Some of my fondest childhood memories involve family reunions. For our family, the reunions usually happened during the summer months. And it normally involved some sort of cookout in the yard (usually one of relatives had a big plot of land that we would use.) In later years, we started reserving picnic shelters at local parks and having the family reunions there. And on my mom’s side of the family, we got fancy and started having family reunion cruises (but those excluded a lot of people that couldn’t afford them.)

The Good

My best memories involved eating an incredible amount of gooood food. And since we are from the Tidewater Area in Virginia, we steamed blue crabs, fried fish, grilled burgers and hot dogs, and made pasta salads, collard greens, baked beans, mac’ and cheese, green beans, and corn on the cob. You name it, and we had it.

I also remember playing with my cousins until the wee hours of the mornings. And meeting so many cousins, aunts, and uncles that we never met before. And I can remember how happy my parents were to be reunited with their loved ones and to just laugh and have fun with them.

The Bad

As a child, there are a lot of things about pulling together a family reunion that you are just not privy to. It takes a lot of work to coordinate a large event such as this. And sometimes, it can be a thankless job. People want to come, but don’t want to pay. People want to complain, but don’t want to help plan. People want to have a good time, but don’t want to help prepare food or clean up.

The Ugly

The worst part of family reunions, in particular for African American families, is that we are not having them often enough. It’s important to stay connected with your family. By being connected with your family, especially your older relatives, you can get an understanding of the all of the accomplishments and sacrifices that have been made on your behalf.  Understanding your history helps you to connect the dots

And I’m so happy that Hilton has made things even easier for families to come together by creating an awesome personalized group web page, where everyone attending a family reunion or large event can seamlessly book rooms at a special group rate, while sharing details, such as check-in/out dates, directions and event schedules.  Isn’t that awesome!!

“African-American families can count on Embassy Suites Hotels and Homewood Suites by Hilton to help simplify the planning process, and provide spacious two-room suites, free hot breakfast, complimentary evening reception, full kitchens and other amenities that are sure to delight families,” said Mary Beth Parks, senior vice president, global marketing, Hilton Worldwide. “With ‘Count On It,’ families can focus on being together, whether in their suite or at a reunion activity.”

On our last two family trips, we have stayed at Embassy Suites Hotels.  And we loved all of the space that we had for the family as well as all of the amenities. We have three kids, so my husband and I love that kids can have their own space and we can have our own space.  We love that the rooms have kitchens so we are able to heat up leftovers and store snacks.  And our favorite amenity is the free breakfast and free receptions in the evenings.

BMWK – tell us how your family does reunions…how often… where do you meet? Please share with us some tips on how to make our next family reunion great.

This post is brought to you by Hilton Worldwide. I have partnered with them to spread the word  that Embassy Suites Hotels and Homewood Suites by Hilton are teaming up to offer “Count On It,” a  program designed to help make family reunions easy and stress-free for all participants