Lately, time has been a constant warp and there hasn’t been enough time for you to see your family. Chances are you spent more time visiting the physician owned PCR lab in your town than you’ve had a much-needed catch-up session with your family. So, you’ve taken it upon yourself to learn how to plan a family vacation reunion. This is a great idea because it gives you sufficient time to plan ahead for anything that can go wrong. This includes finding the perfect location and informing everyone on time.
If you’re planning on heading to Philadelphia for your vacation reunion, then you should know that this city is famous for a lot of things. For one, it’s mostly popular for food. Just think of your favorite Philly Cheesesteak. There’s no doubt that going on a family vacation reunion to this city with a rich history will be everything you can imagine. However, to ensure that everything goes well, you should make sure that you have ideas. Above all, you should know how to plan a family vacation reunion. If you don’t, then keep on reading for useful tips to guide you.
1. Form a Family Planning Committee
First things first, you should have a planning committee to ensure that everyone knows what needs to happen. One thing about learning how to plan a family vacation reunion is that it requires a lot of planning. This needs you to have a team that understands the goal of the entire vacation more than anything. You should think of everything in this stage, from the types of floral arrangements that you need to the venue for this event.
If you’re trying to figure out how to plan a family vacation reunion, your committee should ensure that it mixes different age groups. This should help you to understand the various dynamics of your huge family. Effective communication is a key factor in this phase. You need to ensure that when you’re thinking of how to plan a family vacation reunion, you think of ways to improve communicating with your family. In most cases, the most ideal way to get this done is through including short surveys that everyone can fill in. You can find out detailed information about everyone’s preferences if you use this approach.
The most crucial thing that you should know about how to plan your family vacation reunion is that your committee should have designated roles from the beginning. This will help you know who’s responsible for what. In addition, it should save you time to focus on the tasks that you’ve set out. If you don’t know how to designate roles within your committee, you’re not alone. The following common roles should be useful for your planning.
- Communications
- Food
- Transportation
- Venue
- Memorabilia
- Activities
2. Think of the Attendees
Are you trying to know how to plan a family vacation reunion? While it’s easy for you to get lost in the details of what you want the reunion to be like, you shouldn’t forget the most important detail. Planning your family vacation is nothing without you thinking of who will come to it. The thing is, when you know who’s going to be attending, it helps you to have a better idea of what will be needed. For instance, if you have a family member who needs senior care assistance, you should consider what you’ll need. Take into consideration the costs that may need to be paid to cover certain needs of other family members.
If you want to know how to plan a family vacation reunion that doesn’t exclude anyone, you need to think of everything months before the big day. The easiest way for you to do this is by getting a list with everyone’s contact details. Get them to RSVP weeks before the event. Most importantly, ensure that anyone with special needs is taken care of. This way, you’ll have a better idea of who’s trying to reduce blood sugar and those that have allergies to certain foods.
3. Choose a Location and Venue
Now that you’ve decided on how to plan a family vacation reunion, you should consider the main thing about the entire day. This is none other than your location. The location that you choose will determine the type of venue that you’ll go for. Let’s say that you want to have your reunion at the local country club. You should ensure that you still have enough room to plan all the activities that you want to have. Moreover, make sure that the facility that you’ve chosen can accommodate everyone. If there are any disabled family members, as the organizer, you should make sure that they have equal access to everything like everyone else. Find out if the venue has wheelchair friendly access.
In fact, if you can, provide additional services for those in need to help them feel as welcome as everyone else. When you’re figuring out how to plan a family vacation reunion, consider an older family member’s late memorial service and make sure to pay a tribute to them in some way during the event. Besides this, though, a reunion should be a fun event where you consider every family member’s needs.
4. Fundraise
When you’ve decided on where you’re hosting your family vacation reunion, you should start thinking more about how much everything is going to cost. By now, you should know that knowing how to plan a family vacation reunion relies heavily on how you communicate. You’d also be surprised to find out how much financial planning is required. There’s a wide range of things that need to be paid for, from custom rubber stamps and other craft supplies for creating decorations to hiring a caterer and a bartender for the venue you’ll be hosting the reunion at. Some of these expenses require you to pay upfront. It’s important for you to figure out where the money for this will come from before you start doing anything.
