How do you write a family reunion plan? Put every decision on one shared page: purpose, dates with a backup, place, headcount by age, committee roles, budget and dues, lodging, schedule, food, a dated communication plan, money deadlines, accessibility needs and contingencies. Give each section an owner and review the page at every committee meeting. The template and a filled-in sample are below.
This is Part 2 of our planning series. Part 1 covered why reunions stall. The 10-step reunion guide covers what to do and in what order. This post covers the document that holds it all together: the written plan your committee shares, updates, and one day hands to the next host.
01 / WHY WRITE IT
Why Should a Family Reunion Plan Be Written Down?
Because a plan in one person’s head can’t be checked, shared or handed over. A written plan gives the committee one source of truth for dates, money and deadlines. It settles arguments by pointing at a decision already made, and it lets the next host start from your notes instead of from zero.
- One source of truth. When an aunt hears the picnic starts at noon and a cousin hears 2 p.m., the plan says which is right.
- Clear ownership. Every line has a name next to it, so nothing sits undone because everyone assumed someone else had it.
- Easier handover. Reunions rotate between branches. A plan with final numbers and notes lets the next host reuse what worked and skip what didn’t.
02 / THE TEMPLATE
What Goes in a One-Page Family Reunion Plan?
Thirteen short sections fit on one page: purpose, dates, place, headcount by age, committee roles, budget and dues, lodging, schedule, food, communication, money deadlines, accessibility and contingencies. Each gets one or two lines and a named owner. Details such as contracts and menus go in attachments linked from the page.
Copy this table into a shared document and fill in the right-hand column. The example entries come from the sample plan in section 03.
| Section | What to write | Example entry |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose and theme | Why you’re meeting and what a good outcome looks like | Celebrate Grandma Ruth’s 90th with all five branches present |
| Date and backup date | Main dates, a backup, and when they were confirmed | July 16–18, 2027. Backup: July 23–25 |
| Place | Venue, address, booking status | Lakeside Park pavilion, deposit paid |
| Expected headcount by age | A count for each price group | 52 adults and teens, 8 seniors, 14 kids 5–12, 6 under 5 |
| Committee and roles | Each role, one name, one backup | Treasurer: Marcus. Backup: Lena |
| Budget and dues | Shared costs, buffer, price per age group | $4,675 to collect. $70 adult, $35 child |
| Lodging plan | Who books, where, release date for any room block | 30-room hotel block, families book their own |
| Schedule | Day, time, event, place | Saturday 3 p.m.: family photo at the pavilion |
| Food plan | Each meal, who provides it, final-count date | Friday dinner catered, count due June 18 |
| Communication plan | Each message, send date, channel, sender | Invitation Feb 1 by email and text, from the chair |
| Money plan | When payments open, deadlines, who tracks them | Opens Feb 1, final deadline June 4 |
| Accessibility needs | Mobility, dietary and medical needs, rides | 3 guests need ground-floor rooms |
| Contingency | Weather, cancellation, a host falling ill | Rain: church fellowship hall on hold |
03 / SAMPLE PLAN
What Does a Filled-In Family Reunion Plan Look Like?
Here is a complete plan for a fictional family: 80 relatives, a Friday-to-Sunday weekend in July 2027, households booking their own hotel rooms, and dues of $70 per adult and $35 per child covering two catered meals, the pavilion, T-shirts and supplies. The names are invented. The arithmetic is real.
Johnson Family Reunion 2027 (fictional example)
Purpose: Celebrate Grandma Ruth’s 90th birthday with all five branches present.
Dates: Friday, July 16 to Sunday, July 18, 2027. Backup: July 23–25.
Place: Lakeside Park pavilion, with a 30-room hotel block 10 minutes away.
Committee: Chair Denise (backup Paul). Treasurer Marcus (backup Lena). Lodging Carla. Food Aunt Bea. Program and activities Jerome. Communications Tasha.
Last updated: March 3, 2027, by Denise.
Headcount and Budget
Expected: 52 adults and teens, 8 seniors, 14 children aged 5–12 and 6 under 5, for 80 people.
| Shared cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Pavilion rental, Friday evening and Saturday | $300 |
| Friday welcome dinner, catered (80 × $15) | $1,200 |
| Saturday picnic, catered (80 × $18) | $1,440 |
| Reunion T-shirts (80 × $12) | $960 |
| Supplies, decorations and name tags | $200 |
| Games and kids’ prizes | $150 |
| Shared costs | $4,250 |
| 10% buffer | $425 |
| Amount to collect | $4,675 |
In this example seniors pay the adult rate, children 5–12 count as half, and under-5s are free. That gives 52 + 8 + (14 × 0.5) = 67 paying units. $4,675 ÷ 67 = $69.78, rounded up to $70 per adult and $35 per child. Sixty adults at $70 ($4,200) plus 14 children at $35 ($490) brings in $4,690, which is $15 above the target. For the method behind these numbers, see how much family reunion dues should be.
Lodging, Schedule, Food and Money
- Lodging: Households book their own rooms from the hotel block, so lodging stays out of the dues. The block releases unbooked rooms on June 16.
- Friday: check-in from 4 p.m., welcome dinner at the pavilion 6–9 p.m.
- Saturday: picnic and games 11 a.m.–5 p.m., family photo at 3 p.m., free evening.
- Sunday: optional church service at 10 a.m., farewell brunch at noon. Each household pays for its own brunch.
- Food: Aunt Bea gives the caterer a final count on June 18 and keeps the list of allergies and special diets.
