Family Retreat 2026
Happiness in Simple Moments
Happiness in Simple Moments: Family Retreat
Wednesday, July 1 - Sunday, July 5, 2026
Dear Friends,
We joyfully to invite you and your family to join our annual Family Retreat this July. This year’s theme is: Happiness in Simple Moments, which takes place from July 1st to July 5th, 2026. Don’t miss this opportunity to embark on a journey of exploring and discovering happiness found in the simplest things in life, both inside and around us!
This retreat features special activities designed for the entire family, from parents, couples, young adults, teens, tweens, to children. Youth programs will offer wonderful moments to play, learn, and connect with old and new friends in a loving environment, with opportunities to experience and immerse ourselves in nature.
Meanwhile, parents can enjoy the present moment, hone the art of being fully and mindfully present for ourselves as a kind of spiritual self-care, deepen our connections among family members, as well as nurture peace and cultivate love in every mindful breath and mindful step.
Both as a nuclear family, and as a larger spiritual family, let us come together and enjoy sitting meditation, walking meditation, eating meditation–even Ping-Pong Meditation, and Ice Cream Meditation!
Don’t forget Thay’s deep teaching and loving reminder in his calligraphy: Happy Families Will Change The World!
As our cabins and rooms are limited, please register soon!
A Lotus For You,
–Magnolia Grove Monastery Monastics
Some important information that might be helpful:
– Camping (bring your own tent/camper van): $ 240.00
– Commuter (staying in nearby accommodation): $ 240.00
– Bed in shared room (dorm/cabin): $ 400.00
Please note that cabins are reserved for families and couples, based on “requested roommates.” All families/parents with children will be placed in cabins, if available – if not, they will be waitlisted. Other options are camping or commuter; or staying in the men’s/women’s dorms (if no cabin becomes available), which may mean splitting the group up. If waitlisted, we will follow up about these options – and/or you may include your preference in the notes section.
A 20% discount for seniors (over 64) and young adults (under 27) is automatically included when you register. For students who require financial assistance, please mention this in the Notes section at the bottom of the registration form. For anyone else who requires financial assistance, please contact our office.
The retreat opens on July 1st with onsite arrival between 2 and 5 pm CT, and the retreat ends on July 5th after lunch.
There will be morning meditations, mindful meals, walking meditation, Dharma teachings, chanting, singing, group sharing, mindful services, Five Mindfulness Trainings transmission, and Noble Silence for certain hours.
Please note the Family Retreat is particularly welcoming of families of all sizes. With many children, tweens, and teens attending, it is a very joyous occasion which is quite different from a silent retreat or personal retreat with less retreatants. Instead of viewing this retreat as being too “loud and noisy,” compared to other retreats, we can be pleasantly surprised at how “musical,” and age-inclusive this joyful retreat is!
Why these suggested age groups?
- By the end of the Holiday Retreat last year, there were a total of seven 12 year olds who had gradually trickled in each day and joined the Teens’ Program due to various reasons: they were turning 13 soon or their friends or siblings were in the Teens’ group. This tipped our scale of 31 teens to 38 and greatly affected the group dynamics.
- Many 13 year olds voiced that they wanted their own group and skipped the Teens’ program to hang out with each other without informing neither their parents nor our Teen Program Leaders.
- Please be advised that this suggested age group is subject to change, depending on the actual numbers of youth who show up at the retreat, since we do not want any one youth group to be overwhelmed.
- No matter what age group your youth is in, we sincerely request that there be no changes–even if their friend or sibling is in the other group–as we need to ensure no one group is too big and unbalanced if our youth programs are to be sustainable. Let’s encourage and empower our youth to believe in themselves–they will manage well and be able to make new friends!
To ensure a happy and fun experience for everyone, including the monastics and Volunteers, we ask for your support and understanding by honoring our new guidelines below.
New Guidelines for all 3 Youth Programs:
1. Full Attendance:
Please arrange to arrive before our Orientation on Arrival Day and Depart on Departure Day.
Please, do not underestimate the first day or safely assume that it’s ok to skip because you’ve been here many times over the years. Late arrivals always disrupt the group energy, bonding, and adherence to guidelines.
After the first night, our youth who arrived timely already knew the guidelines and made new friends. Late comers often found it difficult to make new friends, felt disconnected, only veered towards old friends and disregarded Guidelines.
Although juggling schedules can be tough, please truly reflect on whether this retreat is a high priority for you or not. If it must come to making a hard decision to wait for another retreat, to be truly present for the entire retreat, please consider it out of love for everyone involved. Your True Presence is a True Present.
- If any child/tween/teen decides to not join our Youth Programs, even for 1 session, we request that they notify you, and then for you to inform us–in this way all adults involved know where they are. (Last retreat we had some youth who were still missing even after the sun set. They skipped the Teens’ Program so we assumed they were with their parents but that wasn’t the case so we ask for your understanding and support in order to ensure safety and avoid unnecessary worry.) If they are absent without any parents/guardian notifying us, we understand that they have automatically chosen to join you in the Adults’ Schedule and will regrettably be unable to continue with the Youth Programs. We would like to encourage our youth to communicate with respect rather than showing up and disappearing as they pleased which really disrupted our last Holiday Retreat.
- If there is any emergency where you have to depart early, please let us know so we aren’t wondering what went wrong and if everything is okay.
It’s also normal for 16-17 year olds to prefer the Adults’ Schedule–we appreciate being informed so we aren’t wondering where our youth are disappearing to. - If any child/tween/teen feels unhappy in the Youth Programs, behaves disrespectfully, or bullies other youth, we will need to discuss with you alternative options for them: either that they join you with the Adults’ Schedule or that you accompany them in our Youth Programs.
2. Parents are asked to ensure their 0-5 year olds are accompanied by an adult, especially given previous instances of children becoming distressed once they realized their parent/guardian left. Even if they have an older sibling in the program–once a toddler or baby cries, it affects the group energy and we are unable to then search for you with a group of 10-15 other children already in our care.
3. Youth Leaders will only oversee participants during designated hours mentioned on respective Youth Program Schedules given on Orientation night; outside this, all youth must remain in parental care. Especially after the last evening activity of the day, latest 9pm: Please don’t leave your youth playing Ping Pong in the dining hall late into the night–there is no supervision as this counts as after hours.
We are deeply grateful for your understanding and support. Together, let us as a team, alongside monastics and Volunteers, offer our best to provide a wholesome environment for our all youth attendees. Your cooperation and trust helps us better guide our growing youth with love and care. We are doing our best but we need your help and support to be a team!
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being part of this exciting adventure of spiritual growth and wonder with us!
All meals will be vegan. Please be sure to let us know in the Notes section if you have certain food allergies when you register.
(You may like to pack any additional dry food items in the event we are unable to accommodate specific diets and allergies.)
Wake up
Morning Sitting Meditation; Sutra reading / Touching of the Earth
Walking Meditation
Breakfast
Mindful Service
Dharma Talk
Lunch
Deep Relaxation
Dharma Sharing
Personal Time
Dinner
Evening Sitting Meditation / Presentation
Noble Silence
As this is one of our most busiest retreats of the year, we kindly ask that Volunteers are already well experienced; ideally having joined at least two of our retreats here at Magnolia Grove Monastery so that you are already familiar with our rhythm, know where things are, and can lead a group in service meditation or assist monastics in specific areas, like the youth programs. Being a Volunteer means you may miss on some activities like the dharma talk or dharma sharings with adults, especially if you are a Volunteer assisting in youth programs which is more difficult to embrace if it’s your first retreat.
Offer funds to support Magnolia Grove Monastery
Donations are processed on our behalf through the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation.