The Gathering in the Driveway

I just talked with a friend of mine who moved into a suburban civilian community in the US.  It reminds me of how long I have been out of the country.  It also reminds me of what I did, when I moved into my last US suburb....as I sat and listened to her talking about her non-friendly neighbors.  This is what I told her to do and what worked for us.

Since we had nice weather when we moved....thanks to those summer rotation cycles...within weeks of unpacking my boxes....I made up a little flyer and got my little secret squirrel plan up and running.

The flyer was really simple.

I picked a Sunday afternoon and invited everyone to my driveway.  I told them to bring their chairs and a dish to share.  I told them a grill would be on-hand, and that I would provide the flatware, plates, napkins and jugs of lemonade and water.

Since I put the flyers out a week before, in everyone's screendoor, I kept my fingers crossed and waited.  I didn't put a phone number on the flyer...just an address.

Sunday morning came...we started dragging out our tables, and some chairs, set up a canopy for some shade, got the tunes going, poured us some drinks....and waited.  We didn't wait long....one by one, the neighbors came....a few stopped as they were driving back from wherever they had been (after seeing people sitting around) and said they'd be right back.  Pretty soon we had about 60 people laughing and eating in our driveway and kids running around on the front lawn.  We even had people who had been neighbors for years, and this was the first social event, other than HOA-business, that they attended together.

It was such a success, that we did it all summer long and continued it into the next summer.  I sure miss them and these lawn parties....later, especially for Halloween, we graduated to movies being projected onto the garage door and a few backyard events.  I honestly think it takes one spark to get something started, and a low-stress party such as this...in the front, where everyone can see, is the best way to get things going.  It was great!

I'm hoping my friend will give it a try.  Is there anything you do in your neighborhood to bring neighbors together?