Getting the family together for a long-awaited reunion is definitely no easy feat. But it’s well worth the time and effort when Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is your destination of choice. With the beautiful Smoky mountains all around, you can kick back and relax in style while spending quality time with all your loved ones. Wondering just how to make that dream come true?
Just follow this quick guide to planning a family reunion in Gatlinburg:
Create Your Guest List
Before you can really start planning your family reunion, you need to put together a guest list. If you have a small family, this will be easy since you can just invite everyone. Bigger families make things a little more difficult because you need to either find a cutoff point or figure out how to plan for a huge group.
As you build out your ideal guest list, get in touch with each family member to see if they can work a trip into their schedule and budget. If so, ask when they might have time off to join the fun, so you can pick your ideal date for the festivities. Also, see what their budget might look like to help you in finding the right cabin rental, activities, and restaurants.
Pick Your Ideal Date
To plan a family reunion in Gatlinburg that everyone will enjoy, ask your family members when they might want to get together. The Great Smoky Mountains are absolutely gorgeous year-round, so there’s no wrong time to visit.
You just need to make arrangements that work with each family’s work and school schedules. So, get out your notes from the guest list step and see when each family’s free time best aligns. Then, check back to confirm that the selected dates will work well for everyone.
Reserve Your Cabin Rental
Once you have a tentative guest list and date in mind, you can start looking for the perfect cabin rentals. There are many excellent cabins available for large groups all across Gatlinburg, including huge mansions with 15 bedrooms or more. They may also have game and theater rooms, hot tubs, resort pools, and other amazing amenities for your family to enjoy.
If you plan to visit during the tourist season, you will likely need to reserve your cabin well ahead of time. Weekends and holidays fill up the fastest. So, if you’re not visiting during the workweek, plan to reserve your favorite cabin at least six months to a year in advance.
Schedule Fun Things to Do
After reserving a Gatlinburg cabin rental for your group, start building out a loose itinerary for each day of your family reunion.
Visit the Gatlinburg Skylift Park
Your family will undoubtedly appreciate a chance to take in the sheer beauty of the Smokies – and there’s no better place to do that than Gatlinburg Skylift Park. You can take a daring walk across the SkyBridge before heading over to the SkyDeck to relax and chat with your group.
Book a Hike with Smoky Mountain Guides
To see the magic of the Great Smoky Mountains from the inside, then let Smoky Mountain Guides take you on an adventure. They will lead your group to the most beautiful places in the park, including hidden waterfalls while telling you all about each spot.
Spend the Day at Anakeesta
There are endless things for your family to do when you spend the day at Anakeesta. You can start with all their amazing attractions, including the Dueling Zipline, Mountain Coaster, and Treetop skywalk. Then, you can go shopping at their many retailers plus fill up on delicious food and drinks at their onsite eateries.
Your activity schedule should let everyone experience all the best this region has to offer while allowing for plenty of downtime. It’s a vacation, after all, so you want to let everyone chill and catch up at various times throughout the day. You should also leave room for impromptu stops as your family members see shops, restaurants, and other venues they might want to visit during their travels.
Figure Out Which Restaurants to Visit
To keep everyone on the same page, create a list of the top restaurants in Gatlinburg, such as:
That way, if anyone asks where you all should eat, you’ll be ready to answer that question. You can then all head out for a delicious meal together without bickering about where to go.
To avoid problems along the way, you might want to call each restaurant ahead of time to see if they’d like you to make reservations for large groups. You can then work with your family to plan a few big meals together, so everyone can stay well-fed throughout all your adventures.
Send Out Invites with a Packing Checklist
After finalizing all your plans, send out your official family reunion invites to let everyone know when and where to meet up. Include a helpful packing checklist to ensure your family members will all bring the right clothes and other gear for the season and your planned activities. If anyone misses the mark, there are many exceptional shops in Gatlinburg ready to help each person get geared up and ready to go.
With all that done, it’s just time to pack up, arrange transportation, and get ready for the fun to begin. All your efforts will definitely be worthwhile once you start to see your family zoom in from all over. You can then get in a whole lot of quality time while enjoying all there is to see and do in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
