Organising Street Parties

April 20, 2011 | Category: Family

I’m a great believer in community spirit and back in the UK I enjoyed nothing more than organising regular neighbourly get togethers including annual massive street parties. I would love to tell you that these were a vintage style affair but I’m afraid getting non vintage people to participate with such glamour is a task not worth embarking on for an ordinary celebration. However, there’s always a touch of vintage spirit in any British Street Party.

With the forthcoming Royal Wedding I know that many of you are contemplating or perhaps already organising a street party to join in the celebrations. Unfortunately this year I’m not in a position to do this as I am yet to know many of my neighbours, although I am working on this!

I thought it might be helpful to pass on some of my street party organising wisdom to those of you who are novice to such things.

Here are my top tips for a great street party:

Keep it simple!! It is enough that you are arranging for everyone to get together and enjoy this momentous occasion. Don’t try and go overboard and ruin your own day as a result of too much stress – keep it simple.

Get a quote for a Bouncy Castle/Bouncy House for the day to be placed on the street. For a nominal cost all of the kids will be entertained ALL day which makes for happy adults! A bargain and an absolute must at a street party in my opinion.
Put a note through each neighbour’s door inviting them to the celebration and asking them to confirm if they are happy to contribute to the cost of the bouncy. Keep to your street only. You can spread the word that adjoining streets are welcome to join in but they must collaborate with their own organiser put forward to liaise with their street. If you try and arrange a street party for more than your street you will end up overwhelmed.
Book a Bouncy Castle/Bouncy House.
Ask each house to set up their garden furniture or whatever chairs/tables they have outside at a given time (the wedding starts at 11am so I would say 9am). Set them in a row or if you’re a small street in a circle.
See if you have any musicians on the street or disco equipment. We were lucky on our street and had a band resident (well, actually a few bands but only one ever played). It’s surprising what people will contribute in terms of entertainment if you ask.
Ask each family to contribute a side dish/dessert to a main table which is then shared with all. American’s call this Pot Luck. On our street we used to all set up our BBQ’s/Grills and grill our meat and take from the share table for everything else. Everyone should supply their own drink, although as the party gets going this quickly gets shared around.Everyone should provide their own plates, cups, cutlery etc
Given it’s the Royal Wedding you may want to ask everyone to help with some decorations, bunting, flags etc. Again, keep this simple. It’s enough that you will all be together celebrating. You won’t give two hoots about decorations once the celebrations get into full swing. Perhaps put together a small kitty and buy some flags for the kids to wave around but that will be enough.
Be sure to outsource any general tasks to other neighbours, don’t take on all of the responsibility and all of the work yourself, people are often willing to help if you ask them specifically and explain what is expected, why and when .
If you live on a street with public traffic access you will need to speak to your local council with regards a permit to shut the street down for the day. If you live on a Cul de Sac you will be fine, just ensure there is enough room for emergency services to get to you easily if an emergency arise. It’s best to check with your local council regarding permits for road closure and music regardless to make sure you’ve covered all bases.

Added Extras:

One of our neighours always bought packets of glow sticks which are super cheap on Amazon, to hand to the kids once it got dark. It never failed to impress the children.
We used to provide marshmallows to be roasted on the BBQ’s – again, the kids love doing this.
Often times we would put £’s towards getting the kids little goody bags of sweets. Just sweets, not full on party bags. A traditional paper bag with a few penny chews was enough. Party bags are far too much work for a street party.
Get one of the adults to do some face painting. It’s easy, you just need a set of paints and a book (available on Amazon). I used to do this and I’m a complete novice yet the kids were happy.
We used to collect gazebos to cover the share tables and the men of the street would spend the morning putting them up. Worth the effort to cover the share food and to offer shade/shelter if neccesary during the party. No one wants the weather to spoil things.
Ask everyone to take photographs to record the occasion

That’s it. Seriously, it’s really not hard if you KEEP IT SIMPLE. Unfortunately no one is going to give you an award for doing this however you just might get a few comments of thanks and a lot of self satisfaction and joy in seeing everyone happy and enjoying themselves together. Just make sure you enjoy it to!

Let me know how you get on if you’re organising a party. I hope my tips help.

Lottie -x-

All Photographs taken at our street parties over the last few years

3 Comments

The Running TinkerBell
on April 20th, 2011
1
i have to add two things: You actually need to talk to the county council about closing the street (even if it is a culde-sac…been there, doen that this year) and you need to have a temporary events notice to play music – if it is background, then you don’t need one but bands are a definate yes. you can get one formt he local council, as long as you give them TEN clear WORKING days. it costs you £21. if you don not have one and someone complains about the noise, you could be liable for procecution.
Organising Street Parties | Pop up Gazebos and Instant Shelters
on April 27th, 2011
2
[...] posted here: Organising Street Parties « Gazebos [...]
Livi
on May 1st, 2011
3
Oh I wish I lived near you!