Have you been looking for a way to get more involved in your community? Interested in getting to know the people that live on your block, but just don’t know how? Nothing activates the community and brings neighbors together like a good old fashion block party.
Whether you’ve just moved in on the street, or you’ve lived in the neighborhood for years; a block party is a great way to spend a fun and exciting afternoon getting to know your neighbors. If you enjoy party planning and getting people together for a good time, a block party might be the perfect thing for you.
With just a little planning and preparation, you can throw a block party that everyone will enjoy!
We’ve talked to the experts and researched far and wide to bring you all top pro-tips on how to plan the best block party of the year.
What Are Some of the Benefits of Hosting a Block Party?
Block parties provide a comfortable and enjoyable setting to meet all the neighbors that live nearby. Feeling a sense of trust and safety in the people we live around is essential, and block parties provide an excellent opportunity to build that bond.
When we can trust and work together with our neighbors, there is no limit to the things we can achieve as a community!
How Can I Get Started?
Every successful block party begins with a plan, crafted by an individual or group willing to do what it takes to make it happen. Block party planning may sound like a tall order at first, but we are here to teach you precisely what you need to know to plan a block party with ease.
To get started, you will want to consider how big of a block party you would like to host.
Plan on the Size of Your Block Party
For a first-time block party planner, you may want to start small and scale up as you go. Starting with a manageable plan will allow for more control over the various aspects of block party planning. It will also teach you all the tricks you need to know to grow your block party even bigger and better next year.
You can always work to build up, but it might be challenging to scale things back if plans begin to get too big.
Get Some Feedback from the Neighbors
To understand how big of a block party to plan for, you will want to reach out to the neighbors ahead of time to get a good understanding of how many friends and families will be able to attend. Give yourself one to three months before the big day to begin petitioning feedback from the neighborhood.
Find out if your community has held a block party before and consider if there are any neighborhood protocols or other events to keep in mind.
Try going door to door to meet with some of your neighbors face to face, maybe even for the first time. Talk to them about your plan and get feedback on what they would like to see at the party. Meeting in person will allow for more genuine and neighborly input on what people are interested in seeing.
You could also reach out to your neighbors by phone-call or email, creating a spreadsheet along the way to keep track of everyone who might be interested in assisting or attending.
Who Else Can Help Me with the Party Planning?
As you begin to build your plan, you may realize that you cannot get all the preparation done on your own. It may require more than one set of hands to bring everything into action. As you meet and speak with your neighbors, see if anyone else might be interested in helping with the planning and hosting process.
Building Community by Building Committees
If you have a good deal of community members interested in volunteering, you might want to host a meeting to create sub-committees for different aspects of the party planning. Neighbors and community members can champion specific party planning tasks giving you more room to focus on the big picture.
Delegating and distributing tasks throughout the volunteer group will allow seamless and coordinated block party planning and fun.
Try to Involve Everyone Interested
Nobody likes to be left out. When planning for your block party, decide whether you just want to invite the building, the block, or the whole town. No matter how large you want your block party to be, try to include everyone in the determined scope to ensure that nobody in the neighborhood feels left out of the fun.
Funding the Fun
Neighbors can contribute in a variety of ways. If they do not feel like participating in the planning directly but are still interested in assisting in the fun, you might consider taking donations from the community to fund all of the things that go into making a block party a great time.
How Do I Decide on a Date and Location?
Once you have an idea of what you can expect from your neighbors and an understanding of other community events that might be happening in the neighborhood, you can move forward with picking an event date and location.
Plan for Weather and Unexpected Conditions
Few things are more disappointing than planning a big party that gets rained out; this is also true when hosting a party on a Summer day that gets too hot to enjoy. Check the weather forecast and ask neighbors about which month might work best for them. Plan accordingly and keep a back-up rain out day planned for if all else goes wrong.
Block Parties Don’t Have to Be on the Block
No two block parties are the same. Consider whether you plan to have your block party indoors, in a neighbor’s backyard, or right on the street. If you plan on holding your event on public property such as a street or alleyway, you will most likely need to shut down and block traffic for the day and will require a city permit to do so.
How Do I Petition a Party Permit from the City?
You can contact your local City Councilperson or Alderman for assistance in preparing a petition for your block party. Governmental and civic service offices help the community with various event permit petitions. They may even have additional resources to offer, such as speakers, jumpers, street closure saw-horses, and inflatable movie screens.
For more significant events, permit requests may require a certain number of signatures or approvals from the ylocal community before the city can approve them. Look online to see what your specific municipality requires.
Coordinating Parking Restrictions for the Day
Your local representative’s office will also be able to assist you with parking restrictions, either putting them in place or lifting them for the day. You may not want residents driving around on the street if you plan to put up tents and booths for families and residents to enjoy.
If you plan on hosting the party in a backyard or building, then lifting parking restrictions for attendees on the day may also be a helpful touch. In either case, your local representative’s office can help you take care of the paperwork. Just make sure to contact them ahead of time as specific processes take longer than others.
