A family reunion registration form should ask for each attendee's name and age group, contact information, meal and dietary needs, accessibility needs, T-shirt sizes if you're ordering shirts, which events they'll attend, and their family branch if your family is large. Ask one set of questions per household, not per person, and keep it under about 10 questions so people actually finish it. A copyable template is below, along with a paper version for relatives who don't do forms online.
This is part of our guide on how to plan a family reunion. What questions should be on a family reunion registration form?
Every question should map to a decision you'll make or a list you'll hand to someone. Here's what to ask and why:
Household name and primary contact
One person to reach for the whole household
Reminders and day-of updates
Name tags, check-in list, headcount
Each attendee's age group
Ticket pricing, food counts, activities
Seating, shirt colors, branch counts
Separate counts for the picnic, banquet, and brunch
Dietary needs and allergies
Seating, parking, lodging, transportation
T-shirt size per attendee
If you won't use an answer, cut the question. "What are you most excited about?" is nice, but it's one more reason someone abandons the form halfway through.
Should you register by person or by household?
By household. One person fills out the form for everyone in their household, and they pay once for the whole group. This matches how families actually decide to attend, and it keeps your payment list to dozens of rows instead of hundreds.
Within the household, you still need person-level details: names, ages, shirt sizes, and meal choices. A good form lets the registrant add each person, with a row of details for each.
Which age groups should a reunion form use?
Use the same age cutoffs as your pricing, so the form and the price list match. A common set:
Ask for an age group, not an exact birthdate. You don't need a birthdate to price a ticket, and people are more comfortable sharing an age range. The exception is a youth activity with age requirements, or if you want to recognize the oldest and youngest attendees. In those cases, ask for age directly and only where it's needed.
How do you ask about accessibility needs?
Ask directly and make it feel routine. People rarely volunteer accessibility needs, and they're the needs most likely to cause problems if you don't plan for them.
A good question: "Does anyone in your household need any of the following?" with checkboxes for:
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Ground-floor lodging or no stairs
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Wheelchair or walker access
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Seating close to the program or restrooms
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Transportation between events
Checkboxes work better than an open text box. They show people that these needs are expected, and they give you a count you can plan around.
How do you collect T-shirt sizes on a registration form?
Ask for a size per attendee, in the same row as their name. Collecting sizes in a separate message later is the most common cause of shirt problems.
Offer both youth and adult sizes:
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Adult: S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL
Include a link to the printer's size chart if you have one, and say whether shirts are unisex or fitted. Set the size deadline a few weeks before your shirt order date, and make it the same as your registration deadline if you can.
When should registration open and close?
Open registration with the full announcement, about 6 months out. Close it 6–8 weeks before the reunion, when caterers and venues typically need final counts and the shirt order needs to go in.
Early-bird price ends (optional)
Registration and payment deadline
Final counts to caterer and venue
2–4 weeks out (check your contracts)
Case by case, often without shirts or plated meals
Say clearly what happens after the deadline. "Registrations after June 1 can't be guaranteed a shirt or a banquet seat" is fair and easy to understand.
What does a family reunion registration form template look like?
Copy this into whatever you use: an online form builder, a document, or paper.
[Family Name] Family Reunion — Registration [Dates] · [City, State] Registration and payment due by [Deadline]
1. Household contact Name: ______________________ Phone: ______________________ Email: ______________________ Preferred contact: ☐ Text ☐ Call ☐ Email
2. Family branch Which branch is your household from? ______________________
3. Who's coming? (one line per person)
Age group (Adult / Teen / Child 5–12 / Under 5)
Dietary needs or allergies
4. Which events will your household attend? ☐ Friday welcome ☐ Saturday picnic ☐ Saturday banquet ☐ Sunday brunch
5. Does anyone need any of the following? ☐ Ground-floor lodging or no stairs ☐ Wheelchair or walker access ☐ Seating near the program or restrooms ☐ Shade or a cool area ☐ Transportation between events ☐ Other: ____________
6. Where are you staying? ☐ Reunion hotel block ☐ Another hotel ☐ With family or local ☐ Not sure yet
7. Emergency contact (someone not attending) Name: ______________________ Phone: ______________________
8. Payment Total for your household: $__________ ☐ Paid in full ☐ Paying in installments ☐ Paying by check (mail to: [address])
9. Anything else we should know?
Remove anything that doesn't apply to your reunion. A one-day picnic might only need sections 1, 3, 5, and 8.
How do you register relatives who don't fill out forms online?
Offer two other ways in: a printed copy of the same form mailed with a return envelope, and a phone call where someone fills it out on their behalf. Whichever way they register, their information goes on the same list as everyone else's. Our guide on registering family members who don't use apps walks through the phone process step by step. Where should registration answers live?
In the same place as payments. A registration list in one spreadsheet and payments in someone's payment app is how organizers lose track of who's actually coming.
A shared spreadsheet works if one person keeps it current. Cruina was built to do this for you: each household registers once with names, age groups, sizes, and meal choices for everyone, and their payment lands on the same record. Either way, the caterer's count, the shirt order, and the check-in list should all come from one list.
Frequently asked questions
Should a family reunion registration form ask for exact ages?
Usually not. Age groups that match your pricing tiers are enough for tickets, food, and activities, and people are more comfortable sharing them.
How many questions should a reunion registration form have?
Aim for 10 or fewer sections. Every question you add lowers the number of people who finish the form.
Should registration and payment happen at the same time?
Yes, whenever possible. Registrations without payments are the least reliable headcount you'll have.
What should we do about late registrations?
Accept them when you can, and say up front that late registrants may not get a shirt or a plated meal. Late registrations after final counts go to the caterer are the hardest to accommodate.
Do we need an emergency contact on the form?
For reunions with physical activities, travel, or young children, yes. Ask for someone who isn't attending.