The Right Way to Plan Your Neighborhood Block Party
A part of forming a tightly-knit neighborhood and community, is holding events where everyone in the neighborhood can come together, have fun, and get to know one another. The most temperate months of summer and holidays from school and work provide the perfect opportunity to plan an event that will have your neighbors talking about the charm and friendliness of their side of town. A block party is the ideal form of gathering for good food, enjoyable music, and mingling with new friends whom you might not otherwise have the opportunity to meet. Although taking it upon yourself to plan a block party can seem like an intimidating undertaking, once you have the steps clearly outlined, you can simply run down the checklist. You will soon be enjoying a successful party that brings family and friends together for an evening that is like no other.
Practical Matters
The first thing to realize about organizing a block party, is that the planning can get pretty involving if you let it. You can make it much easier on yourself by considering organizing a committee. You can gather a core group of people from the neighborhood and delegate tasks so that no one feels overwhelmed by the responsibility. Hand out jobs based on people’s strengths. At this point you should also have a way of financing the party in mind. You can either pay for the event out of pocket, accept donations, or plan some sort of bake sale or yard sale prior to the event in order to raise funds.
Party Plans
The primary reason that people fail in planning events of this magnitude, is that they do not give themselves enough time to get everything done. Give yourself at least four to six weeks to get everything organized. This time will be needed to acquire any necessary permits, locate music groups if necessary, prepare food, and get the word out to the people you want in attendance. Once people are at the party, you want them to stay there. Get creative with the activities that you offer. The wider the spectrum the better. You can consider everything from inflatable playgrounds to bringing in portable hot tubs for watching a movie on a portable screen.
End of the Night
It is important to keep the whole thing legal so that all your effort does not go to waste should the city be forced to shutdown the event early. If you must block off streets, then most cities require at least 20 days notice to make the proper arrangements. You should also be courteous to neighbors who are not especially fond of the noise and ruckus that comes with a large party. Additionally, plan to have the event shut down early enough so that noise violations or curfews do not become a concern.
Follow these block party steps, pull off a great event, and you’ll be the most popular host and friend in the neighborhood in no time.
