This past Sunday was our neighborhood's 1st Annual (if I haven't anything to say about it) Halloween Block Party. I organized a summer block party for our neighborhood this past August and it was such a success that I thought "let's do it again for Halloween!". So we did! If you're curious here's my post of our summer block party here:
http://kurtzefamilyadventures.blogspot.com/2012/08/azevedo-pkwys-1st-annual-block-party.html
To be honest, I was a little worried the day of. Nobody thought that the SF Giants would 1. be in the World Series and 2. This ended up being the winning game! We live in the SF Bay Area and this is SF Giants country (well, unless your an Oakland A's fan). So I had images of the party being pretty much deserted by about 5:30. But I didn't have anything to worry about. There were tons of people and it was an absolute blast. Everyone kept asking me "How did you do it?" and "Can we have one for Christmas?" (Answer: probably not...I'm worried about weather and everyone is so busy around the holidays. But I'm thinking of one in the spring!) but I thought I would write down the process of how to plan a block party. It is really easy! It's not rocket science, just takes some commitment and time to plan. Note: These are instructions on how to plan a block party in the San Jose, CA area. Your area might be different but most likely the general suggestions will be the same or similar.
1. Determine if your street would permit a block party. If you live on a busy intersection, the police might not let you close it. If that is the case, maybe you can work with a neighbor who lives on a more quiet street. In this example I'm assuming you are trying to have a block party on your own street.
2. Print out the permit forms from your police department. In San Jose the forms are here:
http://www.sjpd.org/PDF_Forms/BlkPartyInst-App.pdf
3. Next, where you want to have the block party, you MUST get the signature from someone who lives in a house that would be affected by the block party.
4. Once you have gotten everyone's signature and necessary information, bring your signatures to the police department to drop off at their permits unit. In San Jose you must give the permits department at least 15 days to process your paperwork. If you need to pay, bring a check. In San Jose the permit costs $180 (as of 10/30/2012), but if you have another block party at least one time a year, then there's no cost for any additional block parties! And you can have as many block parties as you want, without additional cost for the permit (but you do need to get the signatures for each date you want).
5. Make up flyers and print them out. I found easy to use templates on Microsoft Word that my husband oh-so-nicely helped me format. Others might make them by hand, just make sure they have all the information you need, addresses where the block party will be, date, time, if it's a potluck, anything special (like a bounce house or slip n slide) or anything else that should be on the flyer.
6. I went around door to door and passed out flyers. If someone was home I got to talk to them for a minute or two; if not I stuck the flyer in their door so they would see it when they got home. If you have older kids, like 8 and up it would be a great way for them to get to know the neighborhood by giving them the job of passing out the flyers (at least for part of the time)
7. This isn't necessary, but I made up a yahoogroup that people could join if they wanted more up to date information about the party. I put the information about the yahoo group at the bottom of the flyer and many people have joined. It's been a great way to get out information and also to find volunteers for various jobs needed. For example, I put out a message from the yahoo group and people signed up to drop off the petition, post flyers on mailboxes (we have communal mailboxes), make up big posters that say "No Parking, Block Party" that included the date and time of the block party. The first time around I pretty much did everything myself but with the Halloween Party I found lots of people to volunteer so I didn't have to do everything myself. Also we have a database that people can fill out what they plan on bringing so there's not 15 people bringing chips n dip.
8. Order a bounce house (if there are going to be a lot of kids). I think having a bounce house (or two) is a great idea. The kids love them and there was never a time when they weren't been used! For the summer block party I ordered a bounce house slip n slide (it was less expensive than an inflatable water slide)and for our Halloween party I ordered a regular bounce house and a 3 in (bounce house, climbing area and slide).
9. Starting to wonder how much you have to pay for all of this? I can tell for our block parties, I wrap an empty tissue box, write on it how much all the party cost and if you could contribute a few dollars, that would be very appreciated! Most people are happy to chip in a few dollars and I've always recouped my costs. If money is tight you could try organizing with a few families so you can all spread the initial cost.
10. Ask people to bring folding tables!!! My #1 problem is we don't have enough tables to put all the food on! This is a good problem to have :) And for people to bring camping chairs so they can sit and relax while the kids are going nuts :)
11. Make sure to rent some kind of barriers to keep cars out. I rented 4 A-frame barriers, with flashing lights for when it was dark. I bought caution tape from Home Depot and voila, a traffic barrier. The barriers are like $1-$2 dollars/day to rent so they aren't expensive and many cities require some kind of barrier to show where the road closure is.
12. Put up the posters that say "No Parking due to Block Party" and include the date and times of the party. We had the posters put up the day before and I also stuck flyers on people's windshields and wrote on them "Please move your car for the block party, thank you!!" and we've never had a problem.
13. I offered through the yahoo group if people wanted to drop off their folding tables beforehand so I could set it up, so if you have any folding tables set them up a little bit before the party. Our block parties started at 4 but I closed off the roads at 2, to give us time to set up and also the bounce houses have arrived.
14. Have fun!! And find people to help you clean up and dispose of the trash. I asked people to also bring a trash bag or two that we would duct tape to the end of the tables. That was a great way to contain the mess and we didn't have a lot of litter.
I can't wait to do it again!
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| 3 pirates and a princess at the block party. Arrrrgh me mateys! |
