My wife and I moved into our first home a few months ago, and while it is near the city we grew up, we did not know anybody.  We really enjoy living in a safe neighborhood where you can wave at your neighbors and they wave back, so a goal of ours was to introduce ourselves to all of our neighbors.  We did not immediately meet them all, but two really stood out in how welcoming they were: our next-door neighbor and our neighbors across the street. 

Our next-door neighbor, a middle-aged man, saw us unloading bookshelves, and stepped in to take the place of my wife, so that she did not have to carry the heavy load.  This showed a lot of character, and we are gracious to have such a thoughtful neighbor.  We were able to converse for a few minutes afterwards and exchange numbers.

We met our neighbors across the street one day while walking the dog.  They were very welcoming and invited us over for hot dogs the following weekend.  We enjoyed spending the evening with them and their kids and got to meet another neighbor at the bonfire afterwards.  We appreciated their generosity and built a connection with them and are happy to call them friends.

Strategy

These interactions left us with 3 houses down, so we had 8 more families to meet.  Since we were not organically meeting our neighbors, we had to come up with a way to introduce ourselves.  Being around Christmas time, I proposed to my wife that we make gingerbread men and pass them out to each household.  This would give us the opportunity to meet the remaining neighbors and spread holiday cheer.

On Sunday afternoon after meal prep, my mother-in-law came over to help us make the extra-large batch of gingerbread men.  We created an assembly line and cranked out 72 decorated gingerbread men over the course of around 4 hours.  We baked, allowed them to cool, decorated, and bagged them. 

We wrote “Merry Christmas from the Lastnames!”  in sharpie on the bags, and on the bottom wrote our street address.  We bagged the gingerbread men 4 per bag, or the amount of people in the house if we thought there were more than 4.

Implementation

We went from house to house and delivered our gift to each household when they were home, introducing ourselves and learning more about each family on our street.  When we got home from each house, we recorded the names of the families in our Address Book file. 

We had a great time conversing with each neighbor and learning more about their stories.  One neighbor was working on his van, and showed us his custom National Park travelling camper van that he has been using with his wife to see the country.  Another neighbor is a professor at the local university that we attended.  One mentioned that he was going to pay us a visit.  We are excited to find out what that means!  The last neighbor even invited us into her house and we helped her pick out a new pair of cowboy boots, then she showed us her gardens and we got to meet her chickens!

Results

While we had to step out of our comfort zones, every neighbor we met was super kind and welcoming to us.  We have a lot of peace of mind in knowing our neighbors and now feel like we are part of the community.  Because our first interaction was a positive one, we are hoping that our neighbors will give us the benefit of the doubt in case of future perceived wrongdoings.  We saw how cool our neighbors were and affirmed our decision to live here. 

In future emergencies, we will already have an established relationship with our neighbors with existing trust.  This is an essential aspect of preparedness and is especially important since we are normally hit by hurricanes.  We made it clear to everybody that we are here in case they need any help, and not to hesitate to call.  Our hope is that we can be there for our neighbors and that they can be there for us should we need them.

What about the extra gingerbread men?

We gave the remaining gingerbread men bags to our immediate families and friends and dropped by to deliver them.  While we expected nothing in return, one friend, originally a colleague, gave us fresh cookies from his wife’s business while we visited.  Another gifted us some local steaks and orange juice.  We shared the orange juice on a brunch we hosted and saved the sirloins for date night in:

Challenge

Given the many benefits, I challenge you to make something for your neighbors.  You do not have to make gingerbread men, but you can produce some small gift to show thought and intention.  The cost is minimal, and the time you spend making the gift can be spent with loved ones.  Your neighbors will be happy to meet you or see you again, and you never know what friendships you may end up forming!