Guess Who

With all of my husband’s family coming to our house for the family reunion, I wanted to do something special to make the reunion memorable and help each family member feel loved and important. I came up with a game that we called Family Jeopardy, loosely based on a popular TV program.

I thought of a number of things that had happened to each family member in years past at family weddings, vacations, and family reunions and funny or extraordinary things that someone said or did. I wrote these items down in the form of questions, and then I divided them into the following categories, each with a sample question:

• Kids Will Be Kids. Who stuck candy up her nose and had to go to the emergency room to get it out?

• Ouch! Who got his fingers stuck together with Krazy glue at Scouts?

• The Way We Were. Who had a lava lamp in her bedroom?

• Weddings. How did Grandpa propose to Grandma?

• Family History. Who was the first member of the Church in the Harding family?

• Vacations. What was the name of the lake in Alaska where we always caught a lot of fish?

On a large piece of poster board, I drew 30 squares in six rows, and then I cut around three sides of each square, making 30 little doors that could open and shut. On each door I wrote how much the question was worth (100 to 500 points). I attached a large sheet of paper onto the back of the poster board so questions could be written behind each little door. This allowed us to create new categories and new questions later on. We also provided bells or buzzers for each team.

The family loved the game, and young and old joined in. The game triggered many more memories that we shared with each other. Later, other members came up with more questions and categories and we played it night after night at the reunion.—Reneé Roy Harding, Sugar Land, Texas

Illustrated by Joe Flores