If it’s impossible for everyone to contribute towards the big expenses, start planning ways that you can fundraise to get the money sorted out. When you’re learning how to plan a family vacation reunion effectively, you should consider having a fundraising strategy. The following are some ideas that you can choose to use.
- Get your family to donate as many things as possible. You can have a rummage sale.
- Have a bake sale in your neighborhood.
- Get together as a family and see what services you can offer you sell. Find out who’s handy with DIY home projects and sell those to anyone who needs them.
- Find out how you can create a fundraising shop with online retailers. You can use the percentage that you make to donate towards your reunion fund.
5. Do Your Research
When you have knowledge, you have power. Knowing how to plan a family vacation reunion is nothing when you don’t have any knowledge of where you’re going. For example, do you know which months are most pleasant to visit in Philadelphia? If you want to have an outdoor event, you should take note of these important things. The last thing that you want to ruin your reunion is the weather. Imagine spending a big chunk of cash for a hair specialist to straighten your and then getting rained on! You should know what to do if it rains, so think of a contingency plan if your family is going to be outside.
When you’re thinking of your outside venue, consider one that gives you an option to put a ‘lid on it’ should you have unexpected rain. Alternatively, you should look at a venue that already has a pavilion or cover. The easiest way for you to find all this useful information is through doing research. Look up all the information about the weather, your chosen venue, and points of interest before you commit to your plans. Get everyone involved through your committee. This should help to avoid any issues with people feeling like they were left out of the important planning.
6. Consider Travel Arrangements
If you know how to plan a family vacation reunion and get everyone to travel without any hassles, then you’re a star. Yet, no matter how great you are at sorting out your traveling arrangements, you should still consider a few things with a reunion. Firstly, you’re traveling as a big group, so saving on your traveling should be a priority. Moreover, do you need to hire a dog boarding service or is your pup getting on a flight with you? There are many factors to consider when you’re traveling with everyone. You should have an idea of how to navigate everything. These are some travel tips that you should follow.
- Prepare for your trip as much as you possibly can.
- Make sure that you have flexible travel dates and travel when it’s off-season.
- Compare quotes from multiple airlines, car rentals, and hotels.
- Save money towards your traveling fund by reducing frivolous expenses.
- Don’t forget to use your credit card rewards!
The fact of the matter is that if you’re traveling as a large group, the chances of going through challenges increase significantly. Take for instance your credit card points. These won’t cover expenses like your fees and taxes of your tickets. This means that you should have an adequate amount to cover these expenses. Another consideration that you have to make is that not everyone can earn the travel money on time. By default, there should be an emergency fund to cover such expenses. These are some other challenges that traveling with a big group can cause. Here are some to keep in mind as you plan:
- Your travel schedules might not coordinate.
- You’ll have a hard time finding accommodation.
- You won’t get the same seats together on your flight.
- More luggage means more money will be spent on baggage fees.
- The bigger the rental car, the pricier it gets.
7. Timing is Everything
The timing of your reunion has an impact on a lot of the other plans. When you plan your reunion during winter, then you can’t do a lot of activities. You can’t even bring your paddleboard with you to the reunion! This can limit all the fun activities that you would normally want your family to partake in. Generally, summertime is the best time of the year to plan for anything that includes includes a dynamic group of people. You can take advantage of the beautiful outdoor weather.
When you’re learning how to plan a family vacation reunion, you should make sure that you think of every possibility. The thing is, the time of the year that you choose to host your reunion matters. It also determines if you’ll have full access to the amenities of your venue or not. The last thing that you want to do is to pay full price for a venue that you won’t end up using it to its full capacity. You’d be surprised that there are people who prefer to attend indoor events. This is why it’s important for you to communicate with everyone so that you can know more about their preferences.
Planning anything ahead is the most effective way to ensure that everything goes well in the end. Trying to figure out how to plan a family vacation can be intimidating. If you’ve never done it, you’re mainly worried about all the things that could go wrong. At the end of the day, you want to make sure that everyone has a lovely time. To do this, it’s essential for you to plan activities that are inclusive. A reunion should be about maintaining connections and creating new memories. Planning everything for your family reunion vacation in Philadelphia will help you by a margin.