To set a family reunion price, add up every shared cost, add a 5–10% buffer, and divide by the number of people you realistically expect to pay, not the number you invite. For most families that lands between $15 and $90 per person for a one-day reunion and $75 to $200 per person for a weekend with a banquet, before lodging. The worksheet below walks you through it line by line, with a worked example you can copy.
How do you calculate the cost per person for a family reunion?
Use this formula:
Price per person = (Total shared costs + buffer) ÷ Realistic paying headcount
Three words in that formula do most of the work:
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Shared means costs everyone benefits from: the venue, the food, activities, shirts. Lodging and travel that people book for themselves stay out of it.
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Buffer is 5–10% on top of your costs. It covers people who register but never pay, surprise fees, and the supplies nobody remembered.
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Realistic paying headcount is the number of people you expect to actually pay full price. Children at reduced prices and anyone you're covering (often the oldest generation) count differently, which we'll handle below.
The most common budgeting mistake is dividing by the hopeful headcount. If you price for 120 and 85 pay, the gap comes out of the organizer's pocket.
What should a family reunion budget include?
Here's a complete worksheet. Copy it into a spreadsheet or onto paper and fill in the "Your estimate" column with real quotes wherever you can.
Pavilion, hall, or banquet room rental, plus deposits
Tables, chairs, tents, linens, sound system, projector
Park permits, event insurance if the venue requires it
Catering, or meat and main dishes if potluck
Water, soft drinks, coffee, ice, coolers
Plates, cups, utensils, napkins, serving trays, warmers
Bounce house, games, prizes, a DJ or band, tour tickets
Shirts for everyone included in the price, plus 5–10% extras
Programs, name tags, family history booklets, photo prints
Banners, centerpieces, table signs
Flowers, plaques, recognition gifts for elders
First-aid kit, sunscreen, trash bags, paper towels, tape
Fees charged by whatever payment method you use
Buffer (5–10% of subtotal)
Not every reunion needs every line. A backyard potluck might have only five lines filled in. The point is to look at each one and decide on purpose, so nothing surprises you later.
What's a worked example of a family reunion budget?
Here's a realistic Saturday reunion: a park pavilion, a hybrid meal (catered mains, family brings sides), shirts for everyone, and a short program. About 100 people are invited and the committee expects about 80 to come.
Pavilion rental (full day)
Catered main dishes (80 people at $14)
Bounce house and game prizes
T-shirts (88 shirts at $10, including 10% extras)
Memorial flowers and elder recognition
Now the headcount. Of the 80 expected:
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55 are adults and teens (13 and up)
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15 are children ages 5–12
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4 are elders the family has agreed to cover
Pricing children at half and covering under-5s and elders, the "full-price equivalents" are 55 + (15 × 0.5) = 62.5.
$3,780 ÷ 62.5 = $60.48, so round to $60 per adult, $30 per child 5–12, and free for under 5 and the four elders.
Rounding to a clean number matters. "$60" is easy to remember, easy to say on the phone, and easy to check against a payment list. "$60.48" is not.
How much should you charge children at a family reunion?
Most families use tiers. A common structure:
They eat little and don't need a full activity budget
They eat and play, but less than adults
Teens usually eat as much as adults
Some families price by meal instead of by age, especially at catered banquets where the caterer charges a kids' plate price. If your biggest cost is food, mirror the caterer's age cutoffs so your numbers line up with your bill.
Whatever you choose, put the tiers in writing in the announcement. Ambiguity about who counts as a child is a common source of awkward conversations at check-in.
Should you charge per person or per family?
It depends on what drives your costs.
Per person (with age tiers)
Food is the biggest cost, which is true for most reunions
Big families feel the total more
Costs are mostly fixed (venue, rental house) and don't grow much per person
Small households subsidize large ones
Per person with a family cap
You want fairness but don't want to price out large families
Slightly more math, and the cap shifts cost to everyone else
Suggested amount ("pay what you can")
Branches have very different financial situations
Needs trust and a plan for coming in short
A family cap is a good middle ground. For example: $60 per adult, $30 per child, no household pays more than $240. Before you set a cap, count how many households would hit it and add their discount to your budget.
Should you include lodging in the reunion price?
Usually not. When relatives book their own rooms (through a hotel room block, for example), keep lodging out of the reunion price entirely. It keeps the price lower, the math simpler, and the treasurer out of the middle of hotel bookings.
The exception is a shared rental house or retreat center where one person signs the contract. In that case lodging has to be split, and the common approaches are:
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By room, with larger or private rooms costing more
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By person, with children at a reduced rate
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By household, for families that each take one room
Collect lodging as a separate line from the reunion fee so people who stay elsewhere don't pay for it.
How do you handle people who can't afford the reunion?
Plan for it in the budget rather than handling it case by case. A few approaches that work well:
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A sponsorship fund. Invite relatives who are able to add a voluntary amount to their registration ("sponsor a cousin"). Use it to cover others quietly.
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Installment plans. For a price over about $150 per person, letting people pay in two or three parts often matters more than a discount.
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Covered groups. Many families cover elders, college students, or first-time attendees, and build that cost into everyone else's price.
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Volunteer credit. Some families reduce the price for relatives who take on real day-of work.
Keep it private. The treasurer and chair should be the only people who know who received help.
When should you set the reunion price?
Set it about 9 months out, after the venue and big quotes are in, and announce it about 6 months out with the payment deadline. Don't announce a price based on guesses. Raising the price later is much harder than setting it right the first time.
If quotes come in lower than expected, you have good options: lower the price before announcing, use the difference to cover more people, or roll it into the next reunion's fund.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a family reunion cost per person?
One-day reunions typically run $15–$90 per person, depending on whether food is potluck or catered and whether the venue is a park or a hall. Weekend reunions with a banquet commonly run $75–$200 per person before lodging.
What percentage buffer should a reunion budget have?
5–10% of your subtotal. Use closer to 10% if you're relying on a lot of unpaid "yes" responses or if the venue contract has variable fees.
Should T-shirts be included in the reunion price?
Including them usually works better than selling them separately. Everyone gets one, the group photo matches, and you collect sizes and money once instead of twice.
What if we collect more money than we spend?
Decide in advance and say so in the announcement. Common choices are refunding the difference, rolling it into the next reunion's fund, or donating it to a cause the family cares about.
Who should manage the reunion budget?
One treasurer, with the payment list visible to at least one other committee member. Money tracked by two people tends to be money nobody is sure about.
Where does the payment tracking live?
A budget is only as good as the payment list behind it. If you'd rather not maintain that list by hand, Cruina keeps each family's registration, ticket tiers, and payments (including installment plans) on one list, so you can see what's been collected against your total at any time. A spreadsheet that one person keeps current works too. The important part is that there's exactly one.