Summer can often slip away on. The hopes we had in March for summer fun seem to get pushed back as our weekends fill with projects, work, and busyness. Our summer memories may come from time at the cabin or traveling abroad. Yet for many of us, our summers unfold in the ordinary day-to-day moments along our street. Our neighbourhoods are the stages where our summer memories unfold and the people who live nearby may just be the best part. Here are seven helpful ideas for making memories this summer with your neighbours.
1. Go camping with your neighbours. Friends of mine make it a point of camping with their neighbours every summer. They’ve forged meaningful relationships. They have had such a great experience that they regularly post pictures online with the cheeky hashtag #ourneighboursarebetterthanyours.
2. Walk your dogs. My neighbour often stops by when she is going to take her dog to the park. If we’re free to go with her, we do and we never regret it.
3. Go cheer on your local kids sports team. People pay big money to go to a baseball game, but did you know that they’re free at your local ball diamonds most nights in the summer? The quality of the gameplay may not be professional, but everyone has a lot of fun. Cheer on the 12 year olds with your neighbours, it speaks volumes.
4. Organize something fun with your neighbour in your local park. Be creative and create a bike park competition, a dog meet-and-greet, a kids relay race and tug-of-war etc. Set a date, print up some flyers, and pass them out. You might be surprised how something so simple can make your neighbourhood come alive.
5. Make food for others. Whether someone is going through a challenging time, had a baby, or just needs to try your amazing butter tarts, sharing food is a gesture of kindness that goes much farther than we will often know.
6. Make up a free popsicle stand in your park on a hot day. Jack Frost should make at least one appearance this summer! Go and buy up a few boxes of popsicles and invite your neighbour to set up some lawn chairs in the park. Hand out popsicles and enjoy the company of others. I guarantee you’ll have some stories to tell by the end of the day.
7. Show a movie on your garage door. Invite some friends, set up a projector, pop some popcorn and project a show on your garage door. It’s like a drive-in-theatre right in your neighbourhood! The kids may have no concept of what a drive-in-theatre is, but they’ll love doing it.
8. Host a neighbourhood-wide water fight! Bring out the water guns and water balloons and get ready to cool down.
9. Sell or give something away on your front porch. We often set up a honey stand and sell our honey on the honour system, others put their favourite seeds in packets, and others put out little free libraries of books they’d like to share. Who knows who you will meet when you share your creativity.
Wherever you live, you can make a memory with the remarkable people who live nearby. That’s the joy of being in a neighbourhood!
