What Is the Neighborhood Coming To? A Party, That's What!!

We happened to move into a pretty wonderful neighborhood, and last night's festivities helped to demonstrate that. We hosted our neighbors at our house for a neighborhood party! People came from both sides of our block, from across the street, and from the blocks to our south and east; it was quite a crowd, and it was wonderful.

Some of the first neighbors we met when we moved here were Chuck, Reba, and their kids. Chuck and Reba used to live in Cheyenne, WY, where they would have block parties occasionally, and they mentioned a while back wanting to host one here. Some weeks later they wondered if Susan and I would volunteer our home for the party, thinking our yard, driveway, and garage were big enough for an outdoor to-do (their plan is to host a winter neighborhood party in their own large, unfinished basement). So one night last week, while I hung out with my sister visiting from OR, Susan joined Chuck and Reba in canvassing the neighborhood, dropping off invitations to the party and encouraging people to attend. (Another neighbor, Ivella, took a stack of invitations to deliver to the other side of the block.)

Who would come? We had no idea. I spent yesterday mowing and watering the lawn, watering the flowers, cleaning the garage, and moving all our furniture from the veranda to the garage. Our next-door neighbors, Leo and Ivella, lent us a card table and chairs to add to our own two tables and sets of chairs and another table and chairs lent by Chuck and Reba. I strung up in the garage several strings of lights with Japanese paper lantern covers, as well as eight large battery-operated Japanese paper lanterns to match. I moved lots of flowers off the veranda and set them up about the garage (we already have numerous pots of flowers set about our driveway), and the girls helped me decorate the driveway with welcome messages and art work using sidewalk chalk.

My tool bench/work area is a set of kitchen cabinets that the previous owners must have moved out of the house during a remodel and installed in the garage, so after I packed up all my tools and moved them temporarily to the storage shed, we had that long expanse of counter top upon which to set all the food (it was BYOB and a snack to share). We provided lemonade and water (in coolers borrowed from Chuck and Reba) and had another cooler of ice for people to store their own beverages. Susan made the lemonade, a couple pans of bars, a platter of raw veggies, and two large batches of baked dips with assorted crackers to start off the snack counter.

I moved the baker's rack off the veranda into the garage with a power strip in case anybody brought food in crock pots. We used that area to house the name tags and sign-in sheet, and Chuck set up a white board on which he had drawn a map of the neighborhood so people could write their names on the house where they live: a visual aid for those wondering where the other guests were coming from.

And come they did! At 7:00 P.M. promptly, people started to arrive, lawn chairs and mini-coolers and plates of food in tow. The map was a great conversation starter, and the name tags were very useful. As it turns out, not only were we getting to know the neighbors who had lived there long before our arrival, but they were getting to know one another depite the fact that many of them had lived in the neighborhood together for many years. All the kids ran from yard to yard, playing tag and hide-and-seek and baseball and keeping themselves occupied. People ate (it turned into a veritable banquet of snacks) and drank and sat in the shade of the garage or the warmth of the setting sun on the driveway and visited and got to know one another.

Once it got dark, one neighbor walked home to get his accordian, and he played a few songs for all of us gathered on chairs on the driveway. He disappeared into the back yard for a while and then returned like a pied piper with all the children following him. They had rehearsed a song, which they then performed for the crowd on the driveway. That inspired another neighbor to walk home and retrieve his guitar, which he then played for us while those who knew the songs sang along. It was like a campfire minus the marshmallows and fire (note to self: buy fire pit for next summer).

We heard so many words of thanks for hosting the event; people were thankful for the opportunity to socialize with those amongst whom they live, to put names to familiar faces, and to have a good time without having to go far. They're all looking forward to gathering again, and Chuck and Reba are already planning for the Christmas party at their house. By midnight, the crowd had dispersed, so while Susan tended to food storage and cleanup, I cleaned up the garage and put everything back in its place (so I could shut the garage doors for the night). Our girls went home with the next-door neighbors to have a slumber party with their youngest daughter, so Susan and I took advantage of the solitude and the serene and breezy night to go for a walk around 1:00 A.M.! What a great night.

Some of the food set up on the counter in the garage. (The sheet is tacked up to cover the otherwise unsightly display of paint cans, etc.)

The new Japanese paper lantern lights with the garage light on . . .

. . . and off (much prettier).

Jim and his guitar

Rick and his accordian

Rick and the kids rehearsing in the back yard

Rick accompanying the kids for their performance on the driveway