DIY Family Reunion Games

Summer is in full swing. The kids are out of school, the adults are taking vacation time, and family reunions have been planned.

Some family reunions are large to-dos that have taken years of planning, while others are small affairs that were thrown together on a whim. Either way, keeping these family members entertained is a big deal.

The more fun you have at a family reunion, the more you will remember it and the more likely you are to return to the next one.

DIY family reunion games are not only fun and entertaining, but a lot more affordable than buying pre-made. And as an added bonus, you can customize them to suit the needs of your family.

Family Reunion Games Indoor

It’s always a good idea to plan some of the games for your family reunion to be played indoors. Summer often brings storms or extreme heat, and even though some of your family may still play the outdoor games when it is 90 degrees, others will want or even need the cooling shelter of the indoors.

One of my family favorite games is trivia. At any one of our get togethers, you can guarantee that someone has brought a trivia game to the party.

This family reunion trivia will please young and old, costing you only a little time and possibly a prize for the winners.

Family Reunion Trivia Games

Materials:

• A sheet of questions and answers from your family history.

Instructions:

1. Divide the players into 4 groups.
2. When it is time to ask a question, have 1 representative from each group come forward and ask all of them the question at the same time.
3. If they know the answer, have them raise their hand.
4. If they are unsure of the answer, they can go to their group for guidance.
5. The person with their hand raised first gets to answer first.
6. Give a point for each correct answer and the first group to get to a set number of points wins.

The questions can be anything from “What is Aunt Jane’s middle name?” to “Spell the Surname Popadopolis”. The possibilities are endless.

Family History Bingo

Thanks to the lovely people at My Free Bingo Cards, you can customize and print cards for your family history bingo game. You can fill in the cards with family names, places, or important dates. Just remember to make several versions of the cards so your whole family doesn’t get bingo at the same time.

Instead of using bingo balls to call the card squares, use a large jar of paper squares that have the same information as on the bingo cards. Need bingo markers? Check your local dollar store for dots or bingo pins. While you are there, pick up some candy or small trinkets for prizes.

Outdoor Games for Family Reunions

Outdoor games are a great way to spread people out a bit and keep your gathering from feeling over crowded.

These giant versions of classic board games are sure to be a hit with any age group.

DIY Large Outdoor Checkerboard

Materials:

• 6 ft by 8 ft Rectangular Indoor/Outdoor Rug(Like this one!)
• White spray paint
• Any colored spray paint except white
• 24 – 7 inch Flying Disks (I found these white ones on the Oriental Training website in a pack of 24)
• Painters Tape
• Utility Knife
• Cardboard or poster board with a 9 inch by 9-inch square cut in the center as a template

Instructions:

1. Cut your rug to 6 feet by 6 feet (72 inches by 72 inches) using your utility knife.
2. Use the white spray paint, painter’s tape and cardboard template to paint a checkerboard grid on the rug. You will only be painting every other square, so your rug color will be the color of your dark squares. Each square will measure 9 inches by 9 inches and there. When you are done, you should have a rug with 8 squares down each side for a total of 64 squares over the whole rug.
3. Once your rug is painted, take 12 of the white flying disks and paint them an opposing color ( any color other than white!) You only need to paint the tops.

Idea!! Looking for a more permanent checker board for your backyard? Try making a checkerboard using one foot square patio pavers and using circles of cut wood for the checkers.

DIY Yard Twister

I loved playing twister as a kid. The more people playing, the more fun we had. This yard version is customizable and can be expanded or made smaller depending on your need.

I found the instructions and materials list for this version of DIY Yard Twister came from Instructables Outside.

MATERIALS

• Rotary Tool – for cutting the bottom out of a bucket
• Hammer – for driving the stakes in the yard for the string line.
• One each of red, blue and yellow ground marking spray paint in 15 ounce cans.
• Two cans of green ground marking spray paint in 11 ounce cans.
• String for setting up a straight line.
• Two wooden stakes or dowel for a string line.
• 5 gallon bucket.

1. Cut a hole in the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket. The bottom of the bucket had a 10-1/2 inch diameter.  I cut a 7-inch diameter hole in the bottom of the bucket using a rotary tool, but you could use a jig saw or whatever you have access to.
2. Lay out a string line to help you get the first row of paint circles straight.  Just remember to line it up in the direction you want the Twister field to be.  Also make it at a minimum the length of the Twister field.  You really only need this for the first row of paint circle.
3. Pound in two stakes and run a string between them.  That’s all you need.  If you don’t have stakes you can always use two trees to run the string between.
4. Start Painting the First Row. Using the bucket does eliminate most of the over-spray and additional spray paint from drifting around but be careful not to get to close to anything you do not want painted. When you begin, Paint a red circle with the bucket just touching the string line.  Then paint the second circle with the edge of the bucket just touching the edge of the first circle.  If your cutout circle is centered in the bottom of the bucket (leaving you a couple of extra inches around the edge), this will give you evenly spaced circles. I wanted to follow the same pattern for the circle colors as the Twister mat, so I started the first row of circles as red and then went on to blue, yellow, and last green.
5. When finished with the red circles, move on to blue. Set the bucket beside the first red paint circle and paint a blue circle.  Continue painting the blue circles with the bucket just touching the previous blue circle and the adjacent red circle until you have a full row of blue circles.
6. Once you have the full rows of all 4 colors painted you can remove the string line and start the second set of circles.  Our play field is 8 circles wide, but you can make it as wide and long as you like.  It just depends on how much of the ground marking paint you want to use.
7. Make sure the paint is dry before you start using the Twister field.  This is an important step!  You don’t want anyone to ruin their clothes or shoes. 
8. Now get the Twister board spinner and start calling out directions to the kids. If you don’t have a Twister board you can always just call out random combinations.

Note: You can make the circles larger (just cut out the entire bottom of the bucket) if you want to make the game more adult friendly but keep in mind, you will need more paint and something to lay in between the circles to space them out.

Family Reunion Games Scavenger Hunt

Who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt? And this one couldn’t be easier to set up. Print the sheet below and set out a jar of pens or pencils. Before the game starts, set up your oldest relative in attendance, and the mother of the youngest with some small trinkets (this can be anything from plastic coins to Hershey kisses) to give to the hunters. Pass out the sheets and watch them go.

Inexpensive Prizes for Family Reunion Games

For the kids attending a family reunion, they are pretty happy with any prize they get so they will appreciate awards like these trophies and medals or party favors I found on Amazon.

For the adults in the group, they would appreciate something they can use on a daily basis. I would recommend something like these customizable pens or insulated tumblers.

Your family really will be happy any prizes you pick so be creative and have fun with it.

Now go have fun with your family and friends and make some great memories.