25 Fun Activities for Your Next Family Reunion

Family reunions are a great way to come together with people you love but don't get to see nearly often enough. This picture of our immediate family was taken right before our family reunion in the fall of 2019. For families like ours with many different ages, there's so much to do here. We love fishing from our private beach on Mobile Bay or with a deep-sea charter boat in the Gulf. We also offer guided kayak and paddleboat tours of Mobile Bay for our guests. Just sitting on our beach in the shade is a treat. Big families can cook and eat together in our large kitchen and great room area. And the end of each day is the perfect time to gather everyone together around the firepit to watch the sun go down before they head off to their individual suites. Let us help you create a family reunion that no one will want to miss! See our planning guide on our website at this link.

We've also put together this big list of 25 ideas for family activities sure to keep everyone entertained.

Now that every phone is also a high-tech camera, it makes sense that photos are going to be a big part of your reunion. Here are some creative ways to turn all that picture-taking into games for the whole crowd.

1. Encourage everyone to take photos and videos and add them to the Facebook group you've created for your reunion. See how to do that here on our Family Reunion planning page.
2. Set up a photo booth in one of the suites or in the great room at Jubilee Suites. Supply lots of fun props so everyone gets creative. What to do with all those pictures? Put them on the group Facebook page!
3. Set up a contest on the group Facebook page for the best posted photo of the day. Have a cool prize for the one with the most votes.
4.  Set up another contest for the best video of the day. Catching someone in a fun moment might be a highlight of the trip! Voting on Facebook or in person works for each of these contests.
5.  Be sure to record your reunion with a group photograph. Consider hiring a professional photographer and videographer to help create memories. You may want to invite everyone to bring an outfit to coordinate with the group such as all white or white and denim, or simply wear matching reunion T-shirts.

Scavenger hunts can be really fun. They're also great for building memories and getting different family members playing together. Try a daily scavenger hunt with a different theme and family member hosting the hunt each day. Have the daily host put together a list of items to be found. The winner each day is the team that finds the most items within the time limit set by the host.

1. For the first day, have teams collect natural items from around the grounds. This is an ideal way for family members to learn their way around the Jubilee Suites property.
2. The second day's hunt can revolve around people finding out things about each other. Example: Find someone who came the farthest; the oldest person there; the former teacher; the former gymnast; the parent with the youngest child, etc. Be creative!
3. Try a hunt taken with phone pictures instead of collecting items. This could work really well with any of the scavenger hunt ideas, but for something different, try it with a treasure hunt. Start with the host hiding sets of clues that lead each team to a different series of places to gather new clues until they reach their final destination. The proof is in the pictures.
4. In this scavenger hunt, the host has taken about 25 photos of places around Jubilee Suites, cropped them tightly so they are almost unrecognizable and then printed them out. Each team has to find the item in the photo and take a full size picture of it. The team with the most correct photos within the time limit wins.
5. Another fun idea is a video scavenger hunt. Each team is given a list of tasks to video using only found objects. So, one of the tasks might be to sweep the grass. Each team has to create a 15 second video for each task using only items found around the Jubilee Suites property. This is fun! Again, the winning team is the one with the most on-point videos.

Here are some classic and novel ways to entertain the crowd each day. Each activity can have a separate host who runs the game and sets the rules.

1. Croquet, badminton, corn hole, and volleyball are all great group activities for playing outside on the grass or the beach. Borrow equipment ahead of time.
2. Set up a day for lawn contests. Encourage each team to come up with costumes from what they brought with them. Classic games like a egg relays, 3-legged races, potato sack races, wheelbarrow races, baton races, are all fun for the young and the young-at-heart. Each day a different family member can host the game and assemble the equipment.
3. Hold a watermelon seed spitting contest down on the beach. Self-explanatory! Bring a trash bag to haul the rinds off the beach to the trash.
4. A water balloon fight is always a crazy time! Divide the group up into two teams and let the host set the rules. Each group is given a couple of bags of unfilled water balloons and fills the balloons for their own team. When everyone has a couple hundred balloons, it's time for the game!
5. Sunset celebrations- Gather your group on the Jubilee Suites bluff overlooking Mobile Bay for a sunset party each evening. Bring snacks and beverages of your choice and don't forget your cameras. Our sunsets are one-of-a kind!

Here are a few ideas to keep your young ones entertained instead of watching TV.

1. Create a game room for kids and plan to stock it with board games, cards, and other activities to keep them busy.
2. Tie dyed t-shirts are always a hit. If you're the host, assign this craft to a creative relative to carry out.
3. Movie night at Jubilee Suites is simple when you rent the kitchen and great room. Pile the whole family into the sitting area and pop in a family-friendly movie or a video of highlights from your last family reunion.
4. If your group has a lot of grade school children, consider asking one of your craftier relatives to set up a daily activity or craft to keep the kids entertained. Crafts can be simply or elaborate depending on the talent in your group, your budget, and your taste.
5. Divide into teams for a trivia game with questions centered on your family history. This will take a relative to assemble, but most families have someone who has taken on the hobby of family historian or even has built a family tree on a website such as Ancestry.com.

We have a million of them!

1. How about a fashion show where family members draw names and have to model that person's clothing? We've done this in the past and it is hilarious. The pictures are priceless.
2. Have a musical family? Have a sing-along with your musical entertainers leading the group on our outdoor stage.
3. How about a talent show? Anything goes! One year we all had to present a talent and one of the young moms performed a rap song about her relatives complete with costume. Some of the younger siblings grouped together to lip sync a popular song.
4. Field trips and activities off the hotel property. See our things to do in Fairhope page. So many activities... so little time!
5. Interview the Elders: Have each of the grandkids pair up with an elder to interview them and record those interviews using their phones. They’ll share their best stories, a few secrets, and impart all kinds of wisdom. Post in the Facebook group and the results will be cherished for years.

We love family reunions and we hope this list will encourage you to put together a family reunion for your group. Build stronger bonds, make memories, and have some fun! If you need more inspiration, check out our family reunion planning page here.

Or contact us!  We'd love to help you get started!