Block parties?

[Liberty Belle]

The last street we lived on had block parties a lot. I loved it, but thought it was unusual. We moved to this subdivision a couple of months ago and there was a flyer in our door yesterday, telling about a block party next weekend. I'm happy and I think it will be a lot of fun, but I was surprised. Are block parties really that prevelant? I don't remember ever having one growing up, or in my twenties.

Does your street/neighborhood have block parties? If so, what do you do during them? On our last street we had a chili cook off (I won! ), went to horse races together, went to a baseball game together, had a few cookouts with games. This one says there will be hamburgers and hotdogs and we're supposed to bring a dessert.

 

[aprilgail2]

We have a DJ, bouncy thing, a few other inflatables, tye dying, a square dance caller for the older folks- usually runs about 120.00 per house.

 

[Tinijocaro]

We have one every year. Bounce house for the kids that all families with kids chip in on. Everyone brings a dish to pass. We all supply our own meats and drinks. Several grills get brought into the street. we also have karaoke with a huge sound system courtesy of dh.

We mostly eat, drink, and be merry. Our neighbors used to do beer pong out in the street in front of the kids which I thought was a horrible example for the kids so I asked them to move it out of the way down someone's driveway. Don't care if they liked it-I had a post on here a couple years back and although many agreed with me, many didn't. Oh well!

 

[koolaidmoms]

I live in a city and we started holding Block Parties 5 years ago. We wanted to bring back the old small town everyone knows everyone else on the street mentality. It has helped our area quite a bit in that if something fishy is going on many no longer hesitate to "do the right thing" for fear of retaliation because they know that there are 100+ households that will back them up!

We roast hot dogs and hamburgers and the residents provide the sides. We have a sundae bar for dessert. The kids play in a bounce house and sprinklers, ride their bikes in the road (a huge no-no here) and play ball. The adults sit and talk and occassionally play cards or jarts.

We also do things during the year like a Christmas decorating contest for the houses on the street, a caroling party, dinner out at a local place and a garden plant exchange. I love my neighborhood!

 

[mamamary]

Last time I had a block party was when I lived in Brooklyn, Ny. It must have been when I was about 10 or so. Everyone would bbq in front of their house, decorate, and every year the committee would hire an activity. One year you could rent bikes, they had a huge trampoline come, one year they even brought a swimming pool in. My parents still live there and although the block closes maybe once a summer it's not like it used to be.

I currently live in a subdivision and I've been here 14 years and no block party.

 

[monkey68]

Just wondering, do you have to pay for these things? What if a family doesn't want to pay? I understand not letting them attend the party, but you can't tell them they can't be on their own block, can you? And then how would you know who payed or not? Of course, if it's a free event for the people, it doesn't matter anyway.

Do you have to bring anything to block parties? Food or something? Again, do you force people to do that? Or is it just something that's "highly suggested"?

I've never been to a block party, my blocks don't have htem. But I"ve heard of them, and I just don't understand how it works.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Last time I had a block party was when I lived in Brooklyn, Ny. It must have been when I was about 10 or so. Everyone would bbq in front of their house, decorate, and every year the committee would hire an activity. One year you could rent bikes, they had a huge trampoline come, one year they even brought a swimming pool in. My parents still live there and although the block closes maybe once a summer it's not like it used to be.

I currently live in a subdivision and I've been here 14 years and no block party.

I'm sure you've heard this before, but until I looked more closely at your name, I thought it was "mammary."

 

[Liberty Belle]

Just wondering, do you have to pay for these things? What if a family doesn't want to pay? I understand not letting them attend the party, but you can't tell them they can't be on their own block, can you? And then how would you know who payed or not? Of course, if it's a free event for the people, it doesn't matter anyway.

Do you have to bring anything to block parties? Food or something? Again, do you force people to do that? Or is it just something that's "highly suggested"?

I've never been to a block party, my blocks don't have htem. But I"ve heard of them, and I just don't understand how it works.

On my old street, people either participated or they didn't. We did have a few people who stopped in, even though they didn't bring anything, and everyone was fine with it. We were really like a big family.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

We have one or two block parties every year. They are a great way to establish and reinforce relationships within the community. Our neighborhood has about 65 houses and typically about half show up for any given block party.

There is no charge for the parties. We usually take up some funds to buy the meat for grilling and everyone brings side dishes and deserts. My wife usually organizes a ton of kids games - water balloon tosses, tug-of-war, and stuff like that. The adults mostly sit around and chat. There are usually a few margarita drinkers, but no one gets sloshed.

If you want to see what they look like, I have several video slideshows here.

 

[cristit14]

We have one for the 4TH of July every year. We all bring a dish to share and do our own meat. We have water balloon fights and squirt guns and the adults just hang out and chat. I think we had some hula hooping going on this year.
It was a blast!!

 

[Micca]

Never heard of paying for a block party. One thing we used to do was a bicycle/tricycle parade where the kids all decorated their vehicles. The kids loved it. People who wanted to particpate brought their grills out into the street in front of their houses and grilled out. People could share, or just cook for themselves, no biggie.