When planning a family reunion, it is important to send out invitations. Family reunion invitations should have pertinent information, reflective of the reunion itself. The first step with invitations is determining how many family members will be invited. Once you have an invitation list comprised, you will need to begin to trace addresses of family members.
To locate family members, begin with people you already have contact with. Ask them if you have any of the missing addresses you are looking for. If they don’t, perhaps they can guide you to other family members who might have the information you are looking for. The Internet is also another great tool for finding people. There are plenty of researching sites which can help you with the search.
Once you have all the addresses you need, ask family members to help you with putting addresses on the envelopes. Be sure to include directions to the location, hotel and transportation information, and your own contact information. You can also include food items which you wish them to bring.
You can design your own invitations, to make them personalized, or you can order invitations. If you order invitations, plan in advance to order enough and have them delivered at least four to six months prior to the event.
Since your family will be traveling from different areas of the country, you will need to have the family reunion invitations out at least three months prior to the event, so that they have enough time to plan, prepare and arrive. You want to make sure that everyone invited has plenty of time to make arrangements to attend and visit with family members.
You can either include an R.S.V.P. card within the invitation, or simply include a phone number to which family members can contact you. It is advisable to begin calling invited guests a month prior to the event to ensure an accurate head count for the gathering. This will help you gauge just how many people will be turning up. Depending on the number of invitations, you might want to enlist the help of you family members again to make phone calls.
Once you have an approximate count of family members planning on attending, you can move onto the next items on your list, until it is time to have fun at the family reunion.
