Making Your Family Reunion Booklet

If you've wrapped up your t-shirt orders as mentioned in the previous article this would be a good time to complete your genealogy presentation for your family reunion keepsake booklet. One of our earlier reunion preparation reminders involved collecting photos, stories, genealogy research and starting on your genealogy presentation. These will go in your family reunion keepsake booklet. 

1. Photos
2. Family History
3. Attendee Contact Info
4. Family Business
5. In Memoriam

Working With Family Photos

Ideal photos for the keepsake booklet are group photos taken from the previous reunion even. Others may include vintage pics, new born pics, wedding pics, retirement and anniversary pics, a well as photos taken at graduation and other honorary events including the elders of the tribe.

You will want to do one of two things with your photos.
1. Scan old photos into your computer
2. Take a picture of the photo and import them to your computer.

Now that your photos are on your computer use your photo editing tools to crop (cut-around) the images into a perfect square.

Family History 

Next, from your family history files put together two paragraphs of information about your ancestry from the earliest records available. 

Include full first names, middle and surnames of both father and mother, marriage dates, education, trades and employment, residents, migration and births leading up to the eldest living family member.
http://family-reunion-planner.fimark.net/family_reunion_booklet.html 

Attendee Registration Roster/Database

The Family Reunion Planner Social web app includes the Attendee Registration Roster, a part of the family reunion spreadsheet. This Roster is a database for keeping attendee information such as contact information, returned survey data and t-shirt orders by person and household. You can share the database with multiple family members for real-time editing and updating. Allowing others access to the database helps improve the accuracy and expedite updates in a more timely manner much like a wiki-project. 

Family Business 

As you put together your attendee registration database include information regarding the various businesses owned by family members including those who sell Cosmetic products, Insurance, Real Estate, Clothing, Cars, Travel Discounts, Arts and Crafts, Event Venues and such. Family members may wish to purchase a space or whole page in the booklet to provide more details regarding the business. Proceeds go to the event or committee treasury. Use the blank page found in the booklet template for adding additional business pages.

In Memoriam

The In Memoriam section can include information from the obituary of recently deceased elders and other family members. Some like to add excerpts from a bio as well as a poem or two in this section.
http://family-reunion-planner.fimark.net/family_reunion_poems.html

Putting together your family reunion keepsake booklet can be one of the most rewarding projects associated with the event, so remember to get the family involved.

Happy Family Reunion Planning!

Don't have the latest version of Fimark's Family Reunion Planner?
Get your copy of the award winning Family Reunion Planner Social web app now. Just follow the link in the profile below.

Having Fun with Family History

Life is full of surprises. One sunny day you're enjoying the golden daffodils and the brilliant display of colorful tulips while listening to the breeze ruffle the leaves of swaying trees. As chirping birds dash and swoop from limb to limb suddenly the clouds roll in and rain begins to fall. 

First a sprinkle and a shower,  then it pours.  A nice surprise for the trees and grass but the rest of us gather our things together and head for shelter. Why do we run from the very thing necessary to keep us alive? 

Whenever there is a severe drought nobody runs from the rain. On the contrary, they call everyone they know, they stand looking up at the sky as the rain falls on their relieved and happy faces. they soak it all up, wading in it, walking in it and laughing in it. Today? Today we run from it!


While watching it rain from the inside looking out I often think of how lush and brilliant the foliage will grow thanks to this good watering and then I think about the personal growth I strive for, a goal that has shaped my families life for three generations now. 

Personal and Family Growth

When I think of the growth made it can only be defined by the results. I'm proud of my hard working wife Brenda who woke up today singing  a song as she scurried out the door on her way to serve a community of college bound youth. I'm proud of my mother and father who also have devoted themselves to providing wisdom, hope and practical assistance to the residents of our city. 


I am equally proud of my son Jonathan and his wife who both do volunteer work at a local congregation helping the younger generation manage a life of turbulence. These are some of the notable things I put down in our family history logs preserved for the next generation to come. But that's not all that made the history books. There were sunny days and cloudy days, droughts and surprise showers, stooping lower to dig deeper and reach higher with many lessons learned along the way. Best of all a lot of laughter and spontaneous fun. These times deserve to be recorded as well.

Having Fun With Family History

And speaking of family history logs It's always best to keep a log, journal or blog of your family life including genealogy, community contributions, life growing up. But family history does not always have to be cut-and-dry. 

Add some life to it by including some funny photos of baby in a bath full of soap suds or the toddler frantically chasing bubbles in the park. Include silly pranks like dumping water on dads head while sleeping on the porch or baby's first attempt to feed himself while making a complete mess of what was a perfectly prepared spaghetti dinner. 

Add some light anecdotal stories from family interviews and include some excerpts from humorous text messages to and from family members. Step back in time to yesteryear and take a stroll on the funny side of life. Collect bridesmaids dresses and tux worn over the years. Remember the dances or the days the kids decided to take over the kitchen and make dinner? Record the secret shower serenades. There's nothing like viewing photo stories and video of failed attempts at inventions, recipes and art compared to the look of glee when after many attempts they finally succeed.

Presenting Your History At Family Reunions

While family reunions often feature traditional activities such as recipe swaps, a family music list, familiar stories and outside games, many times families intend on digging deep into history and sharing it in an organized meaningful and exciting way. But good intentions are often met with distractions and a project long left undone. What's needed is a goal, some organizing and inspiration.

Helpful Tools To Record and Present Family History

To help families get their research work off the ground and into the family reunion events program is the Genealogy and Homestead Tour Family Reunion Themed Planner found in Fimark's Family Reunion Planner.

The Family Reunion Planner guides you through the process of throwing a successful and enriching genealogy themed family reunion. With online tools that help you do your genealogy research you'll have your family reunion event planned, organized and ready to manage in just a few hours using Fimark's Family Reunion Planner web app and ebook. 

Our company, Fimark has been developing family reunion planners since 2004 and each release just keeps getting better. Get the Genealogy and Homestead Tour Family Reunion Themed Planner - Includes themes, logos, slogans, matching invitations, theme banner, matching t-shirt, cap and apron ready to edit and order online. 

Other themes in the planner package include:
Family Reunion Cruise Theme
Family Reunion Family Fest Theme
Traditional Family Reunion Theme
Living Legends Ball Theme

Planning a family reunion? Don't have Fimark's Family Reunion Planner Social web app yet? Get it at this summers discount special. List Price $49. Now $39 for a limited time. You save $10 dollars. No coupon code needed. For more information about the family reunion planning app click on the link found on this blog page or go to profiles.

Happy Family Reunion Planning!
Mark and Brenda