Family Reunion - A Tate Lesson by Example - have fun!
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A Fun Family Reunion
The Tate Family Reunion started in 2000. We did not know each other well at that time. We were scattered all over the USA, and some folks we had not seen since childhood. A small group of us decided it needed to happen -- and it did! We began to plan with a "bulletin board" format and e-mail. The planning was almost as much fun as the reunion. Our first reunion was a huge success!
We have learned by trial and error. Things we thought might flop worked - and some things we thought would be wonderful were huge flops! We continue to improve! So come along and learn with us before you plan your reunion! Use our experience to springboard your fantastic reunion! We know we have the best one anywhere! Come back and tell us about yours!
Photo: We are the descendents of Minnie Minerva and Amaziah Byrd Tate. This is their family. Sometimes we call this picture "Minnie's Kids".
We have learned by trial and error. Things we thought might flop worked - and some things we thought would be wonderful were huge flops! We continue to improve! So come along and learn with us before you plan your reunion! Use our experience to springboard your fantastic reunion! We know we have the best one anywhere! Come back and tell us about yours!
Photo: We are the descendents of Minnie Minerva and Amaziah Byrd Tate. This is their family. Sometimes we call this picture "Minnie's Kids".
The Tate Girls Waiting for Reunion Guests in Helen, Georgia!
Family Reunion Committees
Reunion Committee Assignments
Our planning begins a year or more in advance. We always have a DINO (Director in Name Only) who helps us keep it together! We are scattered around the country, so our communication is e-mail and telephone!Committees include:
Logistics - location, mailouts, promo
Food
Entertainment
Decorations
Children Entertainment
Agenda
Parade
Honoring the deceased
Opening Ceremonies
Closing Ceremonies
PHOTO: Joan and Nancy crown Betty DINO for the next year! (We love crazy hats and fun accessories and costumes!)
Family Reunion t-shirts and hats are great fun! Create your own at Zazzle. Click here to get started!
Location, Date, Schedule for your Reunion
Organize Your Family Reunion - people will have more fun!
You will have to decide on a time and location first. Our reunion moves from city to city and lasts for an entire weekend. We try to have our reunions in the spring. It gets really hot in the south in the summertime.So far, we have had reunions in:
Athens, GA
Chattanooga, TN
Helen, GA
Mt. Pleasant, SC
Memphis, TN
Pendleton, SC
When choosing location, consider:
Local entertainment available
Hospitality room availability
Rooms availability
PHOTO: Connie, Shirly and Missie prepare for Bingo!
Addresses, Mail-outs, Reminders, Theme
Promote your family reunion.
Cousin Matt is a genius at mail-outs and flyers! We are blessed with all of his talents! As soon as date and time is set, Matt will send out a "hold the date". You will need someone strong in this position and also in the DINO position (Director in Name Only - remember?)We do have a theme for each reunion. I remember:
Chattanooga Choo-Choo in 2002
It's great to be a Tate in 2008
Basic agendas:
Friday afternoon - Welcomes, set up room and gathering together
Friday night - casual dinner together and opening ceremonies followed by Bingo or Jeopardy Trivia
Saturday morning - Presentations and Parade
Saturday afternoon - free time
Saturday night - Closing ceremonies
Sunday morning - gather for coffee and goodbyes
PHOTO: Monica leads the chicken dance!
Welcome, welcome, welcome! Nancy and Billy provide hilarious skit to get us started!
Family Reunion Hospitality Room
Master of Ceremonies, Games and fun
Matt is also a natural Master of Ceremonies! He skillfully keeps us all in order - and believe me, with this crowd, that is no easy task!Our reunion is FUN! Think of all the crazy, wild things your family could do!
If you are talented family, have a talent show! If you are singers, do a sing-a-long! One year Matt and Missy brought a rope game that was great fun! As you are shopping through the year, look for any game that will work with a large group. Horns and whistles are lots of fun.
PHOTO: Matt at the microphone!
Food, Food, Food!
