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Reunions by Mail
Holding a family reunion can be difficult when family members live many miles from each
other. With this activity, you will not need to worry about this problem of gathering the
family physically. This reunion will be held by mail.
Activity
As with all reunions, planning is essential. Choose several family members to determine
what kind of activities will work best for your family reunion by mail. (Note that the
activities suggested here could also be used at a conventional reunion.)
Set up a system that lets everyone know to whom they will send their material. For
activities that require passing items on to someone else, the best system may be to send
them to the next youngest family member. But some activities require that you send your
material to the person in charge of that activity.
The following are ideas that you could use or adapt. Don't be afraid to try them and
even to develop some of your own activities. You can try them with the grown members of
your own family, or with the members of your extended family—grandparents, aunts, and
uncles.
- Make up a genealogy quiz and have each family complete it and then send
it back to the one who made it up. That person will score and return
it.
- Have each family send questions about family history to a knowledgeable
family member. He can answer the questions and send a copy of all the
answers to each family.
- Have each family send in favorite recipes to the activity leader, who will
compile them for everyone.
- Have each family report their past year's most unforgettable experience.
- Have each family commit to give another family a gift of service each year.
(Choose by drawing straws the first year and rotate after that.)
- Collect a baby picture and a current picture or some members of each family.
Send the pictures to one family at a time. Have them try to correctly
match the baby pictures and the current pictures. They could send their
answer sheets back to the activity leader and pass the pictures on to
the next family.
- Send a cassette tape in rotation to the families. Have them record their
feelings on subjects such as "What I Remember Best about Grandfather."
- Have a family scavenger hunt. Make a list of questions about family members. For
example, find someone in the family who is a farmer, someone in the family who is a
bishop, someone who was born on a specific date, someone who was married in the Manti
Temple. Send the list to each family and have them complete and return it.
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