How Do I Meet the Neighbours?

It’s been about four weeks since we’ve moved. It’s been a hectic month. Right after we moved we had our son’s birthday party, then we went away for a trip, there have been field trips, events and the list of excuses go on.

Meet the nighbours - feature

I find myself in the same predicament I was less than two years ago. In our old place, I let so much time go by with the fantasy that the neighbours  would come by with cookies or to welcome us. But I know this isn’t a movie  so that never happened and we never really got to know too many people.

I don’t want that to happen again in our new place. I want to make sure to meet the people living beside us and hopefully have a good relationship with them. Having friendly neighbours can be amazing! I know this because in Winnipeg we made amazing friends with so many people in our building. We could go over anytime to chat, borrow a cup of milk and vice-versa. It is also nice to feel like part of a community, it make you feel safe in your neighbourhood and there also may be times when you need to call on a neighbor for help.

It’s only been thirty days since we moved and I don’t want to make the same mistake as last time. I know I need to make the first move but I’m not actually sure how to do it. Here are some ideas I came across.

1. Bring something over
Bake homemade goodies or bring something from the garden over to the neighbours and introduce your self.

2. Host a neighbourhood housewarming or cocktail party
Keep it simple with just some drinks and finger foods. It’ll be a relaxed way to invite people in your area over and get to know them.

3. Just say hi
If you see your neighbours in their driveway or at their front door, just go up and introduce yourself.

4. Organize a street garage sale
Put together some flyers about a street garage sale and then go door-to-door handing them out to the neighbours and introduce yourself at the same time.

Another question I have, is do the four of us go over and introduce ourselves together or do I just do it solo?

We are leaving for a vacation next month so that is my deadline for meeting the neighbours. Which idea do you like the best? Or is there something that has worked for well for you when you moved into a new neighbourhood?

20 thoughts on “How Do I Meet the Neighbours?

  1. Hi! I like ideas #2 and #3. We hosted an appies party when 2 families moved in across the way. (So this is the opposite because we weren’t new, but I think it could work either way). We already knew the neighbours beside us (met them just by saying ‘hi’ when we were out for a walk in our new neighbourhood), so we invited them too. Everyone hit it off!

    I think just you by yourself could go say ‘hi’ first. See how things go with the initial meeting. Keep us posted!

  2. I’ve been in my house nearly 30 years and I think, it just happened. But over the past five years, almost all of my neighbors have left (or sadly, died or become victims of dementia) and I find ourselves in the position of not knowing anyone. They don’t come over and I don’t come over. I’m a shy person and just walking over and saying “hi” doesn’t work well for you. Because you have children, you may have an advantage – well, at one time you may have had. Good luck!

  3. That’s a tough one, Salma. we’ve moved with the kids a couple of time and it’s difficult for sure. I would go with 1 and 3 to start. Solo or with hubby. Also are the kids at the neighbourhood school? At drop off or pick has worked for me in the past. Running into neighbours at the shops or café close by works as well. Best of luck!

    1. Yeah, that’s a good idea, not to overwhelm! School’s not super close so that won’t work but hopefully a neighbourhood shop!

  4. We went all together with cookies the kids had made to introduce ourselves to our neighbours. We also brought a little card that had our names written on them. I know I am bad with names and I thought maybe if our names are written down they’d be more likely to remember them and say hello when they saw us. After dropping off the cookies, we immediately went home and wrote down their names to to make sure that we remember them as well. We’ve also had a similar age neighbour child over for a play date and we’ve gone over to see if the neighbours want to go to the park with us. It’s hard because everyone is so busy including us but I think the neighbourly bonds are starting:). Good luck!

    1. The cards are a good idea! I do want to do the cookies thing too but I’m worried how people will react, no one seems super friendly at the moment!

      1. If you have flowers growing, take a bouquet. We were leaving for a trip and one of my rose bushes was full of beautiful big blooms. We had some storm chances the next day and I knew they’d be destroyed. So I cut a big bouquet and took it to their door. They loved the gesture!

  5. You’re ideas are on point! I went for a walk around the neighborhood for exercise and to get acquainted with walking around here. When I saw someone leaving their house, gardening, etc., I kindly said “hi,” introduced myself, and tried to start conversation. Some neighbors are private and then some are really nice! I’ve made good friends here and once I trusted them enough, I invited them into our home with my kids for a nice gathering.
    I know you’ll make tons of neighborly friends!! 🙂

    1. Invite a work friend into your HOME too for a nice intimate gathering of your work is near where you live. That’s a GREAT way to get to know people better! Maybe invite spouses and their kids too so you can have a better connection with the people you work with. Or maybe just a drink with a coworker after a bad day so you can lean on each other for comfort. You never know who may know your neighbors! And can introduce you! 😉

  6. My mother in law just got a new neighbour, and he had left pamphlets at everyone’s door with a message introducing himself with his contact information. I thought that was a really neat idea.

  7. I don’t know if I would invite a whole neighborhood of folks I didn’t know into my home. And I don’t want to be one of those people but you don’t know anything about any of them. When my children were the ages of yours we lived in one of the 24 duplex townhouses that were on a 3 circled in a lovely new cul-d-sac where we were all young marrieds with two plus children from new born to young teens. I think we had 50 kids. Our youngest was just going to kindergarten and we left there when she was in junior high. Back then, nobody locked their doors and if all the kids were playing in the street they knew they could use our washroom, get a popsicle out of the freezer or grab an apple from the fridge. The moms that didn’t work out of the house looked after my two and another one did my housework. I was a great cook so I cooked but I didn’t bake so if there was dessert my oldest would ask, “Was Auntie Lois over here today?” Start by walking the neighbor and speak to everyone you meet and introduce yourself and your children. Ask if they have kids, ask about the schools, stores etc. Start slowly and it will all work out. Maybe when you make friends with a few couples then you have them over for dessert (so they are only there for an hour or so and ask them who they know on the street and say that next time you will invite them as well. Baby steps. You are going to be there for a few years so you don’t need to meet everyone before you are ready to do that.

  8. You have no idea how much I can relate to this post. We moved to our new home last year in my 3rd trimester and were wondering how to meet our neighbors. Thankfully our neighbors are really sweet and we hit off well just by saying ‘Hi’ outside our garage. We also shared the joy of our first baby by dropping some sweets with cute notes as her introduction outside their door steps. 🙂

    Nisha | http://simplistique.com/

  9. I am a shy person so I really cant suggest much besides what already has been listed by you and the others. I would do no.3 and hope get to meet a few people I would like to interact with more. I would then probably invite them for coffee or tea, and if they have been in the neighbour hood then they can introduce you to more people. Hope your vacation was fun and you have settled in by now.

    1. I think i’m going to go the indirect route too and take walks and talk to people. And then I do like the idea of inviting them over for tea to get to know them better. thanks 🙂

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