<p>I just noticed the date for freshman family weekend is Sept 11-13, 2009. That seems so soon after students start school, do most parents of freshman visit this weekend? I was thinking of going later.</p>
<p>Freshmen will have been at IU at least three week by then, and they probably feel like that is a time by which homesickness will have really set in. Also, the timing has a lot to do with the IU football team’s schedule. They want family weekend to be during a home football game, and against a cupcake team, so that everyone has a good time watching IU win. IU plays Western Michigan on September 12, and doesn’t play at home again until October 3, which would be too long for freshmen not to have seen their parents. And the October 3 game is against Ohio State, which will be a near certain loss for IU.</p>
<p>Last year family weekend was the weekend of the Ball State game, which IU was expecting to win. However, Ball State had their best team in decades, and IU was beaten soundly in front of the parents and everybody.</p>
<p>I went last year and did not think there were that many activities planned. It would be just fine to come on a later weekend and if you are there on a non-home football weekend the hotel bill will be much lower!</p>
<p>Thanks lakeeffect, I definately noticed the difference in hotel rates for football vs. non football weekends, plus I was thinking that maybe by Oct. our daughter might be more excited to see us. Sept 11 just seems so soon after move in. I am leaning toward early Oct. for a visit. Rates are quite high for reshman family weekend and many hotels are fully booked.</p>
<p>How early do you have to book the Union for something like parents weekend?</p>
<p>How early do you need to book the Union for something like parents weekend?</p>
<p>The Union and most local hotels book up many months in advance for football/special events weekends. The best advice is to book as soon as you find out you need to be in Bloomington, whatever the reason. </p>
<p>We were caught in this same bind when my son was a freshman. We were able to get a room 20 minutes up Route 37 in Martinsville at the Holiday Inn Express. It was comfortable and not that far away. Normally, we stay at the Hampton Inn on Walnut.</p>
<p>If our daughter ends up attending IU, I think we’ll wait a little later to fly out from California. We will have just made the round trip a few weeks before when moving her into the dorm. It’s not cheap flying across country. 
That said, I really want to take part in activities like this from time to time. It’s a nice way to stay connected other than email, texting, phone and Skype. REAL hugs are always the best. So, providing she attends IU, we might just have to figure out a way to work a yearly fall flight into our budget. :)</p>
<p>I’m from the Boston area and my family waited to fly out during the regular Parents Weekend in November. Coming three weeks after move-in just seemed a little too soon for such a long distance!</p>
<p>Are there two Parent Weekends? You mentioned the “regular” one.
Wait…I just noticed the other one is Family Weekend.</p>
<p>The one is September is Freshman Family Weekend. The November one is for everyone.</p>
<p>We’ve never done the one in Nov. because I’m a wimp about the cold, or more precisely, about even the possibility of cold. There is nothing I hate more than sitting out at a football game and freezing! Games in September are generally great weatherwise.</p>
<p>Depending on whether or not you are a football family, you might want to pick a weekend in October and avoid some of the crowds associated with either weekend. I don’t think the 2010 football schedule is up yet.</p>
<p>As a California family, we skipped both family weekends. The Freshman family weekend was too close to when we dropped her off, and the November family weekend was too close to Thanksgiving to justify the long flight. Instead my husband ended up visiting her over a weekend in late-October on his way (sort of) to a business trip in NYC. She was desperate for a visit from home at that point and they had a fabulous time. An added bonus was hotel rooms were far cheaper because it wasn’t as crowded.</p>
<p>Anyone know when the schedule is posted for these kind of events?</p>