Unite Your Neighborhood with a Block Party!

Block parties are made for the great outdoors. Here are some tips for making these as smooth—and as fun!—as possible.

By Maureen Costello

Late summer for Maria Tinglof brings warmhearted memories of neck-and-neck sack races, plump hotdogs grilled on a neighbor’s barbecue and a glorious day set aside for nothing but hours of fun with the neighbors.

“We had great block parties,” recalls Tinglof, 40, now the mother of two young sons. “We’d block off the street, have races with the other kids in the neighborhood. There’d be grills set up in people’s yards with hamburgers and hotdogs. It was a blast.”

Today’s neighborhoods aren’t as naturally close-knit as the ones of Tinglof’s youth. More families have both parents in the workforce, children are busy with after-school and weekend activities, and people are just busier and less available to their neighbors than in the past.

But the tradition of neighborhood block parties still lives on, albeit the product of legwork by some enthusiastic neighbors who really want to get to know each other better and build a greater sense of community. If the idea of organizing a block party appeals to you, here are some tips to making it a success. Remember, you can’t do this all on your own. Recruit your neighbors – you’ll be surprised at how willing some might be to start this long-beloved tradition anew: