Family Reunion
 

I am in charge of planning a family reunion and this will be our first one. We won't be departing until summer 2020.

A bit about us. We will have 30 people with ages ranging from 5 years old to lates 50s. Almost half of the group will be under 18. We want to stay in the lower 48 and do not want an all inclusive resort. We would like to rent one large house or smaller houses close together. We will not be together 24/7. We are planning an arrival meal together and a departure meal together and in between everyone will branch out and do their own thing. Interests include hiking, wine and history.

If you have planned a family reunion and have any tips/advice I would love to hear it. I am also looking for destination ideas and I cannot think of any place that isn't Orlando that would have something for everyone. We don't want to do a cruise.

Just about anyplace in California would tick all your boxes. There are wine regions in Napa/Sonoma, in the Gold Rush foothills, In the area around Santa Cruz/Monterey/Carmel, around Santa Barbara, and several other areas. All of which have history, hiking, great scenery, activities for all ages. Parts of Oregon and Washington would also fill the bill.

Finding one house for all 30 of you wil be a TALL order.

>>If you have planned a family reunion and have any tips/advice <<

I have a couple of times (with my Mom -- she did the lion's share). But it was much larger -- more that 100 people. For one, we hired a fairgrounds in northern California and we had people staying in their own RVs in local hotels, and in a few rented houses. We arranged a fishing 'tournament', and golf, and kids games, and touch football etc etc etc. We had joint breakfasts and dinners (easy because there was a commercial kitchen at the fairgrounds and one of our relatives was a caterer)

Another one there were about 75 and we booked rooms in a resort in the northern Sierra.

At both we had people from every corner of the US, Alaska to Florida to Texas but about 50% were from California. And we had a larger age range - toddlers to 80+ so we did have to cater a bit for some less active people/less mobile so there were card games etc.

>If you have planned a family reunion and have any tips/advice <<

yeah: don’t do it. Get everyone together and discuss where they’d like to go, see if you can come to a consensus about where and when. And then let every family plan their own thing. If they want to get together for few meals, awesome. But do not take responsibility for the activities, lodging, or budget. Or their happiness.

Warning signs so far: someone is considering a house for 30 people. And you can’t think of a destination that everyone will like other than Orlando. That, right there, tells me that you are probably in over your head. Although, hey, why not Orlando if you know it works?

but my family is very diverse, budget and activity wise. Shared lodging is a massive headache. Picking a destination is a massive headache. I will admit to being a pessimist but that comes from hard won experience. My favorite part of family reunions is usually the time after the last relative disappears. Then my real vacation begins!

We are probably going to host a family reunion this summer but it will just be a day event and people don't live that far away. I'd like to suggest NH's White Mountains where there are lots of lodging choices and a website that can get you started https://www.resortsandlodges.com/res...mountains.html

We've stayed at the Mountain View Grand Resort but although they host weddings etc. it's a little too far north I think from the popular mountain activities. Your family members would fly into MHT (Manchester NH) although Boston is also possible just a longer drive. In addition to lots of hiking choices, the mountains are just north of wonderful Lake Winnipesaukee. There are summer theaters in the area and lots of choices for day tripping. If you chose something on the east side of the state (i.e. Conway area) you would be also be able to do a day trip to Maine. There are water parks, science centers (Squam Lake Science Center) and history. We have not been to the WW2 museum nor the Remick Museum but highly recommend Squam. In addition to wineries there's a new distillery in Tamworth. August is usually the best weather month for outdoor parties although we've been hosting an outdoor party around the 4th of July and have had pretty good weather for the past several years. NH state parks have outdoor picnic pavilions that can be rented. The New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation : Pavilions and Group Use Areas

Myrtle Beach or surroundings.
Charleston Hampton Inn (suite hotel) Asheville NC--look at VRBO
Almost anywhere can accomodate that number.

Look at where the folks will be coming from and how they will travel to where you choose to have the event. If most will come by car then it needs to be close enough to travel in a day or two by car. If they will fly, then there needs to be a major airport nearby.

In the New England area there are several places that could accommodate you. Cape Cod comes to mind. Lots of rental properties, some with multiple dwellings, beaches, history, good food, close enough to Boston to do a city day via ferry, whale watch, fishing trip, golf.

The Carolinas could work too, Outer Banks, Myrtle Beach, etc.

California: San Diego, San Francisco, LA, National Parks, etc.

Colorado: Mountains, NPs

Obviously, travel (where are people coming FROM) makes a huge difference. But if you like tennis, golf, biking, rafting, that kind of thing, look at Black Butte and Sunriver in Oregon. Both would have many private accommodations for rent. Also Lake Tahoe. But again, nothing like theme parks.

I was also going to mention Sunriver. This is a planned community with houses each family could rent individually. It is easy to ride bikes, go hiking, go kayaking, visit the lava tubes (like caves), etc. A similar idea might be Estes Park in Colorado. The YMCA resort there is supposed to be amazing.

You have a big job planning this reunion with seceral requirements. Does there have to be winery nearby?
Some suggestions:
Santa Barbara, near Santa Ynez wine country, has beaches,a zoo for the children, good dining, natural beauty. Small airport, but also can ise LAX and drive two hours north.
Or Colorado Rockies. Lots of home and condo rentals in ski areas in summer. Vail, Beaver Creek,Breckenridge, Steamboat, no wine country though. She much to do, hking, ravting, expolring. Fly into Denver.

colorado ski areas would really fit--series of condos. Folks can split up and coalesce as wanted. Breck or Keystone. Shopping at outlets in Silverthorne. Fly fishing galore. hiking and active things. Woodward at Copper for the kids--and/or dads.
And it could be very economical out of season which this is.
YOu can really get anything you want--and it sure doesn't have to be Orlando!!!!

Thanks for the response. I understand it will be near impossible to find a house that will comfortably fit everyone. I'm hoping to find a series of homes/condos right next to each other.

It is not a deal breaker. If there was a local brewery that would work as well.

I'd suggest you divide your group into family units since a lot will be children and see how many that is. Then who could pair up in a larger unit.
Our condo at Litchfield is in a high rise and has numerous units for rent as would places in Myrtle Beach or other venues all over the country. It is unlikely you would be able to rent a row of houses anywhere, IMO--particularly ones that would fit your needs and likes.
We did rent a 7 room beachfront house one time and now that I think of it, it's "twin" was next door. Ocean Isle Beach in NC. Wonderful house.
You could look at retreat venues that cater to large groups like churches. There are several at Myrtle Beach. They might not work because of meal requirements, but......

You need some kind of lake resort area with lots of smaller cabins or something like that.

You don't seem to have thought about the main venue. If you are doing a large family reunion, surely have some some kind of event planned at least ONE night in a central place? Some kind of program or at least where everyone gets together to eat/party, sort of like a HS reunion, I guess. My family is full of theater/musician people so our big family reunion had a program with performances, skits on our family history, etc., but I know everyone doesn't do that kind of thing.

ANyway, some of those resort areas should have a central place for events which i would have thought you needed.

I know this would be dorky, but our family had one once at some lake in Wisconsin that had boating/hiking/fishing, horseback riding and they did have rental cabins plus a central area for events where we could have our joint gatherings, plans in the evenings. That isn't as glamorous as Orlando, etc. I think it was the Wisconsin Dells area broadly, which was central for our family which was really spread out across many states. I thin there are several resort/conference centers in that general area, maybe that's what you need to look for.

I should have spelled it out but this is part of why I suggested Sunriver. They even have a tab for family reunions:

https://www.destinationhotels.com/su...amily-reunions