Necessity for the Tate Family Reunion
In the hospitality room, there is always food. Everybody brings snacks and goodies, and these are spread on a table for snacking! We also provide bottled water, sodas, juices and ice. Most hotels have hospitality rooms with a small kitchen area. Debbie very graciously has been our hostess for many years, keeping food in order and directing the set up and clean up!Breakfast is usually provided by the hotel.
Lunch is on your own or grab a sandwich in the hospitality room.
Dinner - together on Saturday night. Price is included in registration fee.
Debbie and Joan take a little dancing break!
B-I-N-G-O
I don't know these fellows, but they are almost as funny as we are singing this tune!
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Bingo Prizes - Wonderful hats from the Lillie-Ruby Collection! What Fun!
Entertaining the Children
We have a children's corner in the hospitality room - coloring books, crayons, games. The children are involved in all facets of the reunion. Of course, they love the parade!Photo: Nancy and Tate teach us how to draw a cow!
Denise and Betty strut for the parade!
Parade
When we first mentioned the parade, we were not sure if the family would actually do it! Everybody loves it! And the parade has become one of our highlights! Each family has prepared a banner that represents their assigned color and their family spirit. The banners are used to decorate the hospitality room - and are carried proudly in the parade. Most people keep their banners from reunion to reunion! We generally march, walk, around the parking lot of the hotel -- and yes, be sure to ask permission from the hotel.The parade ends with the family gathering for a professional photograph! Photographs are available for purchase from the photographer. We had one great photographer that took individual family photos, group photos, couple photos, and then provided all on a disc at a very reasonable price!
PHOTO: Tate and Bobby with the Bernice Tate Giles banner!
The Tate Family Parade!
Family Reunions Around the World
Bloggers write about family reunions around the world!
Wonder if any of these have a funny family parade in parking lots? with hats!
- S. Korea Proposes Inter-Korean Talks on Family Reunions
- The South Korean Red Cross proposed restarting reunions for families separated by the Korean War to its North Korean counterpart on Tuesday. South Korean Red Cross] "The issue of separated families is a humanitarian concern that should be dealt with as ...
- One Treasured Family Recipe and Tradition Will Win $20000 Towards a Dream ...
- These five original family recipes and the stories behind them are vying for a chance to win $20000 towards a dream family reunion and $1000 for a personal party planner. The recipe creators will compete on March 8, 2012 at the contest finals in New ...
- S. Korean Red Cross proposes resumption of family reunions
- South Korea proposed a Red Cross meeting with North Korea on Tuesday to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War more than half a century ago. Seoul made the offer in a phone message to the North in the name of the South Korean Red Cross ...
- Family has joyful reunion after ordeal at sea
- By Michael Tsai En route from Calgary to Honolulu for a hastily but happily planned family reunion, Megan James gazed out the tiny coach window at the seemingly tranquil Pacific ocean below and tried to imagine the pummeling 25-foot waves and furious ...
Me! Me! I know that answer!!
B-I-N-G-O and Tate Trivia
Of course, we play our own version of Bingo! And in typical Tate style, we sing B-I-N-G-O when someone wins. Yes, I mean the old childhood song. See video! One year, Connie was clearing out the family homestead, and the bingo prizes included items from the family home -- including our Aunt Ruby and Lillie's wonderful hats! Oh, we had such fun that night!Christine has designed a game similar to Jeapordy and Trivia combined. See photo. The game involves questions related to our family history and current events. The first time we did it, we blew a whistle if we knew the answer! It was very funny and educated us all about our ancestors and each other!
PHOTO: Our super Jeopardy game! Thank you, Christine!
Note: Christine's game is on a tri-fold board. These are available at most office supply stores. We have a Military board that honors family members in the military. We also have a geneology board. One year we posted baby pictures on a board, and one year we posted our pets (fun for "match the pet to the right family" game!)
Our Military Honor Board
The Chicken Dance!
Yes, we did it! and we had much more fun than these folks!
Family Reunions and Stories
- You are Cordially Invited to Share Your Family Legends
- Years ago a guy I was dating told me the story of his uncle who had a shrunken head of a Nazi soldier that he brought back from WWII.He was very proud of his uncle, so I was gentle when I told him that that couldn't be true. In the first place even Nazis didn't shrink heads and certainly not of thei
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We do know how to have fun!
