A fun personal history game for family reunions!

This last weekend I had a family reunion at my house (with my parents and siblings).  I was thinking it would be fun to come up with a fun way to get them to record some things about when they were little and share them with everyone.  So, here’s what I did:  (And hopefully this is not too confusing.)

I wrote at the top of the paper, “When you were a kid…”.  Then I listed 10 things each person had to answer.  I gave the papers to each person and told them fill them out and not to show their answers to anyone.  



When everyone had filled out their forms, I went through all of them, and wrote down one person’s answer for each question, and put their name next to it.   I made sure that everyone had at least one thing on there.



Next it was time for guessing.  I gave everyone an answer sheet to fill out.  I know this is kind of confusing, so here’s a detail of what I did—question #1 was “What was your favorite TV show?”  and #2 was “What was one crazy/funny/silly thing you did?”.  When it was time for everyone to answer, I said, “This person’s favorite TV show was ‘Saved By the Bell’.  Then everyone wrote who they thought it was.  Next, I said, “This person gargle the ABC’s in a school talent show”.  Then everyone wrote who they thought did that, and so on.

When all the questions were given, I asked who they thought #1 was, told them who it was, and asked who got it right.  Then I read everyone’s answers for #1, so we could all hear what everyone’s favorite TV show was.  (And to hear all the funny, crazy and dumb things we did as kids!  I found out that my mom got a speeding ticket just after she turned 16, and had lied about where she was going, so then she had to tell her mom about why she was where she was when she got the ticket!  My brother was at a sleepover, and he and his friends toilet papered our house and got caught by our neighbor!   My husband threw a snowball at the neighbor’s window and broke it!)


It was a hit, to say the least!  Even the kids (as in my kids) were enchanted by listening to all the funny stories of things their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents did when they were kids!   Most people got 4 or 5 right, but my dad got 9 right, and my brother got 2 right.  I gave a 1st place prize and a booby prize out. 

Here are the questions I used: What was your favorite TV show?  What was one silly, crazy, or funny thing you did?  Who was your hero?  What was your favorite toy?  What was your favorite outside activity?  What was your favorite food?  What was your favorite candy bar?  What was your favorite chore?  What was your least favorite chore?  What was one bad mistake you made? 

More questions I thought about (or that my family suggested) using for next time:  What was your favorite color?  Who was one of your best friends?  What was your favorite book?  Where was your favorite family vacation?  What was the most painful thing you did?  What was your most embarrassing moment?  What was your favorite pet?  Who was your favorite teacher?  What did you like to do in the summer/fall/winter/spring?  What did you want to be when you grew up? 

Suggestions: 
*Do this with the adults only, at least if they are kid questions.   You could do a variance on it with the children and do favorites now.  (It will just be very dated if you do things like movies and there are more than 2 generations involved.)
*Have one question (or more) per person—otherwise not everyone will get to have their name on the list.  If you are having a large reunion with more than 3 generations, just have the oldest generation (or two) answer the questions and have everyone guess. 
*It’s okay to have more than one person with the same answer on a question—it just makes more guesses available.

Challenge #12--Something….

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that is so popular with weddings that goes, “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Well, this week’s challenge goes right along with that! (It is high wedding season in the northern hemisphere after all!)

This week’s challenge: Find your favorite somethings (old, new, borrowed, blue) and record a little bit about them!

Now, I was originally going to do it the real way, but we couldn’t find anything borrowed, so we improvised using something handmade instead. You really could inserts whatever you want here: something green, something squishy, something metallic, something cheap, something round, etc. Heck, you could even substitute anything in any of the spots—but it does kind of take away from the fun of the original saying.

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What I did:

I’m stepping out of my comfort zone of scrapbook pages today…I actually had my boys do this week’s challenge! (I need to do it for myself still…) I had them each go find their favorite somethings, then I video recorded them talking about them! This challenge took us 5 minutes to complete, including finding items, and recording about it in one take with mistakes and all! 5 minutes people!!!

I will seriously treasure these videos as long as I live! And think what my grandkids will have to say when they see their daddy’s this young! (I’m only putting the video on here of my 6 year old son, because the 4 1/2 year old is a little hard to understand.)

Challenge #3--Always Something There to Remind Me...

A fill in the blank challenge this week: Whenever I ________, I ________.

You can do as many of these as you want, and expound on whatever you wish. I suggest you to keep this one in the back of your mind, and then write things down as they come to you throughout this week when something jogs your memory!

Think of things you see, hear, smell, touch, wear, eat, do, etc. These don't always have to be positive things either. If there is something that you're struggling with, or are embarrassed about, you can record those too. Remember, this is your personal history, and no one is perfect!

If you decide to take this challenge, check mark the box at the end of the post. When you finish a challenge, you can come back and check the other box! It would be fun to see how many people get theses challenges accomplished!
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What I did:

I just typed up this week's challenge in a word document, and added pictures on some of them. I'm going to have a special folder labeled "This Is Me". Then I will start a new document for each challenge that I decide to type up. I figured too, with this challenge, I can always add more to it throughout the years.

(This is a sample of some of the things that I typed up. You don't have to read it, but you can if you want to if you need an idea or two.)

-Whenever I kick or throw a ball to Quinn (my hubby), I think of our first date. It was a group blind date, and on the ride home a guy sat in the back seat between us. There was a volleyball in the back of the SUV, and we somehow started rolling it back and forth to each other. Neither of us ever went out with anyone else again! We still "flirt" by rolling a ball!

-Whenever one of my children spontaneously gives me a hug or kiss, I feel like the queen of the world! There is seriously nothing else that can make me feel like that!

-Whenever I see or smell lavender, I think of the 16 months I lived in southern France. Lavender was everywhere, and I fell in love with it. I even have a whole bunch in my yard to help remind me even more!-Whenever I eat dark chocolate, I dream that I am on some deserted tropical island, laying in a hammock. Random, I know.

-Whenever I go to a swimming pool, I take in a deep breath. I love the smell of the chlorine and chemicals, because it reminds me of when I was on the swim team in Jr. High. I loved swimming, and hoped to one day be an Olympic gold medalist. (Then the pool kept breaking down, and my mom took us off because she wasn't going to pay for us to run laps around the park and not swim...)

-Whenever I sit down at a piano, I wish I could play it better. I took piano for four or five years, and still can't play very well. I wasn't very committed to it as a young'un, but now I wish I had been.

-Whenever I see a beautiful sunset, I take a picture. (I must have at least 1000.) It also helps me reflect on this beautiful world that God created for us!