Planning a get-together with a large group of people is never an easy task. However, when you’re trying to get people from different generations and different areas of the world together during the same period of time, the planning can get even more complicated. But if you’re wanting to hold a family reunion, these are challenges you have to face.
If you’re hoping to hold a large family reunion in the near future, here are three tips for planning this event in such a way that your elderly loved ones will feel welcome and understood.
Don’t Travel Too Far
While it’s not always easy for people with little kids to travel too far for a family reunion, it can also be hard for your older family members to travel too far, too. Knowing this, you should try to plan the meeting location for your family reunion so that your elderly loved ones don’t have to travel too far from where they live.
Ideally, you should try to pick a destination that’s within about four hours of travel time for the older members of your family. And if those family members are currently living in an assisted living community, you may want to cut this distance down even more in order to best accommodate them and encourage them to attend.
Involve Them In The Daily Plans
It’s not only the destination and the travel time that can impact your elderly loved one’s ability and desire to come to your family reunion. While they will likely love seeing family members that they don’t get to visit with often, if all of your daily plans are out of their comfort zone or ability to participate in, they may not feel like coming.
To keep this from happening with your family reunion, you should ask your elderly loved ones to plan some of the daily activities for the reunion. Or, at the very least, you can ask for their input on fun things they’d like to do with the rest of the family or experiences they’d like to share with everyone else.
Make Sure They’re Not Neglected
Even if your elderly loved one is coming with their spouse or another support person, it’s vital that all the members of your family don’t neglect your elderly loved one while at the reunion,
To do this, you should consider assigning someone to be with your elderly loved ones at each meal and event during the reunion. This way, you’ll be sure that your loved one has what they need and that each person gets a chance to spend some quality time with these family members.
If you’re unsure how to plan an upcoming family reunion so that your elderly loved ones are included as much as everyone else, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you see how this can be done.