Update
Tate Family Reunion 2010
The Tate Family Reunion for 2010 is set for Pendleton, SC. This is our new logo, designed by sister Nancy (Ohme on Squidoo)! Are you planning a family reunion? Have we helped?
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ohcaroline
Feb 9, 2012 @ 4:47 pm | delete
- My family has only had one reunion...but it pales in comparison to yours. I want to be part of your family. You are blessed.
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ohcaroline
Feb 9, 2012 @ 4:47 pm | delete
- My family has only had one reunion...but it pales in comparison to yours. I want to be part of your family. You are blessed.
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mostewart1
Apr 9, 2011 @ 12:07 am | delete
- You guys sound like your reunions are a blast! I wanted to respond to your question about parades but you didn't have the option I needed. Our family had a family reunion parade last year (2010) as part of our circus themed reunion. I wish I could send you a picture. Not only did our family participate they dressed in all sorts of circus costumes- clowns of course but some elephants too.
Keep up the good work-
www.familyreunionhelper.com
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Joan4
Apr 9, 2011 @ 5:42 am | delete
- Wow! and I thought we were the only family crazy enough to have a parade! Love your clowns and even an elephant! wow and double wow! thank you for posting!
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OhMe
Feb 18, 2010 @ 9:27 am | delete
- Looking forward to the Tate Family Reunion 2010 and it will be here before we know it.
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terrygtatetexas
Jan 11, 2010 @ 2:30 pm | delete
- Tate Girls,
I am a Tate descendant from Isom or Isham Tate 1810-1861 and Ann Arnold Tate 1814- 1864 from Spartanburg SC. Are any of your Tate Relatives from that area. Later they settled in Lavaca County Texas in 1838 and are buried on the Tate Ranch there which is still a working Ranch today still in the family. I have done an extensive Tate Family Tree, you Tate Ladies are more than welcome to view it on Ancestry.com Let me know?
Thanks, Terry Glen Tate
terrygtate@yahoo.com
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mukunda22
Dec 7, 2009 @ 4:15 pm | delete
- Re-visiting this lens and ####blessing#### it!!
I love the DR Suess hats!! I can hardly wait to wear one!!!
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OhMe
Nov 4, 2009 @ 11:32 am | delete
- Lensrolling to Our Tate Family Reunion
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spirituality
May 15, 2009 @ 10:04 am | delete
- Great lens - you've been blessed by a squidoo angel :)
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seedplanter
May 10, 2009 @ 8:53 pm | delete
- Joan, you Tates know how to have fun. Love this lens! (I think I may have signed before, but I'm back for a second look. I appreciate that Military Honor Board, too. So special, to honor family members who served. (<===spoken by a military wife of 21 years...now "rooted" for almost 20. We must be getting old.)
Lov-er-ly lens! Am going to give it a loud tweet.
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OhMe
May 7, 2009 @ 10:06 am | in reply to mukunda22 | delete
- Are you sure you are crazy enough for our family? We ain't right, ya know!
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Joan4
May 7, 2009 @ 8:37 am | in reply to mukunda22 | delete
- Oh yes, Kate! You will be with us! so remember our colors are orange! gotta find you a crazy hat! it's gonna be fun!
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mukunda22
May 7, 2009 @ 8:33 am | delete
- OMG!! I can't believe I'm going to be there at your reunion in 2010!! Awesome!!
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TerriLorah
Apr 23, 2009 @ 11:09 pm | delete
- Fun lens! 5***** I just loved the chicken dance video and can imagine how much fun that would be at a family reunion.
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Beautiful_GreenBeans
Apr 18, 2009 @ 11:58 pm | delete
- Wow! You sure know how to have a party! Can we bring our family to your reunion? If only for the parade? :)
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sittonbull
Mar 27, 2009 @ 10:47 pm | delete
- Joan... what a neat lens! I loved seeing and reading about you'all having so much fun! We used to have a big family reunion at my Grandmother Sitton's every year, but since she died @ 102 we've only had two that I recall outside of immediate family. Thank you so much for your support, encouragement, and always beautiful words on my lenses. (Hey I can say lenses now!) You and Ohme are my heros!
