How to Add Some Fun to Your Family Newsletter

Family newsletters can be great, but sometimes they start to border on being dull. It is at these times that you should take advantage of the family newsletter itself to bring a little fun and excitement back. What follows is a couple of proposals for family newsletter events and contests, to help your family be just a little bit more eager about unfolding that latest newsletter.

1. Have a contest for a newsletter redesign. Anyone can enter, provided that they are part of the family. Include voting tickets with the offer, and one impartial family member has to count the votes. There should be a focus on adding color, style and usefulness to the newsletter. In order to show the family members the options for voting, you can either send all options out at once, or wait until a family gathering and have the viewing done then.

2. Find a charity event and turn it into a contest. There are some, for example, where people design cards for sick children, or make scarves for the homeless. Make it a charity all family members can participate in (so look for things that aren't all local, if you have some family that lives a little further away). Be sure to judge the contest not only on quantity but also quality, as you don't want to give away things that seem rushed or like little thought was put into them.

3. Try sending out an occasional video family newsletter (maybe annually?). You can set it up on a DVD or email it out as a video file (though a DVD would probably be recommended). Don't know how to make a DVD? Ask your kids, they probably know. Otherwise, basic instructions can be found online. It would be best to do this after a particular family event, like a Thanksgiving dinner or a Christmas gathering, when you can use recently filmed events as your material. Paper newsletters are great, but it's just as cool to get a DVD that you can pop in and watch away.

If you have practice with your family newsletters, you know that they can be a great way of keeping track of your family's doings. But every now and then, it is nice to spice things up a bit, adding some fun and some excitement and mystery back to the process. This helps to keep people interested and reading eagerly.