How To Make Friends with Your Neighbors
Winter Boots
When we moved to our new house I was eager to meet our neighbors and very much hoped that there were some other children on the street similar in age to my own.
We left a wonderful cul-de-sac full of great neighbors at the old house. We still see a few of them somewhat regularly, which is a perk to not moving terribly far away! I’m grateful that we lived at the old house for the time that we did to really be able to see the gift that is having great neighbors.
It took a few weeks but we’ve met a handful of our neighbors, invited them all over to swim on Labor Day, and also ate dinner at one of their homes.
There are more kids than I had even imagined and I’m so glad.
I’ve gotten a few questions from readers and IG followers about how we made friends with our neighbors so quickly. I understand that it can be tough to make friends as an adult, and depending on the community you live in it can also be difficult to simply MEET your neighbors. So here are a few tips to help you meet or engage with your neighbors.
First, be the first to invite to a casual hang out! Most of the time I think people are nervous to be the ones to host due to fear that no one else will show up. Or they aren’t sure what the other family or neighbor likes to do. It really can be a shot in the dark but oftentimes taking the first step of hosting can get the ball rolling on bringing people out of their shell. If you have kids, a safe, low-commitment activity could be as simple as planning something that takes place in your driveway. It could be just inviting a few neighbors over for popsicles or popcorn in order to let the kids play. Have some sidewalk chalk or balls out for the kids, and that should set you up for an easy way to engage with your neighbors. If you don’t have kids, you could invite your neighbors over to play cards, help you finish off a dessert you made too much of (wink wink) or simply for a glass of wine.
Second, offer to help out if they need it. Justin is so good about telling new neighbors that has has a bunch of tools and a riding lawn mower that he is happy to lend out should anyone need it. I usually share that we have two cats and sometimes need cat sitters when we go out of town, and that’d I’d be happy to help them with anything they need if they travel.
Third, invite them over for a meal. This is when you really get to know a person or family. We love doing this and are always grateful when we are invited to another family’s home for a meal. I usually try to make something easy and crowd-pleasing for that first visit. And if they offer to bring something, let them!
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We are going to need a follow up post on what you serve others for dinner. 🙂
Such a good post! When we moved to my neighborhood a few years ago, those we met were friendly, but everyone still kept to themselves for the most part. Two weeks away from my due date with my daughter, I was driving past the house two doors down from us and saw one of those rentable stork cutouts in their lawn announcing the birth of their daughter. I was sooooo excited (having grown up with nobody around me for miles), and now we hang out somewhat regularly (and now that our second respective children are the same age, too, we’ve got them set for prom dates!).
Similar to Justin lending tools and mowers, we have a neighbor who lends out the neighborhood “Christmas light ladder” during the holiday season.
I love how simple you make this!! I tend to think I need to do something more extravagant and have my house in perfect order which means I almost never have anyone over. I need to get over myself and just invest in people! That is the most important thing! 🙂
Wow can I relate! Love your post :-).
I feel like everyone in the neighbourhood where I live needs to read this post! We don’t communicate at all, haha!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Ahh I think I DMed you about this topic! We moved this spring into a new neighborhood with only a handful of houses. Perk: we’re all new! I wrote a note and left it on everyone’s door introducing ourselves and giving them my phone number. Someone else created a group chat with the neighbor’s numbers and we were able to coordinate trick or treating and other things like that. Now we’re getting invited to birthdays! It makes my heart burst to think about my daughter growing up with friends right next door!
Hey, this is a great thing to do. To engage with your neighbors. I love to do so too. Gets a lot of things going between the both of our families too.
Thank you for this post!
Can you share you go to meals please?