Drinks and snacks for your family (unsweetened tea & lemonade will be provided)
Desserts to share (non-refrigerated)
Lawn chairs
Outdoor games
Board games, cards, dominoes
Life-jackets, floaties, etc. if swimming in the lake
Lake shoes (to wear in the lake)
Towels, slides/flip-flops
Sunscreen and insect repellent
Flashlight (at night, we can't leave all lights on or the bugs will carry us off to their leaders for lobotomies and craniotomies!)
Cash/coins for a few "casino" type games (a few dollars)
Cash for your family's contribution to defray the costs of reunion (including food)
TENTATIVE
Cash for White Elephant auction
Tacky gifts (wrapped) for the White Elephant auction
This can be a touchy subject, so we'd rather be upfront about it. We don't have a rich uncle that funds our reunion, unfortunately. We don't want anyone NOT to come because of expenses! But to make things as fair as possible, we need to spread the expenses equitably. Here's the breakdown of expenses and funding:
Expenses for Reunion
Food, Drinks and Ice
Paper goods
Contribution to host for additional utilities (water/electric)
Funding for Reunion
Leftover supplies from previous year (ex: we have lots of cups, paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, etc. left over from last year)
Leftover funds from previous year
White Elephant Auction (tbd)
Expected cash contribution from each family
So how much should each family contribute? That's the thousand-dollar question! We won't really know that until all food is purchased (have you seen the prices of groceries lately? Yikes!), we see how many attend, how much money we have from the white elephant auction, etc.
And there are lots of variables involved- how many people are in each family, how many days they attended, how many meals they ate, etc. There's no one-size-fits-all approach that works here.
By noon Saturday of reunion, we will post a set of suggested amounts and let you decide what the fair contribution is.
Your politics! Leave that at home. We are a diverse group with various beliefs and values. All too often, political discussions end in anger, hurt feelings, and needless drama. Let's not go there. For just one weekend, please set that aside so we can enjoy hanging out with each other! (This goes for Boomers all the way down to Generation Z!)
Refrigerated items- if you can't store it in your own cooler, chances are that we won't be able to refrigerate it.
Paper goods- we have all that covered!
Card tables/folding chairs- unless you've been specifically asked to bring yours, we will have enough. Don't burden yourself with extra stuff to bring! (do bring lawn chairs though)
Excess vehicles- parking will be at a premium, so carpool if possible!
Fireworks- those are illegal at the lake
The schedule below is very tentative! Please be patient with us as we work through details.
10:00 am Arrival
12:30 pm Lunch
2:00 pm Games, swimming, etc.
6:30 pm Dinner/Supper
(Tentative)