Family Reunion Planning: How Our ‘You Are a Star’ Theme Came Together

I don’t even know where to start with documenting our Eyre reunion this year. I guess let’s start with reunion preparation for that sucker. But maybe even before that though, let’s just say PHEW!! And take a big breath. Because man alive, it’s a lot to put on a reunion, am I right?

Especially when you take turns with your siblings, and you just love them so much you want to make it awesome for them as they have done for you.

Plus, as families grow bigger and more spread out, this time together becomes more and more sacred. You want to make the very most of any togetherness you can get.

And on top of that, you want all your adult kids to be involved. And they all live in different spots and you happen to be a horrible delegator and you can’t seem to wrangle a plan of attack in the midst of life pulling you in all different directions.

BUT, spoiler alert, it was awesome. All the kids pitched in beautifully, my family pitched in as well, and that time we got together has already turned into golden threads in my heart.

I mean, how can it not be when you get to gather in a spot like this with food like this?

Where the Family Reunion Planning Began

Ok so let’s back up to trying to figure out our theme and all that jazz. I gathered a whole bunch of posts about how we do family reunions if you’re curious about that. We used one sunsety night while we were together for the 4th of July to try to solidify our plan of attack.

I had received SO MANY great ideas to add into the reunion from an instagram post request (thank you thank you to all who shared ideas there) and we worked to figure out which new ideas would fit the best.

“You Are a Star” Theme

We were trying to incorporate my brother in as part of our team since he is single and doesn’t take a year to host the reunion. And also, he’s the best. He is an incredible astro photographer and has such an incredible wealth of knowledge about the universe, planets and stars. So at first we thought we’d do a “planet” theme (nine kids in our family, nine planets if you count Pluto:). But Lucy wasn’t convinced. Because then where did everyone else belong? She had a valid point: the reunion wasn’t just about nine kids. It’s about a whole universe of different people coming together with the force of gravity (family) holding us together.

So, in the end we decided to concentrate on the stars. And how really, we’re all our own unique stars held together with so many different talents and abilities that create synergy together.

The theme became “You Are a Star” and we based everything around that.

Abby whipped up a banner for the opening ceremony and found this darling star outfit.

She really is the best (and Murphy sure is a star!).

We tried to figure out whether we wanted to do a reunion t-shirt…or maybe a bandana? Perhaps a hat like my sister did last year?

But in the end Abby came to the rescue with an awesome idea to make our own t-shirts. I mean, if we’re all unique “stars” we didn’t want to have all the same thing, right?

Here’s her first example modeled by Murphy.

And you guys, this was a huge hit. I can’t wait to show you all the unique things/designs/ideas people came up with using all the different transfer/iron-on supplies and fabrics we brought.

The Schedule, the T-Shirts, and the Details

We whipped up a big schedule that changed a few times.

The kids decided they’d each be in charge of a “mystery activity” and they did such a great job with that!

Using AI to Help with Reunion Planning

With all the awesome new-fangled technology running around I figured I’d be home free to turn some ancestor photos into talking videos as to why that particular ancestor was a star. I mean, those who have gone before, and done the “impossible” over and over have paved the way for us to be our own stars. But I have to say, AI is not as easy-peasy as I thought!

Still, I did get some talking videos ready for the opening ceremony along with help from my brother and also Grace’s boyfriend. Thanks you guys!!

I also used AI to come up with a family song for the reunion as suggested by someone on Instagram. Not my most amazing work ever, but it did crack me up with the lyrics it put together. And it worked great for the reunion.

I tried two different platforms, and they help you come up with lyrics and all that jazz.

After all that planning, Grace whipped up our schedule calendar to be displayed and keep everyone in order:

Packing Up and Heading to Bear Lake

We packed up our car with all the groceries you can imagine to feed everyone for our meal and also feed our family for breakfasts (we each take a turn making a meal for the 50+ people up there at Bear Lake):

We got to FaceTime with Max and his new facial hair (ha!), and Claire who couldn’t make it to the reunion this year (due to her NYC internship)…

…and made our way up to the lake where my mom was already busy with all her Grammie Camps and everyone was already basking in that glory.

The lake and those people were awaiting us with open arms, ready for the big reunion!

All that planning, packing, and preparing was about to pay off. Stay tuned for the recap of the reunion itself, hopefully soon!