GANNETT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL REPORT
Learn how to plan a successful reunion — family, class and the increasingly popular gatherings of gal-pals — with tips on pulling together family, the pros and cons of visiting high school chums, and how reconnecting with friends can recharge your batteries.
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FAMILY REUNIONS
As family trees grow, reunion planning can become a production
Planning a family reunion can be as simple as an afternoon picnic with parents, siblings and their families or as complex as a weekend for the 44,000 descendants of Mormon pioneer Benjamin Franklin Johnson.
• How to pick the best date
• Reuniting can be all about location
• A dozen ideas that could grow into family traditions
• Checklist for reunions big and small
CLASS REUNIONS
Best reason to go is to reconnect, not impress
Anxious about attending a 10-, 20- or 30-year high school reunion? Don't worry. It gets easier.
• Play detective to find missing classmates
• Overwhelmed? Time to talk to a professional
GIRLFRIEND REUNIONS
Girlfriends take a time-out and get away
Girls long past the teenage years want to get away, talk among themselves and have fun without husbands and children. What has been a long-standing, low-key tradition has caught the eye of businesses that see dollar signs.
ON THE WEB
Web has help for all types of reunions
The Internet has resources for reunion planning, scouting out friends and family, and keeping in touch.
Multimedia
Family reunions audio slide show
Listen to excerpts of an interview with sociologist Ione Vargus, who has studied family reunions for 20 years.
Q&A
Reunions give families reasons to share history, traditions
Ione Vargus, chairwoman of Temple University's Family Reunion Institute, has been studying family reunions since the mid-1980s and spoke about her observations.
• What prompts many families to have reunions?
• What traditions have you seen through the years that have become your favorites?
• How do black family reunions differ from reunions within other ethnicities and traditions?
• What do you think should be a part of every family reunion?
• A lot of people worry about the state of the black family. How do family reunions fit in the picture?
• How has today's changing family of any race — with marriages, divorces, adoptions, living together — affected family reunions?
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