What do most big events start off with? A speech! For a family reunion, it is totally appropriate to kick it off with a speech, thanking everyone for making it and whatever else you’d like to add for a nice, warm welcome.
Speeches should be sentimental and may contain a bit of humor. The lucky people can just get up there and say whatever comes naturally, but often times, this is not the case, and a short family reunion welcome speech should be prepared.
Luckily for a family reunion speech, you are less likely to completely bomb it, and if you do, well your family still loves you unconditionally, right? Right.
So, if you are unsure what your family reunion welcome speech should sound like, try something like one of these sentimental speeches:
Religious
“Words cannot express how delighted I feel that you are all here, together, smiling and catching up with each other today. It’s a feeling of sheer joy, seeing that spring has sprung and another year has passed since we last met up like this. Although distance separates our close family, time seems to not pass by but a minute.
And oh my, have these kids sprouted up! I see a couple of new faces here: Mary, who just recently married John, and Christian, who just married our sweet Kelly-bean! That was her little nickname growing up.
Let us all rejoice together, old family and new family, and praise God for this opportunity He has provided to us so that we could be together on this joyous vacation. Can I get an AMEN?!”
Funny & Nostalgic
“Today is the beginning of the rest of our..family reunion! Welcome family and I can see that we have grown since last year! Twins in the family, that’s amazing, and major kudos to you both for traveling 1,200 miles with babies in the backseat! Let’s welcome twins Skyla and Charlie to the family!
Our family just continues to flourish and grow more and more beautiful every time we meet. Seeing us all here together brings back so many memories of all the years passed. Remember at last year’s reunion in Nassau, Bahamas, when Uncle Bob thought he lost his money in the ocean, and later announced that he found it in his underwear? How could we forget that one, Bob! There’s so many memories that if I were to stand here and go through them all, we might be here until our next family reunion!
So let’s keep moving forward and keep making those memories! Yell it loud and proud, let’s leave our footprint in this town! (Signal DJ to begin playing “We are family,” Dance/social hour begins.)”
Humorous
“Okay, just picture everyone in their underwear, and…okay. (look up) Ahhh! Nevermind! (laugh) Hey guys, it means a lot that this year, I get to be the one standing up here, welcoming everyone to my neck of the woods for our annual reunion. I think you will all really like it here, seeing many of the things that my city has to offer.
We only see each other once a year; let’s make it epic! Let’s make it count. For those of you who didn’t think you would make it, and to all the rest of you, thank you for making the effort to get here, and make this event a special one for the rest of us.
(Have committee hand out packets during closing paragraph.) My wonderful committee and myself have arranged a lot of things for you guys to do, I’ll give you all a moment to look the packet over, then the real fun will start! My only wish for this reunion, is that all of you enjoy yourselves and walk away with some great, new memories.”
Once you write your family reunion welcome speech, it’s a great idea to practice it in front of a mirror, in front of your immediate family or friends, just to reduce the chances of stumbling on your words or feeling nervous in front of a crowd. And if you do feel nervous, nobody is going to care and nobody is there judging you, so breathe, keep calm and carry on!
