How to Plan a Family Reunion

Put the focus on family

Every successful reunion starts with a good turnout, says Jack Bettridge of New Canaan, Connecticut, whose extended family has been gathering regularly since 1988. “Decide from the start that your goal is to spend time together, and not necessarily to have a lavish vacation,” he suggests.

Beth Payer, who runs her Olliebop blog from home in Saratoga Springs, New York, attends up to three major family gatherings per year—one on her husband’s side of the family and two on hers. “Make it a priority to be as inclusive as possible,” she says. “That means being sensitive to those with the tightest budgets, the least flexible schedules, and the greatest mobility issues.” To wit: when a nonagenarian aunt could no longer travel comfortably by car to a longstanding reunion location, the family moved it.