cccmoral

Hello,

My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary next year<77y/o & 78y/0> I am planning a family celebration /reunion. There will be 16 of us< 9 adults and 5 teenagers &2 under 10) We have been on a carribean cruise and we did enjoy that. I am thinking of celebrating it in a resort but I need guidance to plan this. I have also thought of getting a vacation rental house maybe close to a beach .We are thinking of celebrating it around July 2011.
I would appreciate any ideas and thoughts on this.

Thanks,
CM

suze

Where is everyone located (east coast, west coast, US, Canada)? What kind of budget are you talking about?

My parent took us to Hawaii (Lahaina, Maui) for their 50th. We were a group of 9 people (all adults). It was fantastic!

Iowa_Redhead

What is a budget that everyone can afford? Are you all taking your parents, are they taking you or is everyone paying for their own trip?

As Suze asked, where are you? Personally I wouldn't want to fly to the southern part of the US in July, simply because it's HOT. If you're in the western US though, California might be really nice at that time of year.

How are your parents health? Are they up for a flight or are they limited to a shorter car ride? Are there any special considerations for them?

What is something important to them? It's not just a vacation, but something to celebrate their marriage and long life together. Is there somewhere that they've always wanted to go, or somewhere they've really enjoyed in the past?

cccmoral

Most of my family are from the midwest<IN, IL> and one family is from TN. My parents are still okay to travel, but my mom cannot walk long distance anymore because of her knee.
Each family will be paying for their own ,which might be a little problem for my brother who has the most kids<4 kids>. My parents are well traveled so this will be a celebration for everybody in the family.
We've had family reunion in the past, in Europe& Eastern Caribbean on a cruise.
Ideally, i want it to be laid back for my parents and for us children to get together.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I have less than a year to plan it.
CM

Iowa_Redhead

For a family reunion, try to plan it so that the person with budget issues can go too. Talk with your brother and see what they can do. If it's simply not possible for him to go with the 4 kids, then consider just doing a party in the midwest and not traveling. It's not much fun to say "Mom, Dad and the kids who can afford it are going to _________ to celebrate". Figure out what your brother's budget might be and go from there.

Ask your siblings for ideas of what they'd be interested in (beach or not, etc) and what their budgets might be. Then you can maybe put together ideas from there. I've learned that one person entirely planning a family thing can be disasterous if there's no input from the rest.

Somewhere like a resort in the the Carribbean or even Florida might be nice for you if your parents would be okay with the heat. A resort-type location might be nice because they're often set up for an entire range of ages, have multiple things going on so that people can go do things if they want or just hang out with the rest of the family. Also, that would be one general location for your Mom and possibly/likely less walking.

Is there somewhere up along the northeast coast that would work? You could combine small towns, history, beaches, and a bit cooler in July. That's an area that could be driven pretty easily so would be easy on your Mom's knees.

suze

It sounds like purchasing 6 plane tickets wouldn't be possible for that one family? I think a cruise, an island vacation, Hawaii, etc. sound great... but would everyone be able to afford to participate?

Do you need to look at a lake/beach/mountain house rental in a location people can drive to instead?

Lynnaustin

You could have the reunion in your parent's home town, making it a long weekend. Then you could all chip in and give your parents a trip just for them. Alaska cruise?
There are a lot of vacation rentals in the Florida panhandle or at someplace like Hilton Head.
It is just so expensive to fly anywhere with a family of 6. Hawaii prices are expensive for airfare.
The other thing to consider is with 5 teenagers it will be hard to get a block of time. Teens have summer jobs, camps and sport actiities. It will be hard to get everyone together.
We went round and round on this in our family. We finally met for a weekend at the closest big city to my parents. We booked into a nice Embassy Suites. Everybody had their own room. There was a pool and breakfast. Then we all chipped in and sent my parents on a trip to the Southwest where they lived when first married. They had a blast.

ash318

A family cruise can be good, if you can all get away, but since you have done it before maybe you are looking for something different.
a. Budget is key.
b. How many hours is everyone open to travel?
c. There are a lot of all inclusives that could be great.

It really depends what you want to do and 1 person should be the point person.
If you need help planning, I am a travel consultant and I live for things like this!
My email is
[email protected]
My name is Ashna Chopra.