Giant Family Tree

At our family reunion this summer, we created an ENORMOUS family tree made of handprints.

Supplies needed:

• 1 king-sized flat sheet
• A variety of cute fabrics
• Iron-on "Heat-n-Bond" (bonds between two fabrics) ... we used the super strong no-sew kind
• Each family member's hand to trace
• Fabric marker

We ironed the paper-backed "Heat-n-Bond" onto the fabric ahead of time, then at the reunion, we simply asked each family member to trace their hand and write their name on the back.  In our down-time at the reunion, a few of us cut out hands and pinned them to the sheet so everyone could admire the project (then we returned home and ironed them all on permanently) ... Now we have a banner to pull out at future reunions!  (I guess we'll add birds or apples or something to represent any new family members.)

It's so fun to see each member of our large family represented on the tree.  Our extended family is about 100 people, and almost everyone made it to the reunion!  For those who couldn't come, they either traced their hand on paper and sent it to us, or they had a sibling or cousin with approximately the same size hand fill in for them.

Each generation is represented by a different fabric.  Direct descendants of Grandma & Grandpa are in green and spouses are in yellow.

We added 3 extra generations to our tree by writing our ancestors' names on the roots.

 And we time-stamped this massive "descendancy chart" by labeling it with the date and reunion information.

To read more about this fantastic reunion, see these posts:
Amazing Family Reunions
Reunions Done Right