- Money: Payments open with the invitation on February 1. Households can pay in parts, $10 minimum per payment. The final deadline is June 4, six weeks out and two weeks before the caterer’s count.
- Accessibility: Grandma Ruth and two great-uncles use walkers. Carla requested ground-floor rooms, and Jerome drives seniors between the hotel and the park.
On AmazingReunion, guests pay card processing and a $2.50 handling fee on top of the dues, and the reunion receives the full price. A household of two adults and two children owes $210 and pays $219.41 at checkout.
Get the First Draft of Your Plan
Describe your reunion to the Amazing Reunion Planner and it drafts dates, a place, events, lodging and estimated fees. Paste them into the template and start editing.
Launch the Amazing Reunion Planner04 / COMMUNICATION PLAN
When Should Each Reunion Message Go Out?
Plan six messages and date them now: a save-the-date ten months out, the invitation with RSVP and payment five to six months out, two reminders, a final payment reminder a week before the deadline, and a final announcement two weeks before the reunion. Put the date and the sender in the plan.
| Send date | Message | What it says | Channel and sender |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 15, 2026 | Save-the-date | Dates, city, reunion website link | Email and text, plus word of mouth at Thanksgiving. Tasha |
| Feb 1, 2027 | Invitation | RSVP, prices by age, payment link, hotel block | Email, text and announcement. Denise |
| Apr 1, 2027 | Reminder 1 | RSVP so far, hotel block releases June 16 | Scheduled reminder and push notification. Tasha |
| May 14, 2027 | Reminder 2 | Payment deadline is three weeks away | Scheduled reminder and text. Marcus |
| May 28, 2027 | Final payment reminder | Deadline June 4, sent to unpaid and part-paid households | Text and email. Marcus |
| July 2, 2027 | Final announcement | Schedule, addresses, parking, what to bring, rain plan | Announcement, email and push. Denise |
Marcus uses the live list of who has paid, part-paid or not paid to decide who gets the final payment reminder, so paid-up households aren’t nagged. For the tasks that sit between these messages, use the month-by-month family reunion planning timeline.
“If it isn’t in the plan, it hasn’t been decided.”
05 / CONTINGENCY
What Should the Contingency Section Cover?
Write three backup plans before you need them: bad weather, cancellation or postponement, and a key organizer who can’t continue. For each, name who decides, the trigger, the cost and how the family hears about it. A paragraph each, written now, saves a panicked phone tree later.
Weather
Name the indoor backup and reserve it. In the sample, the church fellowship hall is on hold for Saturday. Denise checks the forecast 48 hours out, makes the call, and sends it as an announcement, a text and a push notification. For heat, the plan lists shade tents, water and who brings them.
Cancellation or Postponement
List every vendor’s cancellation deadline and how much of each deposit you lose after it. Decide who can call off the reunion (in the sample, the chair and treasurer together) and the last date to move to the backup weekend. Write down now whether payments carry over to the new date.
A Host Falling Ill
Every role in the plan has a backup name. The backup needs access to the shared plan, vendor contacts and contracts. After each payment deadline, the treasurer saves the Excel export of the guest and payment list (it is emailed to the host) to the shared folder, so the backup has current numbers without needing anyone’s password.
06 / UPKEEP
How Do You Keep the Plan Current and Share It?
Keep one shared document, put a last-updated date at the top, and review it at every committee meeting. The plan holds the private parts: budget, contracts, contacts and backups. The reunion website holds the public parts: schedule, hotels, RSVP and payment. After the reunion, add notes for the next host.
- One copy only. Use a shared document, not email attachments. Old versions in inboxes cause the noon-or-2-p.m. problem.
- Owners update their own lines. Aunt Bea edits food, Marcus edits money, and the chair reviews.
- Walk through it at each meeting. Section by section: what changed, what is late, what needs a decision.
- Publish the public parts. Relatives don’t need the budget. They need the multi-day schedule, hotels with rates, restaurants and things to do, plus RSVP and payment in one place. A family reunion planning website holds those, and our guide to family reunion events helps fill the schedule.
- Close it out. After the reunion, add actual costs, final headcount and a short list of what to keep and what to change. Hand the document to the next host.
Put the Public Half of Your Plan Online
Schedule, hotels, RSVPs, payments by age group and reminders, all on one reunion site.
Launch My Reunion SiteFree to start. Includes RSVP, Payments & Photo Sharing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a family reunion plan include?
Purpose and theme, the date and a backup date, the place, expected headcount by age, committee roles, the budget and dues, the lodging plan, the schedule, the food plan, a dated communication plan, payment deadlines, accessibility needs, and contingency plans for weather, cancellation and a host falling ill.
How long should a family reunion plan be?
One page for the summary, with one or two lines per section. Contracts, menus, the full budget and the guest list go in attachments linked from that page. A one-page summary is easy to review at every committee meeting. A twenty-page document is not.
Who should keep the family reunion plan?
The reunion chair owns the document, and each committee member updates the section they lead. Keep one shared copy, not attachments in email threads, and put a last-updated date at the top so everyone knows they are reading the current version.
What is the difference between a family reunion plan and a planning checklist?
A checklist lists tasks to tick off. A plan records the decisions those tasks depend on: dates, prices, deadlines, owners and backups. To turn the plan into a family reunion planning checklist template, break each section into tasks with due dates, as in our planning timeline.
Choosing where to hold it? Our state guides list lodging, dining and activity costs to plug into your plan. Start at the Reunion Planning Guides hub, or go back to the 10-step reunion guide.
Ken O.
Founder of AmazingReunion and veteran reunion organizer who has coordinated 50+ family gatherings across the US.
