The Ultimate Budget-Friendly Family Reunion Itinerary
A couple of weeks ago, we had our long awaited Robert’s Family Reunion, which consisted of 65 people! From grandparents, parents, siblings, and cousins all the way to great-grandparents, we were quite the group! With a crowd that size, you have to be organized when it comes to activities, meals, and excursions. So I pulled together The Ultimate Budget-Friendly Family Reunion Itinerary! Sharing our day-to-day itinerary below – there’s fun for every age!
So, if you’re planning your next family reunion, feel free to steal all the prep work we did!
Day 1: Arrival in Purgatory
We arrived in Purgatory, Colorado, pretty late on the first day, so we kept things casual. We had dinner at our VRBO and spent the evening reconnecting and enjoying time together. I pulled together these incredible sliders, which were perfect for a group our size. They were a so yummy and such a hit with the whole group! We served them with this Creamy Cilantro-Lime Slaw and it was the PERFECT side dish.
Day 2: Family Photos, Sports Day, and Movie Night
The next morning, we had family pictures scheduled. It’s not often that we can get this whole crew together, so it’s always worth documenting. Plus, it’s best to take photos at the beginning of the trip before the inevitable sunburns and crazy tan lines start taking over! We chose a beautiful scenic location and made sure to get photos of every family group and of course, one of everyone. The basic theme was blue, white, and denim. This is easy for everyone and I didn’t buy one thing new for me or my family. Usually everyone has something like this in their closet, so it’s not to be overthought!
Shop Our Family Photo Looks Here
Then, in typical Roberts family fashion, we had a sports day! Our family loves a good sports day.
We set up a rotating system so all ages were able to participate. We had stations for relay races, volleyball, tug-of-war, spike ball, beanbag toss, frisbee, and, of course, a play area for the younger kids. This is such an easy group activity to coordinate and there is something fun for everyone at every age.
After a few hours of games and lunch, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon full of naps, pool time, a scenic chairlift ride, and walks around Purgatory to take in the sights. Chris of course took this chance to go fishing and caught some rainbow trout! I took this time to hit the pool with all my sisters while the kids swam.
To make meals easy and low stress we chose to do breakfast and lunch on our own. We gathered at the end of each day for dinner and dessert.
Later, the girls got together for some craft time while the boys hit up the golf course. We made beaded necklaces and bracelets, and it was so fun to see everyone’s unique styles. And, is there anything more “family reunion” than all the girls leaving with matching jewelry?
I rounded up all the supplies so you can make your own HERE.
We followed that up with dinner and then a movie night under the stars.
This was especially beautiful in the mountains of Purgatory, where the stars shine extra bright away from the city lights. We set up an outdoor screen with blankets and chairs, made popcorn, hot chocolate, and lemonade, and heavily encouraged pajama attire for the ultimate cozy movie night.
Day 3: Choose Your Own Adventure
On day three, the morning started with a “Choose Your Own Adventure” around the Durango area. Since we had such a large group, we made sure to plan a variety of activities: hiking, zip lining, jeeping, curing train rides, and river boating. This allowed everyone could choose something they would genuinely enjoy, instead of making the whole crew do the same thing.
There was plenty to do in Durango and Purgatory, but many of us chose to stay at the rental for a yoga class taught by my niece. She had just completed a training course in Bali and led an amazing class – although some of us were definitely more yoga-inclined than others!
It was so cool to see her teach!
After lunch, we had some free time planned, so a bunch of us decided to try white water rafting. The company that guided us down the river was River Trippers. My son and a couple uncles were more adventurous and chose the kayaks, while the rest of us split into groups of 8 and floated on the big inflatable rafts. It was our first time rafting together as a family, and everyone had a blast. It was the perfect amount of adventure for the younger kids, and the adult siblings had some extra fun starting water wars from the rafts. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
That evening, we kicked off an epic night of Family Feud along with games for the teens and adults. We created a huge Family Feud game complete with giant buzzers customized specifically for our family. It was hilarious and such a fun way to get everyone involved. And we were able to teach some of the younger kids about our family lore.
We also set up a dessert bar because, honestly, how else do you keep a group of 65 engaged after a full day of outdoor fun? Ice cream Sundays are always a hit!
Day 4: Scavenger Hunt and Reunion Finale
Following breakfast on Saturday morning, we kicked off the day with a family photo scavenger hunt. Teams made up of family members of all ages worked together to solve clues and complete fun challenges while exploring the area. All the families were completely separated and scattered into groups of 8-10. This made for fun interactions between cousins, uncles, and aunts.
The Ultimate Budget-Friendly Family Reunion Itinerary Challenge: everything you need to steal this template here.
We intentionally made it less about speed and more about having fun, so teams could focus on enjoying the experience rather than adding stress and competition. Along the way, teams captured photos based on funny prompts, and later we shared all the photos in a slide show and voted on the winners. I have to say all the groups took a different funny spin. The slide show was hysterical! Chris’s group really enhanced a lot of their photos using AI and I may have used some of my editing tricks to make our photos unique as well. Just for comical enhancement, of course!
This activity was so fun and can be easily replicated in any city. We used Chat GPT to create a plan for our Family Reunion Scavenger Hunt, steal our prompt:
“Put together a scavenger hunt plus photo challenge for a family reunion at (add location). This will be for old and young so cannot require strenuous activity to participate. Please plan for 75 minutes of activity before coming together to share photos and give prizes”
After lunch there was an option to gather and play board games. We rented a hall that had round tables for dinner and late night gatherings. This worked great for several game stations as well and was a good spot to have to gather when we needed to.
To wrap up the reunion, we ended the day with a family dinner and fun family story time.
I was in charge of this activity and I think I had the best job. I spent all my spare time during the reunion chatting with all my siblings and parents one on one gathering funny memories that nobody knew about them. We intentionally shared stories that were a little mischievous about our childhood. All of the kids and grandkids had to guess what story belonged to what aunt, uncle, grandma, or grandpa. This was such a good game because everyone of all ages was engaged in this one – than any other activity. It was so fun to hear these stories and we all walked away knowing each other just a little more.
Here were a couple examples of stories and the way they were presented:
“While in elementary school I was a star singer in my choral group named THE HOOTERS. Who am I?”
“I was assigned to bring treats to my Home Economics class. I disliked my teacher so I put laxatives in them. Who am I…? ” (I don’t condone this behavior btw, but man was this a hilarious story).
“I made out with a famous musician when I was 21 years old…who am I?”
We had an amazing time in Purgatory, but honestly this reunion could be recreated just about anywhere. The best part was just being with my family and laughing.
The Family Reunion Cherry on Top
The cherry on top of the trip came on our drive home from Colorado. We were able to stop by my sister’s mission farewell and visit my sister’s home. Her and her husband are leaving for 3 years to serve as mission presidents in Tahiti. We are so excited for them.
She’s an interior designer, so naturally I was absolutely drooling over her beautiful house and taking plenty of inspiration for my next project!
The take away: Family reunions don’t have to cost a lot. They do take some organizing, but we all took on different activities so that no one person was uncharge of it all. I have 6 sisters and 1 brother so splitting meal prep and games and different responsibilities made it organized and fun for all. It truly was the best weekend and we will all have these memories for a lifetime.
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