Seasonal Events

A well-planned bazaar and fundraiser during the holiday season will catch donors and attendees when they are already in a giving mood. At the same time, the holiday season is always busy so it’s best to plan the event well in advance so that there will be less chance of a conflict with your resident attendees Here are a few tips for planning a non-profit bazaar in your community that can hold space as a fun and successful event. Guests Decide if your event will be open only to residents, or if you will open it up to other community members as well. You may decide on a compromise and insist that each resident is allowed to bring one or two “guests” to the event from outside the community. This can allow residents to bring partners, friends, family members, or any other guests...

The holiday season is a great time to start a rotating art exhibition showcasing local artist and artists on a monthly, or bi-monthly, basis. You can organize the exhibitions yourself, seek volunteers from your resident community to help manage the events, or seek out students from a local arts department. **TIP** Find out if your local community has an "Art Walk" day or something similar (usually the first or second Saturday of the month) and time your exhibitions and opening shows to correspond to that city-wide event. To host an art exhibition in your lobby area there are a few things you’ll want to consider. Finding artists There are many different ways to find artists and structure the exhibitions. Image source: Pixabay ...

Sometimes we find event ideas that will most likely be filed away in the "probably not realistic, but still a fun idea" category, but they look so fun that we hope that someone will be brave enough to try it out! Marc Lancaster shared this video, and we thought it would be a memorable addition to a resident event! While we definitely wouldn't want to use the boiling water option for safety reasons, the effect is really neat, and would be a perfect for a Halloween party! A resident event's effectiveness is often limited to how memorable it is, and this definitely would get your residents talking! The only question we don't know is how long the effect lasts. Note: While using only hot water (not boiling), we don't think that there are any safety concerns exactly, but we...

It’s finally February and this month is all about the L-O-V-E! This week’s resident event idea is to provide the materials for residents to make their own Valentines! The residents can take their Valentines with them to hand-deliver, or offer to mail it for them. Grab a large box, cover it with festive decorations, cut a hole in the top, and allow your residents to place their pre-addressed Valentines inside for you to mail for them- but make sure you mail it with enough time to reach the destination by Valentine’s Day! You could also suggest that they create a Valentine’s Card for their favorite Maintenance Tech, Property Manager, or Leasing Consultant (hint, hint!). You can gather all of the materials at your local craft store and/or Wal-Mart. Your shopping list should include, but certainly not...

As we get closer to Christmas, most people start to panic as we realize how many items we have not crossed off of our “to-do” lists! This resident event is a combination of services which relieve at least some of those stresses. First, host a “Parent’s Night Out” for your community and invite your residents to drop their children off at the clubhouse for a night of kid-free shopping! Make sure you have plenty of staff members available that evening so there are more than enough adults to chaperone this event. You could show a holiday-themed movie, gather some materials to make Christmas crafts or print off a variety of coloring pages, provide light snacks, and keep those kiddos busy and entertained so their parents can get those last-minute errands done! Make sure you have a sign-up sheet at the office so that you...