Planning the List

Deciding which relatives to invite to the reunion can pose some unexpected challenges. Families can be big, small, far-flung, close-knit, feuding, or completely out of touch. Should you invite every living descendant of the Osenhoffer family, who settled in Boston in the late 1700s? Should you leave out eccentric Uncle Al because he tends to embarrass everyone with his off-color jokes? Check out our tips and advice to consider when drawing up a guest list.

Select a group size that you feel you can handle. Some organizers suggest starting small (parents, children, and grandchildren) the first year and adding on family branches (cousins, aunts and uncles, etc.) for later reunions. If your family is small to start with, invite everyone. Some organizers might be more inclined to collect all the cousins that have scattered around the globe. Others who are searching for family roots might expand the list to include all descendants of a certain ancestor. There are numerous ways to expand or limit the guest list. The bottom line: Only you can decide where to draw the line.