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tweety0126
Mar 17, 2009 @ 3:26 pm | delete
- Great lens. I love our family reunions also; we have tons of fun; lots of games and trivia about family history. We bring gifts for our auction at the end of the day; some of the gifts are homemade while is really nice. Thanks for sharing :) 5*
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Joan4
Mar 16, 2009 @ 6:24 pm | in reply to drifter0658 | delete
- Oh that auction idea sounds fun! will pass along that info! we are now planning Tate Family Reunion 2010 - Together Again in 2010!
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Laniann
Mar 16, 2009 @ 6:23 pm | delete
- You have a great family and you know how to have a good time. Very nice lens - you a put a lot of time and love into it. 5 Stars
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drifter0658
Mar 16, 2009 @ 6:20 pm | delete
- Thanks for laying this out. Although my families are not spread as far an wide as yours, there is still a boot full of useful info here. Funny thing, both reunions I attend yearly have auctions. One is with play money handed out through the day for playing games or answering pop trivia questions. The auction is for raising money to fund the next reunion.
Thanks!
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Betty
Jan 24, 2009 @ 3:40 am | delete
- Joan, you did a wonderful job with this lens - capturing not only the organization of a reunion, but all the fun we have at each one! It is about time to begin thinking about 2010! Every other year seems to be perfect!
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sandyspider
Nov 17, 2008 @ 11:36 am | delete
- My family is scattered also. Family reunions have been going on for as long as I can remember. But I have not been to one since I have been married. That was a long time ago. Great lens!
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cannedguds
Oct 12, 2008 @ 9:29 pm | delete
- I always look forward for our own family reunion during Christmas and this time, I will all surprise them! I have learned family genealogy by myself and I'm going to present to my relatives what I've learned and what I've done. They would surely be surprised to learn from me that a famous Hollywood actress is our relative (that's right!) Hey, how would you like to learn how to trace your family history ? maybe you can surprise them too during your reunion? Anyway, thanks for sharing this lens! It gave me an idea what the next lens would I want to make! Great job!
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JustBon-Crochet-Designs
Oct 3, 2008 @ 12:08 pm | delete
- Looks like a lot of fun! 5*s
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debnet
Oct 1, 2008 @ 8:05 pm | delete
- Excellent! Lensrolled to 'Family Heirlooms' 5*****
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tdove
Aug 26, 2008 @ 6:25 pm | delete
- Thanks for joining G Rated Lense Factory!
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OhMe
Aug 17, 2008 @ 5:34 pm | delete
- Great job, Joan. I am sending you more pictures to add from previous reunions. We do know how to have fun, don't we. 5*
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Susan52
Aug 17, 2008 @ 11:19 am | delete
- Your family is much more fun than mine! Great idea for a lens, and a great job!
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RichLeigh
Aug 14, 2008 @ 2:53 pm | delete
- Great lens you've got there Joan! I thoroughly enjoyed the read. :)
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WhippetTalk
Aug 14, 2008 @ 2:32 pm | delete
- Very nice lens! :)
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TheInfamous7
Aug 14, 2008 @ 11:19 am | delete
- Lovely! :-) Was a pleasure to read up on a wonderful Lensmaster and a wonderful family x x
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Spook
Aug 13, 2008 @ 9:34 am | delete
- Sounds like fun.
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TeaLady
Aug 12, 2008 @ 11:15 pm | delete
- Can I come to your reunion? It looks like lots of fun! Great lens. I love the photos.
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KarenKay
Aug 12, 2008 @ 12:40 pm | delete
- Wow! You've got the whole thing downpat! Ours have never been this interesting. Just a bunch of people I don't know sitting around and talking, sharing pictures, and eating a whole lot! Need to share this with my Great Aunt who does the organizing!
Another Great Lens by Joan!
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mukunda22
Aug 12, 2008 @ 8:42 am | delete
- The Tates are a fun group!!
I want to meet them!!
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Joan4
The TFR - Tate Family Reunion is held every two years in a different city. We have so much fun together!
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