17 Tips For A Family Reunion On St. Patrick's Day!

I think the luck of the Irish comes from having big families. Big families may spread out to far and wide locations. So, reunions are just the thing to keep everyone together, at least occasionally, if only to stay connected. But whatever the intervals between family gatherings, make your reunion fantastic and keep everyone clamoring for more!

St. Patrick's Day Family Reunion Tips

Here are 17 tips for a St. Patrick's themed reunion:

1. Organize a family reunion over a four-day weekend in a nearby city that will accommodate family functions for all ages.
2. Be organized: start with a budget. Include all your costs, add a bit for miscellaneous expenses, and make an estimate of how many will be in attendance. Divide the costs by your estimated turnout. This will determine your basis for what to charge attendees.
3. Make a list of tasks to be performed and ask relatives you can count on to do certain tasks. There is no way one or two people, while they do most of the work, will be able to do it all.
4. Charge a registration fee. Try not to pay for anything upfront. Send out letters or emails requesting a registration fee, as this will cover any early printing, postage or hotel/restaurant deposits.
5. Make everything green. Design invitations, name bags, family booklets, programs, table place cards and table numbers, registration packets, and awards all in various shades of green.
6. Use green stickers shaped like four-leaf clovers as letter sealers.
7. Serve green tea and shamrock cookies for tea time snacks. I have also seen green corn chips in some markets.
8. Have Bailey's Irish Cream on hand for evening chats when the kids are in bed or off doing their own reuniting.
9. Arrange games at a family fun night that include singing Irish folksongs and dancing Irish jigs.
10. Give lime jelly bellies wrapped inside green hankies as souvenirs to arriving guests.
11. Use green cocktail napkins during all food functions.
12. Drape green table runners over the white table cloths on the dinner tables.
13. Include a shamrock or other Irish symbol on all reunion announcement emails.
14. Plan games with a green theme. This could include paper stock for banners, ribbons for awards, art projects for the kids, and quilts donated by family members for prizes and/or fund raising donations.
15. Consider yourself lucky that you have a family that enjoys coming to reunions. Use LUCK as your family motto and logo on items that identify your family event at the hotel, restaurant, or whatever location your reunion is being held.
16. When the reunion is over and you are sending out pictures of the event, send them with green paper mache frames make by the kids during their arts and crafts sessions at the reunion.
17. It doesn't matter when the reunion occurs during the year. You can still plan it with St. Patrick's Day as the theme. Just use your imagination to make it happen. It'll still be fun and give everyone something to focus on at the event.

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