Family reunion games: 24 photo tasks you can print
A family reunion is the one day a year four generations stand in the same garden, and it is also the day the photos scatter the furthest. Each branch of the family goes home with its own camera roll, and nobody ever sees the others.
The tasks below are written for that day. They are built to make relatives talk to relatives: find two people who had not met before today, find the family resemblance, find whoever travelled furthest.
Free to print · Works without an account · Ready in two minutes
Pick the tasks and print them
All 24 are selected to start with. Remove the ones that do not fit your family, choose how many cards per sheet, and print.
Printed from your browser. Nothing is stored, and no account is needed.
Here is how they will look
PHOTO TASK
The oldest person here, and the youngest, together
PHOTO TASK
Everyone who shares your surname
PHOTO TASK
Two relatives who had not met before today
PHOTO TASK
The person who travelled furthest
PHOTO TASK
A photo of a photo: bring an old picture and shoot it
PHOTO TASK
Whoever is doing the cooking
PHOTO TASK
Four generations in one frame
PHOTO TASK
Someone asleep in a chair
PHOTO TASK
All the cousins, no adults
PHOTO TASK
The family resemblance: two people, same nose
PHOTO TASK
The car with the longest journey on it
PHOTO TASK
Whoever organised this, while they are working
PHOTO TASK
A relative you had only ever heard about
PHOTO TASK
Everyone wearing the same colour by accident
PHOTO TASK
The dish nobody can agree on the recipe for
PHOTO TASK
The children's table at its worst
PHOTO TASK
Someone telling a story with their hands
PHOTO TASK
The last of the dessert
PHOTO TASK
A relative holding a baby they are related to in a complicated way
PHOTO TASK
Everyone who has the same first name
PHOTO TASK
The oldest object anyone brought with them
PHOTO TASK
Someone looking at the old photos
PHOTO TASK
The group photo attempt that failed
PHOTO TASK
A photo that will end up in somebody's album
Why they work at a reunion specifically
At a reunion the problem is not getting people to take photos. It is that the people who should be in them are the ones holding the camera, and that the three cousins who have not met since childhood spend the whole day at opposite ends of the lawn.
A task sends them to each other. Whoever has to find “two relatives who had not met before today” has to go and ask, and that conversation is the actual point of the day. The photo is the receipt.
Bring one old photo
“A photo of a photo: bring an old picture and shoot it.” Ask everyone to bring one printed photo from the family's past. Photographed with a phone it is good enough for a screen, and it means the gallery ends up holding fifty years instead of one afternoon.
See also
Common questions
Does it work with a wide age range?
That is where it works best. The children are usually the quickest at it, and the tasks that pair an older relative with a younger one are the ones that produce the photos people keep.
We are spread over a whole afternoon and several rooms. Is that a problem?
No, it is an advantage. The tasks are carried around rather than played at a table, so they cover the parts of the day no single person sees.
How many tasks for forty relatives?
Twelve to fifteen. Deselect the rest above. Hand out one card per family group rather than per person, so the branches have a reason to work together.
How do we get all the branches' photos in one place?
Put a QR code next to the cards. Everyone uploads from their own phone with no app and no account, and the whole family gets one gallery afterwards instead of five camera rolls.
One gallery instead of five camera rolls
Put a QR code next to the task cards, so every branch of the family uploads to the same place.