Mister Spiffy Gets Organized

Organize – n. Prepare by arranging for various factors or details involved.


Mister Spiffy Says: "Everyone needs organization. It’s essential to the human survival. It’s what separates us from the teenagers."


Creating a family reunion committee is the first step to putting it all together (watch that first step – it’s a doozy)! Keep in mind that the committee can be only one person – but usually if it is, that one person is going to be you. It’s the way things work.

The Family Reunion Committee

If you are planning a small reunion (25 people or less?), then it can be one person. You. If it’s bigger, then make the committee bigger. The committee should create a planning binder with lists of subcommittees, guests, assignments, resources, financial status, and anything else that seems important at the time. Here is a family reunion checklist to help get you started.

Family Reunion Committee Chairperson

Every organization has to have a leader, and the family reunion committee is no exception. The committee chairperson (chairperson is politically correct talk for "can be a man or woman") is responsible for:

  • Scheduling committee meetings and notifying the members of those meetings
  • Presiding over meetings and maintaining the peace
  • Making a list of volunteers (or forced volunteers) and their job assignments
  • Keeping a calendar of finished tasks and unfinished business
  • Motivating people to follow through (candy, food, money, fame, guilt...)

It is good if the committee chairperson is someone that everyone respects and will listen to. If nobody in your family matches that description, select someone that everyone is afraid of (and will listen to).

Family Reunion Subcommittees

Unless you want to do all the work yourself (call me lazy, but I don’t), you will find it necessary to assign subcommittees to handle various aspects of the reunion. Subcommittees can be a single person as well, for small reunions, but if not, each should have a chairperson of its own to report back. You know, just in case they’re slacking off and not getting the job done, the chairperson overall can crack down on them. That’s Mister Spiffy’s favorite part of being overall chairperson of any reunion.


Mister Spiffy’s Helpful Hints – When you’re getting organized, don’t expect that you can do everything. If you have the authority to dish the responsibilities out on somebody – anybody – else, why do everything yourself? Take advantage of it and laze around! Haven’t you seen those movies with the evil stepmother lying and tanning on a lawn chair while the servants / children slave about the yard? There’s a real-life lesson here.