Part 19: Family Reunion Food: Eating Your Way to Their Hearts

Now that you have your games and activities planned and you have figured out a way to keep your family in touch even after the reunion is over, it is time to turn to what many will consider the most important part of the family reunion – FOOD!

Menu planning can be tricky since most family reunions involve having every member bring something to the festivities. Of course, you could plan on having your family reunion catered, but that can get quite costly and it isn’t nearly as personal as sampling the creations of the talented chefs in your family. Besides, every family has at least one signature dish and about twenty family members that love to make it!

Obviously, you don’t want to end up with nothing but desserts at your family reunion…well, maybe you wouldn’t mind if that happened, but it is isn’t exactly the healthiest meal plan that you could offer! So, if you are going to have family members bring in food, it is going to take a bit of coordination on your part.

By far, the easiest way to put together a menu is to have a family website on which your family members can post what they plan to bring. That way, everyone can easily see what is already being brought and can add another dish to the list. This also helps your family members have a clear idea of what to expect to eat once they get to the reunion.

If you don’t have a family website, you will have to do this the old fashioned way and will need to keep track of what is being brought on a piece of paper or in your computer. Organizing the menu is going to require actually contacting each of your relatives in order to find out what they will be bringing, which means you will have to go over the current list with each relative so they can find out what is already being brought so they can decide what they would like to bring. You could also send a current list to relatives via email in order to save yourself from the long distance charges and from reading the list over and over and over and over again.

Another option would be for you to simply plan a menu and telling each family member what to bring. Depending on your family, this may be a welcome step or it may go over like a lead balloon as some people simply don’t like being told what to do. Therefore, you will have to judge the kind of people you are dealing with before deciding to take charge and give orders.