Organizing a Block Party

Neighborhood parties are not only great ways to get to know your neighbors, or to build a sense of community, they can also be immensely fun. But, how do you go about organizing a block party? Surprisingly, the hardest part isn't organizing the party, but rather getting everyone to come. To organize the best possible block party, simply follow these easy instructions, and you will be able to organize a block party to remember.

1. Ask around. Go around to your immediate neighbors, and see if anyone would be interested in the idea of a block party. You don't need to go around to every single family in your neighborhood, but you should see a good percentage of them. This will enable you to get an idea of how many people would be interested in attending such a party, and give you a rough idea of how many people may come.
2. Get help. A block party is usually a very big affair, and takes a lot of work to pull off properly. In truth, this amount of work is usually more than a single person can pull off by themselves. Think about it, are you going to be able to cook all of the food, run all of the activities, and still have time to have fun yourself? The answer is probably not. Ask some of your neighbors to help plan, and even run the party.
3. Choose a day. Choose a time for your event. Preferably on a Friday night or during the weekend a couple of weeks in the future. This will allow more people to clear their schedules so that they can attend. Another benefit of having the party later on like this is that it will allow you (and those helping you) enough time to get all the materials and supplies that you will need to have the party.
4. Plan activities. While food is always a great draw to things like block parties, it never hurts to have a few activities as well. If you don't have a large budget, then plan some activities such as tug-of-war, potato sack races, water balloon tosses, and so on. Try to plan on activities that will appear to as many age groups as possible. Another idea, if you can afford it, is to rent things like an inflatable bounce, or a water slide, or something similar.
5. Split supply list. If you were able to get other people to help plan and organize the block party, split the supply list with them. This will keep the bill from becoming too onerous for just one family. Some ways that you can split the bill is according to personal preferences, or even simply according to the cost. Use whatever system will work best for your situation.
6. Send out the invitations. Once you have everything planned out, all you need to do now is simply send out the invitations. Congratulations, you have finished organizing your block party, all that is left to do is sit back and have some fun!

Finally, one last thing that you should do before actually have the party. Depending on where you live, some cities have ordinances about unregistered block parties. What this means is that you may need to have a permit to have a traditional block party in your particular neighborhood. The easiest way to find this out is to contact your local police department, and ask. If you do, the permit shouldn't cost very much, and usually doesn't take long to fill out.