3 Great Ideas for Virtual Family Reunions

Many family reunions had to be cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.  But this does not mean you have to miss out on the recipes or visiting with relatives.

Here are some ideas of how to make the most of the down-time.

• Hold a recipe exchange.  Copy family favorites and share them with family members.
• Collect photos of family members, going back as far as you can. As a Photo Manager, I’ve seen photos as old as the 1880’s!
  1. You can use software, such as JoyFlips (www.joyflips.com), to display the photos on a group call.  The person who knows something about the picture would share stories and information about the picture. JoyFlips will convert the discussion to text. Then someone could correct spelling of names, etc.
  2. You can use Zoom or Skype or Google Meet.
     1. The meeting host needs to be sure that the meeting is being recorded.
     2. One of the participants would share their screen and display the pictures, one at a time.
     3. The participants will provide input and stories about the picture.
     4.   If you would like to have it all written down, someone would need to transcribe the recording.

• Create a Photo Book to share with the family. There are some very nice advantages of creating a Photo Book:
  1. All interested parties could have a copy to hold in their hands. You won’t need to turn on a device.
  2. The Photo Book can include such things as recipes, letters and family trees, in addition to pictures.
     1. The page showing the recipe could include pictures of people preparing the recipe and people enjoying the recipe!
     2. The pages showing the letter could include the envelop with the date stamp, and possibly pictures of the correspondents.
  3. Pages could have titles, and pictures could have captions. This would allow future generations to view the Photo Book and understand who is in the picture, and their relationship to themselves.
     1. Stories about the people or situations captured in the photos could also be included.

I hope this blog provided some inspiration for not forfeiting a family reunion because of these difficult times.

If you have any additional ideas, please add them to the comments to this post, or on my FaceBook page.

If you would like help or guidance on this topic, or about digitizing slides or prints, please contact me at www.PreciousMemsPhoto.com.