A family tree for a family reunion
Everyone descended from one couple, on one sheet, in a shape that does not collapse when one branch had six children and another had one.
- Suggested shape
- Family fan
- Suggested style
- Meadow
- Who appears
- Everyone, as a half circle
Why this shape
A reunion is the one occasion where the whole descendant tree is the point, and that is exactly where an ordinary chart struggles: the branches grow at different rates and the page ends up mostly white space with a thicket in one corner. The family fan gives each branch an angle in proportion to how many people are in it, so a large branch gets the room it needs and a small one does not leave a hole.
Getting it right
Build it from the oldest couple everyone in the room has in common. Names are usually enough; adding birth years as well is what makes people stop and look for themselves. If you are printing one copy for the hall, go large — the point is that a group can stand around it.
Free to build, no account needed to start.
Other occasions
Gift for grandparentsThe whole family including the grandchildren, laid out so no branch looks like an afterthought.
Wedding giftTwo families meeting on one page, set as names rather than boxes.
MemorialOne person at the heart of it, with the generations they came from drawn around them.
Anniversary giftThe family a couple built, set as a printed register rather than a diagram.