Reserving a Venue
If you throw your block party on city property, venue reservation is usually taken care of in the city permit process. However, if you plan to host your block party on private property, you will want to get in contact with the owner or location services to reserve a date and time.
In some cases, you may be charged a fee for venue use, but this fee may also include additional services or resources for you to utilize.
Tables and chairs are a necessity, and so are clean restrooms for everyone to use. Determine if these amenities are included or offered by the host site. If they are not, your local representative’s office and or planning committee should also be able to assist you in coordinating these reservations.
Additional Resources
As we briefly mentioned above, certain cities and government offices will have party planning kits prepared for residents interested in throwing block parties or other civic engagement events. Block parties provide elected officials with a chance to get involved with their constituencies; for this reason, they are often more than willing to lend a helping hand in the planning and hosting process.
By getting in contact with these offices ahead of time, you can take advantage of these additional resources. You can add your event to their city calendar to get more advertisement and attendance. You might also get a direct connection to contact lists of businesses and local community organizers that could be interested in benefiting the block party. Block parties only get better with support, and the more help you get, the easier the planning process will be.
How Will I Provide Food and Drinks for the Party?
Block parties bring neighbors together to get to know one another, and what better way to do so than over a hot plate of food! There are many ways you can plan to provide food for all the neighborhood guests. Food provision can be a chance to work with your planning committee to decide how the food will be prepared and provided for the day.
Approaches to Block Party Food Provision
Some methods take more planning and preparation than others, but in the end, it will be important that everyone has enough to eat and drink throughout the day. Here are some ways to provide all the food for your block party:
- Potluck: A potluck set-up maximizes the types of food you can have at your event for the minimum amount of effort. Each family or attendee plans to bring one dish they hold near and dear to their home.This way, everyone at the party gets to taste a bit of someone else’s culture. If you plan on hosting your block party potluck style, work with your planning committee and neighbors to make a list of all the foods that each person plans on bringing. Make sure that each neighbor brings a different portion of the meal so that everyone is not stuck eating potato salad the whole day.
- Catering: An easy solution with a price tag, catering can be a simple answer to the food question. Work with volunteers and committee members to collect donations from the neighborhood.You may even need to pitch a little extra into the pot ahead of time; try putting up a donation bucket next to the beers to compensate your contributions. Catering can provide familiar foods that families with smaller children will appreciate. Make sure to order a few cheese pizzas on the side for some of our smaller pickier eaters.
- BBQ: Block parties and Barbeque go hand in hand like bread and butter. Stock up on burgers and buns or have each block party buddy bring a different cut of beef.You can always throw some pineapple and watermelon on the grill for our vegetarian friends. The smell alone will bring your neighbors to the party in droves. BBQs are perfect for large scale events. Assign one or two of your volunteers to BBQ duty, and keep the burgers coming all day long.
- Picnic: Bring a basket of some of your favorite foods. A picnic is a traditional way for everyone to get what they want. Every neighbor brings a basket of foods that they will enjoy, and they can each eat and share to their heart’s content.A picnic may be the simplest solution to food provision. Just set up some tables and chairs and let the neighbors strike up a conversation over some homemade salads.
- Local Businesses: If you are getting a lot of positive feedback, and think that you will have more attendees then you can feed; you may want to reach out to some of the local businesses to see if they would be interested in providing for the event. Small organizations can donate and or sell goods they would otherwise have in their store or restaurant for a discount block party price.
Taking Care of Refreshments
Cool off and relax with a refreshing drink. Neighbors will need waters and sodas to sip on throughout the block party. Plan with your committee and get feedback from the neighbors on whether you will want to have alcohol at the party or not.
A beer bucket or keg could be a fun addition for block parties with older attendees. If this is something you’d like to have available, contact your local representative to determine if you will need an alcohol permit or not. Consider what the community will be comfortable with and plan accordingly. You want to ensure a safe and fun environment for everyone in attendance.
What Will Everyone Do at the Party?
You want to make sure your block party is full of fun and excitement. Plan to have activities for neighbors of all ages. The whole neighborhood must have exciting options for fun activities to enjoy. Whether you book a band or plan a talent show for all the community’s top performers, make sure you have a few forms of entertainment to keep the good times rolling.
Fun and Games for Families and Children
Ensuring that young families and neighbors with children have something to do is an essential part of block party planning. The more that kids have opportunities to run around and have fun, the more time that parents will have to meet and mingle getting to know one another.
Consider booking a bounce house, face painter, or magician that can come to keep the kids busy for a few hours; that way, parents can play and have fun too.
Bands and Booths for More Fun and Games
The atmosphere is everything for a successful block party. Reach out to your neighbors to see if there are any local bands or performers that would be interested in taking part in the fun. Live music and performers always get the energy up and keep neighbors happy with good vibes for hours.
