Members of the Multifamily Sharespace Facebook Group shared some of their favorite Resident Events:

• A long time ago, the property owners were Travelers insurance. We had $1000 budget per resident event. That's translates to about $2500 today. We had some amazing parties. A full Halloween carnival on the tennis courts, a full spaghetti dinner for Mother’s Day, rented a big screen TV and a double header baseball game with hot dogs and a keg of beer for Father’s Day. (Anyone old enough that remembers the days you could serve alcohol at resident parties?). A Santa Claus with photos at Christmas, Easter bunny costume for Easter. And the list goes on. I miss those days! -Kathy Winfrey Chaney

• Courtyard rooftop musical guest event. 90 minutes of live music from a local artist live streamed on our social media pages. Folks could watch from the apartments (back in quarantine pandemic days) and it was such a hit! -Nichole Lipka

• Casino/ poker night: table games and everyone can dress up, roaring 20’s. -Angel Decker

• I used to make an annual Thanksgiving meal. We would provide all the food and fixings and residents could bring something if they wanted. My residents loved it, and we always had a really great turn out. Staff would bring their families too. -Katie Butler Roncadori

• We did an inflatable movie screen at our pond pavilion. We let the residents vote on which Christmas movie we showed. The Grinch won! Our maintenance tech wore the grinch costume and headed out candy canes during the movie. We had a food truck, a hot chocolate bar, popcorn, and candy. We also roasted marshmallows over the fire and made s’mores! It was awesome! -Tiffany Naomi Smith

• We did a farmers market. Filled baskets with vegetables, handed out medium size bags and let them pick what they wanted. We also had bouquet flowers in vases and they could grab a bouquet too. Big hit! -Mindy McDaris

• I had a lot of fun designing this event idea. A grazing station for a fall movie night outdoors or in like with hocus pocus, practical magic, or into the woods. You could set up blankets with pillows for people to get cozy. -Rebecca Ross Gilinsky

• A "senior prom" at a senior living community. BUT-do not crown a queen and king of the prom. Seniors got mad at whoever won when they didn't! –Patricia Ivie

• We would do a fall ball with a theme each year. We did masquerade, roaring 20's, country chic, winter white, and my favorite was Alice in Wonderland. We called it Down the Looking Glass and where the finger foods were set up it was decorated like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and where the dancing and bar was set up, it was decorated like the queens court. The property was The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia and we called the event our annual Met Ball. -Kristy Kendrick Myers

• When I was a Property Manager it was New Year's Eve and our Open Mic Nights to highlight local amazing artists –Virginia Georgeson

• We had a ladies night years ago. It was a hit. Wine and purchasable items. -Sonja K Nieves

• Thanksgiving 🦃 At an old high rise I managed. Catered in on the Tuesday before the actual holiday. 🥧 We would also have a table set-up for residents to bring their favorite dishes and we would provide pumpkin pies from Costco typically. A long-time resident would also dress-up as Santa for the kids. We would take photos and send to parents after the event or they’d take their own photos. After year three, we had up to almost 200-residents attend. A lot of single residents who didn’t have family for the holidays so they really enjoyed it. -Jeremy Van Winkle

• Wine tasting and charcuterie board. We adding a table for pumpkin carving contest. Whoever won got a nice bottle of wine and a gift basket to be able to make a board at home as well with a gift card. Resident byob to share with the other resident's. Great way to get to know your neighbors and friends. -Brittany Rogers

• We did a property Idol like American Idol. Complete with auditions, regular and guest judges and a surprise performance by leasing and our service manager the night of the finals. -Amy Smith Owens

Some other great resident event ideas:

• Cinco de Mayo
• Movie night
• Fall festival
• Chinese New Year
• Any with Free food
• Sip and Paint
• Breakfast on the run
• Formal holiday party with a 4 string quartet and fancy hors d'oeuvres.
• Resident Appreciation Week
• Pet Parties
• Beetle Juice outside movie
• Oktoberfest
• Karaoke night
• Drag Queen Bingo
• Tacos & Tequila Pool Party
• Crayfish boil
• Murder Mystery Night
• Trunk-or-treat
• Neighborhood Watch Safety Fair
• Harry Potter Halloween party & Grinchmas
• Happy Hour
• 12 Days of Christmas