I know that things are tough right now. Many of us are still in school, are trying to sell homes, and have small children at home. I'd like to make the reunion as cost effective as possible (we Smiths are expert at this!).
As a preliminary number, I'm proposing donations of $120-$150 for each adult planning to attend the reunion, and $90 for each child under the age of 12. This would include everything but one or two meals, places to stay (if not staying with relatives), special needs & supplies (diapers!), and souvenirs. It also doesn't include entrance to large theme parks such as Sea World, Legoland, and the Zoo. As I said, I'm trying to cut costs here. No one is required to donate anything, but it is appreciated! I'm hoping that everyone can have their donations to our new treasurer (pending approval) by June 1 or so.
What do you think?
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Does this mean $90 for Aubrey? Which meals will this not cover? Do you have some sort of schedule worked out? Just trying to figure out details. Thanks again for doing this Chelsea you are my favorite older sister I have ever had. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is Gera, not Bria because I'm at her house. I can understand your thinking with the costs..if we have money upfront then no one will have to be burdened with the expense of groceries, etc. at the time, and it does appear to be easier from the outset, but I think it may not be the best way to go. A suggestion from my husband's family reunions, is just that you plan on a family taking one dinner meal(they decide what it is and what they want to spend on it-they can even pair up with another family), breakfasts you are on your own, and then maybe one or two other lunches that families can take. This way one person or a few aren't burdened with preparing all of the meals too. Also, for those that are only there for a few days, they can make meals when they're there and will therefore only be paying for food when they are in attendance. I have a chart I made up for the reunion we are having in Bakersfield for Steve's family a few weeks earlier...you just put in the itinerary of events, send it out and then people can sign up for meals, or even just have the first day of meals figured out and then people can sign up there. For those of us who are staying at yours and other's houses, we don't want to burden you with the cost of essentials for us staying there, so I'm sure we would all be happy to bring boxed cereal, run to the grocery store for milk and be considerate of any other needs. I just feel their is less room for possible difficulties and hurt feelings if people are responsible for their own costs and personal essentials, minus evening meals together...activities, souvenires and those kinds of things can be paid indiviually as we go based upon each families circumstance...That being said, I know you've put a lot of time into your thought process here and I really appreciate all of your efforts (we wouldn't even be having a reunion without you), but I just think these suggestions would mean less problems and much more simplification in the end.
ReplyDeleteHmm... lots of good suggestions. Nothing is set in stone here. Nothing. I'm just trying to give everyone a number so that they can start saving. I'm hoping that it will actually be cheaper, and I'm guessing that we'd have some sort of reimbursement system at the end so that everyone ends up paying only what they need to.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to my mom about all of this (being the queen of frugal that she is), and she said that it may actually be cheaper for us to order meals from a couple of places than to make it ourselves. Places like Kailani's (remember Calli's wedding?). That way, we only need to pick it up, not drive all over town getting ingredients, spending hours cooking, not to mention avoiding the planning stress. The only down side is that we'd have to order it ahead of time - and I don't want anyone to be burdened with paying the full amount and waiting to be reimbursed.
Again, nothing is set in stone. I'm just hoping that no one gets slammed at the last minute with unexpected costs.