IDEAS – reasons to hold one
Street parties are not just for national events.
Here are some other reasons and times to hold one.
An elder’s birthday
A street party was held to celebrate the 90th birthday of their eldest resident. He said it was the best day of his life.
Summer Tea Party street meet on a green or on the pavement
Christmas
Usual things of father xmas, a tree with presents and mulled wine etc. Or for a lights display.
Pancake Day
Diwali
Halloween
5 street parties a year
One street has 5 street parties a year. Being a cul de sac, they just close off the road for May, twice in summer, Halloween and New Year.
On a Car Free Day
2 streets in the North Laine area of Brighton had street parties in 2007 as part of national Car Free Day 22 Sept. Encouraged by their council, they built on years of experience of street parties since 1976.
IDEAS – Things to do
See our main Guide about basics for planning your event.
Below are extra ideas:
World map
You can buy a map of the World or UK for about £5 from large stationers and everyone and stick a pin in where they are from.
One street had people from so many backgrounds that they were hanging about in separate groups and so a map activity brought them together. They made a map of the world with coloured gravel and the kids chalked in the ocean blue. At dusk residents were asked to put a candle on the country where they or their house originally came from. The whole world was covered – it is amazing to see where everyone comes from.
Street Quiz
Use our template from this page to make a quiz about your street.
Photo album
In 2000 one resident took a photo of everyone outside their own house. She made copies of all the photos in an album for each house as a record for the millennium.
Twinning and bunting
Freedom Street in Sheffield created bunting with photos of residents faces printed on it. They also twinned with street parties in Melbourne, Australia and a town in Guatemala.
An organiser’s story
One street party organiser in London explains his nervous start to planning a street party, and how the generosity of his neighbours made it all turn out well on the day. Open this Residents Story.pdf
IDEAS – After a street party
With the great neighbourly feeling your street party has created you can support:
Children’s Play
Help children to play together now that they have got to know each other at the street party. Kids are the glue that can bring everyone together – See our street play page here.
Window Wanderland dressing your windows
Bring out your street and neighbourhood together by creating magical window displays to enjoy when wandering around your streets. In dark winter evenings or anytime this is a a great format for anyone to join in. This group provides the whole platform with lots of ideas.
See their wanderful short video here.
Age Friendly Streets
All ages can mix well in your street, and many older people have time and experience to make your street a good community to live in. For ideas see our Age Friendly Streets Guide here.
Share a Car with your Neighbour or Friend
Free up some street space and save on having a car by sharing use of a car with a neighbour or a friend nearby. Basically, one owns the car and the other is on their insurance. There are lots of ways of organising this – see examples and our guide here.
Street parties to community festival
One street had such a successful street party that all the surrounding streets wanted to join in. The event the following year resulted in all the streets being combined into an public community festival. (This requires much more organisation than a normal small street party.) A key focus was kids entertainment.
