Wilmington, N.C. – It’s that time again. Graduations are upon us, and so is summer! Many families are beginning to plan their Family Reunions for 2011. Alumni are looking to create and purchase Class Reunion logo items, as well.

At Queensboro, we’re pleased to be actively involved in helping family members (and class reunion organizers) in developing a logo for their reunion apparel, and then selecting the right piece of clothing – at a price that fits their reunion budget. We also offer “hardgood” items with logos on them — such as notebooks, mugs, folding chairs, stadium seats, etc.

Sometimes, people are looking for a Family Reunion logo cap or polo shirt … or a T shirt or lightweight jacket for a Class Reunion. Or, they might wish to get some type of reunion memento (perhaps a flashlight, a koozie, or duffel bag, for example) for each person attending.

Some reunions create “goody bags” – filled with family souvenirs, pictures and trinkets.

Here are some reunion trends and tips to keep in mind.

Is your Family Reunion Typical?

In the summer of 2009, Juyeon Yun of Purdue University conducted a study of family reunion planners, surveying 4,000 readers of  Reunions magazine.

Here are some of the findings about reunions:

- Size: The size of the family reunions ranged from very small (1-25 persons) to over 200.

35.1% of respondents had reunions of 51-100 in attendance. Over 18% had 26-50 and 11% were 101-500. Significantly almost 20% of respondents had reunions of 200 attendees or larger. The largest reported reunion in the survey was a class reunion of 1,000 attendees.

- Length of Planning Period: Sixty eight percent (68%) started planning their reunions one year or longer ahead of the event, including 21% who started two years in advance.

Establishing a reunion date is crucial before most other decisions are made. The further ahead this and the decision about where to have their reunion, the greater their chances are to 1) get exactly what and where they want it and 2) to negotiate better deals. They found that over 22% set the date two years in advance while over 50% set the date by one year ahead of the reunion.

- Length of Actual Reunion: The length of each reunion is arbitrarily set but more and more reunions are longer than a Sunday afternoon picnic in the park. Of the respondents, 46% reported their reunion lasts three days, while almost 20% meet for two days. Only 16% of respondents were meeting for the first time, while 84% of the reunions have met before. The “age” of many family reunions were impressive numbers in the 30, 40 and 50 year range but the longest reunion had been going on for 125 years. While that is not a record, it is a testament to a strong and caring family.

- Location of Family Reunion: The kind of location reunion planners choose are all over the map (both literally and figuratively). Urban and suburban locations account for 52% of all responses followed closely by 20% at rural locations. Other locations include the beach (17.5%), mountains (10.3%), theme parks (11.3%) and cruises (almost 14%). Still a popular location by comparison is someone’s backyard or “the old home place” – which garnered over 10%.

- Family Reunion Budgets: Another aspect to the survey was to determine how much was spent on reunions but this is an inaccurate science in part because many people do not keep track of everything they spend. Here, however, are the results:

The largest number of reunions (over 36%) estimated that their reunions cost from $1000 to $4999. Almost 19% spent from $5,000 to $9,999 while 15% reported paying $501 to $999. The variable effecting these answers is that most (over 57%) reunions charge for activities and meals and everyone pays their own lodging costs. 32% reported totaling all costs and dividing by the number present. Fundraising activities were the source of income for 24% , potluck for just over 10% and 5.6% had benefactors who paid or helped pay for the reunion.

Fees are by far the largest source of income, with 68.4% of reunions reporting using this method. Other sources include donations (45.5%), raffles (25.7%), souvenir sales (15.5%).

- Services and Products Purchased for Reunions: Some reunions are self contained and do everything themselves but many others contract for a variety of services.

The services reunions contract are catering (69.1%), professional photography (47.4%) and videography (21.1%), tours (26.3%), buses (23%), florists (10.5%) and professional planners (5.9%).

The products being bought for reunions include:  t-shirts/caps (78.4%), prizes (61.7%), buttons (11.4%) 21.3% of reunions do custom publishing projects. These include membership directories (33.9%), postcards for reminders (23.7%), invitations and RSVPs (25.4%), cookbooks (23.7%), memory books (20.3%), family history (17%) and newsletters (22%).

In general, the survey found that reunion organizers are “a passionate group who are dedicated to their families and reunion groups, and  are from all areas and segments of society. Their single similarity is their concern for keeping their families in touch and connected.”

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The Queensboro Shirt Company offers ideas for your logo for your reunion, and can work with you to either create or revise your logo. Here is a Queensboro Reunion web page – with many of the designs that we’ve developed in the past.

This reference web page will give you ideas to move forward confidently with your reunion.  (To the right, for example, is one of the logos created for a family reunion.)

A Great Reunion Idea!

One of the latest trends sweeping the country is being able to download pictures and create a T-shirt (with a message above or below it) – on the fly, either online or on your IPhone or IPad. Why not create a T-shirt for your family or class reunion this summer, usually a photo? To do this, try the new ZapTee from Queensboro.

For more Reunion ideas, also refer to this blog entry.