foreign country; My spices are in alphabetical order (ok, so I am a bit compulsive but at least I can find my spices.) Fun game and you can learn a lot about each other. We also have an annual Rummy (Grandma's favorite card game) every year. If you want to get silly make temporary tatoos on your computer with your family name or initial. Think I bought the tatoo paper at Office Depot. Just have fun and don't get too serious. You want to be able to enjoy the reunion too!