Your little cousins will remember who played with them at the reunion, not who had the best outfit.

Children keep a very short list, and it is all about attention. At a family gathering the adults are comparing jobs, cars and how everybody looks, while the small kids are tracking exactly one thing: who got down on the floor and played. That is what they will still know about you in twenty years. Nobody remembers who was dressed well at a reunion.

At the next one, give the youngest people in the room half an hour of real attention: play the game they are obsessed with, let them explain the rules badly, lose on purpose. It costs you a conversation you were not enjoying anyway.