You can also create carnival-style booth games. Working with your planning committee, you can think of all the classic carnival games you know and love. Decide how you plan to play them, or delegate booth game preparation to a sub-committee.
Promote and Coordinate Local Talent
You might be surprised to find that there are plenty of talented performers that live on your block! Reach out to the community and find out if there is interest in holding a talent show during the block party. Allow amateur performers to showcase their skills and wow you party attendees with the talent they didn’t know lived so close to home. Cover bands and performance artists could even bring a unique and exciting flavor to the entertainment for the day.
Meet and Mingle
Make sure to create plenty of open and inviting space for neighbors to meet and mingle. Set up lunch style tables and create an atmosphere of comfort for everyone to have fun getting to know one another.
How Do I Get the Word Out?
At this point in the planning process, your neighbors have heard from you and have a good idea of what you are planning. Now is the time to begin drumming up interest and attendance for the event. Create a flyer online or work with your community planning committee to draft ideas for a brochure to send out.
Making a Flyer for the Event
You want to create a flyer that is both interesting and concise. Make sure to include all the pertinent details to do with the date, time, and location of the event. Create a fun logo or add a picture relevant to the community to intrigue attendees.
Include information on the kind of food that will be available, the entertainment available, and a request for RSVPs where possible. If you are not familiar with digital mediums, consider drawing up a flyer by hand, or delegating this task to a sub-committee.
Posting Signage
You can choose to go door to door or task some of the younger volunteers with going out into the community to post flyers wherever possible. For larger-scale events, consider getting in contact with the local paper or radio station to advertise the event. Make sure that everyone you want to attend has the information they need to show up!
Creating an RSVP List
Throughout the planning process, you will most likely have been in contact with members of your community. Whether they have been assisting in the planning process or just introduced themselves as a neighbor down the street; you will want to collect a contact list to draw from.
You can get a rough understanding of how many neighbors will attend and what you will need to provide by requesting that neighbors RSVP ahead of time. You can choose to make this a requirement for attendance or just a suggestion on the flyer. In either case, an RSVP headcount will assist you in getting prepared for everything that can happen on the day of.
Getting Commitments from the Neighborhood for Supplies
This will be your last chance to gather any resources or supplies necessary for the block party. Create an extensive checklist of everything you have planned to offer. Go through this list step by step, with your planning committee, if possible, to ensure that every item on the list is accounted for and prepared.
Additional tables and chairs, power generators, trash cans, signage, cups, plates, and napkins are just a few last-minute items to make sure that you have taken care of. If anything is still missing, reach out to the community via the contact list you have created along the way and ask if anyone can commit to bringing these items.
At the end of the day, you can always stop by your local wholesale store and request donations during the block party to split the difference.
What Do I Do on the Big Day?
Take a deep breath! You’re almost there. At this point, all the pieces should be in place for a seamless and successful block party. Take a moment to relish in the accomplishments you’ve made so far, and smile, knowing you are about to have a great block party with your community.
Coordinating Volunteers and Teams for the Day
Plan to meet with your volunteer group early on the day of, to assign tasks and delegate responsibilities. Create point persons for the various aspects of the event and make sure that everyone has your cell phone number to reach out if anything goes wrong.
Create a meetup location for emergencies and hype up the group reassuring them that it will be a great day of fun and excitement! Take the time to explain how event set-up and breakdown and directly related. Create a protocol for event set-up that will allow for quick and straightforward event breakdown at the end of the day.
Keeping a Finger on the Pulse of the Party
Now that you have done the work necessary to plan and host a block party, give yourself a moment to take it all in. Once the party has begun, allow yourself to walk around the event talking with the neighbors and making sure that everything is running smoothly.
Take some credit for all the hard work that you’ve done and give thanks to the volunteers and committees that also worked hard to make everything happen. Working hand in hand with our neighbors allowed us to make this event happen; we must remember that this is the seed and strength of healthy communities.
Enjoy the Fruits of your Labor
You did it! You successfully planned and hosted a fantastic block party for the entire community to enjoy. Feel proud of yourself and your community volunteers for making it all happen. These events and the time and effort you all put into making them happen will live on forever in your memories. Get to know one another and enjoy some good food and a great time together.
Clean up and Break Down
You have taken care of the tricky part. Now all that’s left is breaking down the event and cleaning up after the party. This must be done thoroughly so that the neighborhood and event venue are both excited and happy about having the event back again next year.
How Do I Make It All Happen Again Next Year?
After weeks and months of dedicated block party planning, you no doubt have hosted a fantastic event. The community is happy and stronger because of it. Take the time to debrief with neighbors and volunteers after the event to understand which aspects can be improved upon or added in next year. Thank volunteers for their hard work and invite them all back to assist again next year.
We hope this information has assisted you in planning the best block party of the year. Pass it along to friends and families that might be interested in working with you again next year. Your community will only continue to grow stronger with every event.