We hosted a winter weather party that we termed "S'mores Indoors". We had platters chocolate, graham crackers. Baskets of marshmallows on skewers and small dishes with sternos (canned fire that you use under buffet dishes)and decorative rocks to keep them from sliding. Residents would roast their marshmallows over the indoor flame and then build their s'mores. We also set up a hot chocolate bar with crushed peppermint, Bailey's Irish Cream, whipped cream, and flavored syrup. The event was a huge hit.

This event would be hosted by your maintenance team as a way of getting to know your residents a little better. Simply have a mix and mingle with your maintenance team. You can have this event in your community center, in your pool area, or anywhere where you can serve drinks and finger foods. Have your maintenance team all attend so that the residents can have an opportunity to talk to them, ask them questions, and have a booth set up to take any service requests. You maintenance team is the glue that holds your community together and helps keep everything running smoothing, your residents need to know them! Customize this event to your community and its culture. Do they participate more when there are games and activities? Food is always a big draw. Hopefully you will open up...

The key to most apartment parties is simply providing something special to the residents, even if it still means they are spending money. And in this case, that “something special” can be deals, deals, and more deals. About a year ago, we went on a shopping trip with my brother-in-law, hoping to update wardrobes. He showed us there is a big difference between just going shopping and truly being prepared. When we met up, he had researched all the stores in the area and had found online coupons and special deals for many. Using that, we developed a plan of attack and were able to get double the amount of clothes than we would have normally! This is what I mean when I say you can add value to your residents even though they are still spending their own money. ...

Every year, we slowly come out of our winter hibernation and step out into the fresh air. And when we do, many people feel a very strong urge to get their house in order. Whether it is cleaning the apartment or refreshing their decorating. The Spring Cleaning Party isn’t a party in that it combines residents together, but rather is a sense of rejuvenation for the apartment community. There are two ways that the leasing office can jumpstart this process: 1) Community Garage Sale: There are all sorts of apartment community garage sales ideas out there, such as the “Swap and Shop”. This gives your residents an outlet for all the junk they want to get out of their apartment. Of course, this also possibly creates problems of more junk coming into their apartments, so maybe instead… ...

If you watched our webinar on leveraging your amenities, you are probably trying to come up with ideas on how to maximize the use of your clubhouse. Fortunately, many clubhouses have theater rooms or big screen TVs that you can work with! (Although many more people now have big screen TVs, so simply having a big TV won’t sell this all the way). And this means you now have several strategies available to you! Before I get into the strategies, it’s important this is not simply turning on the TV and hoping people show up and watch. These are events, so they need to be properly promoted/shared with your residents, and once they come, consider all the different ways to make it a success, such as popcorn and sodas, movie trivia, and give-aways. Note: Many of the examples I gave...