Creating a Community Spirit in the Burbs

Like many young adults, I remember growing up in a neighborhood full of kids where after school we would play hide-and-go-seek, ride bikes, and go swimming at the 1 house who had a pool. This fun continued on holidays..where on the 4th of July we would have a block party with bike race contests, there would be progressive Christmas parties, and on New Year's Eve, we would all meet in the street banging our pots and pans as we brought in the New Year.

So, when I purchased my first house in the "burbs", I wanted to help create that same environment for my son, and as it turned out, it was for me too. Now after 2 years of living in our new house, we have created an environment where the kids look forward to seeing eachother each evening and the parents look forward to sharing a bottle of wine.

Here are some tactics we used:

Event: Friday Night Happy Hours:

What to do: Invite your neighbors over for a glass of wine and if you feel really ambitious some light appetizers. Be sure to have snacks for kids too!

What ours became: Because of the chilly winters in our area, this is primarily a summer activity and just about every Friday night during our first summer we had someone hosting happy hour. At first they lasted a couple hours and then the norm became midnight. Everyone looked forward to catching up and an easy night out requiring no driving or packing kids stuff hassles.

Happy Hour Essentials: Wine & Beer, heavy snacks &/or light meal like BBQ hamburgers, chicken satays, chili, desserts, etc. Chairs, a cooler for people to help themselves to drinks, and a serving table are helpful. Host provides all food & drink to allow neighbors to just walk over without worrying about what to bring - don't worry it will be their time next. :)

Event: Holiday Progressive Party

What to do: Arrange for each neighbor to host a holiday cocktail and special appetizer at their house. As a group, you walk from house to house enjoying the treats and company.

What ours became: Neighbors outdoing eachother on creative ideas for drinks, tasty samplers of food, holiday decorating house tours, lots of laughing, and lasted until 2am!

Progressive Party Essentials: Participation!

Event: Halloween Decoration Central

What to do: Encourage other houses on your street to decorate their houses for Halloween, brainstorm ideas together as a group, and before you know it your street is the one where all the kids come and their is community excitement in anticipation for the unveiling!

What our became: 5 houses on our street have signed up to be on the neighborhood "map" which is distributed each Halloween as a sign for parents to know which houses might host something special or kid friendly. We get together and share ideas on decoration secrets through a wine sponsored planning event and on the 31st we help eachother decorate and run around pouring Gluewien (mulled wine)...ok so maybe the last part will be something I start this year. :)

Event: Walking or jogging together

What to do: Invite a neighbor to go to the park together or on a walk together. Its a great way to get to know eachother on a 1:1 basis

What ours became: While I was on maternity leave, 4 other moms were as well and as a group or just 1:1, we relished in our 90 minute walks together. Now, 2 of us still go every Friday for a morning run and visit ot the park with the kids...granted these runs aren't quite as long anymore since the kids tolerance for sitting has significantly gone down.

Walking Essentials: Tennis shoes and the gift of gab or the ability to listen helps.

These are just a few we have used. I welcome to hear your suggestions and wish you luck in your pursuit of the community spirit.