Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

I went to one last night and had a really good time and thought maybe it would be a good idea for the neighbors to get together and socialize just a bit.

I really dont know if any of them would be interested but I wanted to see how involved it was first before volunteering to do this.

Besides the permit application and the signinitures of everyone on the block is there really anything else involved.

I know about hiring a dj, and maybe some toys for kids but any other town related things??

Any ideas would be greatly appericated.

TIA

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

You can get an ice cream man to come by & pay him off. My mom's block has the fire department bring a truck by.

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

We were renting a Water Slide for 3 years and this year all of my neighbors chipped in and now We all own it
I love the Ice Cream Man idea

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

My sister does it and she gets all the people on the block, who want to, contribute a certain amount. They get a dj, popcorn machines, ice cream, bouncy bus, glow sticks, cotton candy. It's a nice day.
FM me if you want to know the dj they use as they get everything from them.

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

I helped out one year when I lived with my mom. You have to collect money from everyone... I guess if it is the first one it may be hard to estimate how uch to collect. Our block had soooo much fun stuff that everyone chipped in for. We had a DJ come later in the day. During the day we had rides for the kids (The swinging pirate ship, a bouncy thing), ice cream, cotton candy. One year we had a petting zoo and pony rides for the kids.
We also had contests assigned to each persons house each hour. My mom usually had the Hula Hoop contest at her house. Some others were egg toss, dress a mummy (with toilet paper). One house had a pinata. This really got people to interact with all the neighbors rather than just staying on their own property. All the supplies and prizes were paid for by the money collected.
There was also a couple of raffles.

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

We have one every year and it's great. My neighbor organizes it. I think besides the town permit, you have to get a % of people on the block to sign before you even get the permit. We pay $125 and that usually covers the dj, a bounce house, a dunk booth and tips for the people and I think some games.

I think this year at our house, I'm going to do horse races. You use 6 kids and roll dice and they move up according to the dice. I'm not sure how to divide the money but I went to a party once and it was alot of fun.

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

We haven;t had one in a long time, but they would collect $25 for every family (this is queens, so there are a LOT of families on the block). We'd have an ice cream truck giving out ice cream, a DJ at night, a bounce house, sometimes ices, etc. Most of it was really just everyone hajd tables out and toys and kiddie pools and people making their own fun, but we enjoyed it

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

i wish my block would have one. i have a lot of fun when i go to one

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

Thanks for your help. We went to one the other night and had a blast and it happens that my block is divided up in 3 sections so the middle of the block has had one the last two years and my end was never invited so figured maybe I can plan one. Since I have soooo much free time.

I really liked the idea of different events and different houses I have never seen that before pretty cool.

Thanks again

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

So dont you need ALL houses to sign of in order to close down a street ? And my block has a mix of children and retired couples/empty nest houses, what would we do in this case?
Id love to plan one also, but dont know if the retired couples would want to spend X amount if they dont have kids who will be involved, it almost seems unfair to ask them for money...
can they sign to agree to it, but not have to give money?

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

I ran ours last year. We had a DJ, Clown during the day and scavenger hunt.

First we (me and a neighbor) sent around a letter asking if people would be willing to sign the petition for the block party (we needed everyone to sign the petition and agree to the block party even if they didn't want to be a part of it), then if they wanted to partake in the block party, if they were willing to spend money for the block party and weekends they were available in the summer.

We got just about 75% responses so we went around with a petition (about three times) and everyone signed off on it.

Then we collected $75 per house (who wanted to partake in the block party, but had no kids and $110 with kids). The money collection was the biggest pain because you have those people who don't send in the money till literally the morning of.

Then i put the deposits down for the DJ and clown. We ordered ribbons and prizes for the relay races held that day and scavenger hunt winners.

Honestly, we had a great time, but don't expect too much from people other then giving you money. My neighbor and I did most of everything and very few people offered to do much. Also, we ordered too few first prizes for the scavenger hunt and some mothers were downright nasty to us (they didn't even live on the block) about their kids not gettng a 50 cent prize)

The scavenger hunt turned out to be very good. It kept the kids occupied for two hours and gave the adults some much needed rest. And everyone loved the relay races but they were hard to put together.

FM me if you need any ideas.

Message edited 7/4/2006 10:31:48 AM.

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

Re: Does Anyone know anything about running a block party??

we're having one in Aug. You need to first get a permit from the town and you need to get signatures from all the neighbors on the block to approve. Most of the time they collect $$ for a DJ and stuff, but one of my neighbors is a DJ so he's going to be doing it for free.