17 Block Party Ideas for Fun Neighborhood Festivities

A neighborhood block party is a fantastic way to bring people together, celebrate a moment, and get to know your neighbors a little better. If you’re thinking of hosting a party soon, you’ll love these block party ideas.

With these party planning tips for your upcoming block party, you’ll have no shortage of fun with a lively atmosphere, engaging activities, and food and drinks everyone will love.

Block Party Ideas: 17 Ways to Gather With Neighbors

Ready to host the best block party your neighborhood has ever seen? Get together with your neighbors and use these block party ideas to help you all plan an incredible event. Whether you’re opting for a creative party theme, celebrating a special moment, or simply want to connect with neighbors, get ready to have a blast.

1. Celebrate a Special Occasion

Design: Anna K Design

If a block party isn’t a regular feature on your schedule, chances are you’re getting together to celebrate a holiday or usher in the new season. Maybe you’re thinking of having a Halloween party or a 4th of July celebration. Or perhaps you want to start an annual Friendsgiving tradition with your neighbors.

Getting everyone together to celebrate a season, tradition, or historical moment is a great way to bond with the people you live next door to — and you can use a themed invitation like this Bold Stars and Stripes invite.

2. Set a Theme

While a theme isn’t required, it certainly gives a sense of cohesion to your party planning. Add a theme to your neighborhood block party to give it a sense of excitement and make it a not-to-be-missed event. Create a retro block party, rainbow block party, sport-themed bash, or any party theme of your choice.

3. Send Block Party Invitations

Design: Cynthia Jacquette Art and Design

Unite the whole neighborhood and generate excitement with an on-theme block party invitation. Greenvelope has hundreds of online invitations you can customize to get the word out. Choose a design that matches your party theme or the street party vibe, like this Summerfest invite. Update the layout, fonts, colors, and wording to create the perfect block party invitation.

4. Invite Everyone to Contribute in Their Own Way

Organizing a block party is a tough job if you’re doing it solo. Before the big event, set up a meeting and invite your neighbors to get involved in some way. Maybe they can help set up a barricade for safety, steward the bike parade, host a face-painting stall, or help with clean-up at the end of the celebration.

5. Hand Out Sidewalk Chalk

Make your entire block feel colorful and alive with the help of sideboard chalk. Gather a collection of sidewalk chalk sticks in different colors and hand them out to all the kids in your neighborhood. Invite them to get creative and express joy through color and art.

6. Have Fun with Water Balloons

While many people would love a neighborhood pool party, that’s not always possible. If you’re looking to include water as part of a summertime soiree, organize a water balloon toss or schedule a water balloon fight. Set up a dedicated space for this so that only those who want to get wet do!

7. Bring Out the Board Games

Design: TM Stationery

While folks will probably enjoy active games, others might want to take a break and unwind over a board game — or find out who the real chess master is. Set up a table or two for fun games like checkers, dominoes, backgammon, bingo, or Scrabble. You could even make gaming the main theme of your event and host a neighborhood board game battle, complete with this matching Game Night invite.

8. Plan a Scavenger Hunt

With an entire block to roam around, you can safely organize a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt for everyone to enjoy. This outdoor game works well for this type of event as you can hide items, ask participants to snap a photo of the found items, then show proof of discovery for a prize. That way, different people can continue to play the game throughout the event.

9. Play Carnival Games

Carnival games remain a popular choice for neighborhood block parties as these outdoor games are nostalgic and easy to set up. Block party games like bean bag toss, balloon darts, and spin the wheel are fun to get involved with — and you can always offer small prizes like candy or small toys.

10. Set Up an Arts and Crafts Station

Create a dedicated space for your guests young and old who want to spend their time getting creative. This is a fun activity that’s easy and affordable to set up — all you need is a good collection of paper, pens, pencils, and other art supplies. Encourage neighbors to bring art supplies for sharing and see what everyone creates!

11. Make It an Outdoor Movie Night

Design: Signature Greenvelope

If you can make it happen, an outdoor movie night is a fantastic neighborhood block party idea. Set up a projector and screen, bring along some chairs and blankets, and enjoy a communal movie-watching experience. Screen a classic flick or one that matches your theme and don’t forget the popcorn and snacks. Use this Starlight Cinema invite to let everyone know the plans.

12. Host a Competition

The competitive neighbors among your group will love the chance to compete, so set up a contest or two to get them involved. Host a karaoke competition, pet parade, inflatable limbo competition, or even a talent show where everyone can showcase their hidden talents.

13. Set Up a Drink Station

Block parties are full of energy, so you’ll want to give your guests somewhere that they can refresh and recharge. Set up a beverage station with chilled drinks, fruit juices, and plenty of ice. Mix it up with bottles of bubbly and other wine, beer, or DIY cocktails along with alcohol-free drinks.

14. Make It a Potluck

With so many people coming along, cooking can be a challenge. That’s why a potluck party is a popular approach for neighborhood gatherings. This is one of those block party ideas that ensures you have plenty of food, a great variety of dishes, and an easy way for everyone to contribute. 

To make sure you’re organized and have a good mix of appetizers, mains, and sides, be sure to add the details to your digital invitations. That’s the beauty of using Greenvelope’s email invites – you can easily track RSVPs, create menu questions, and communicate with everyone from one simple dashboard.

15. Plan a BBQ

Design: Hudson Meet Rose

For resident grillmasters, a BBQ party or cookout is the way to go. Set up an impressive grill area and offer plenty of options like burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes. Make it a potluck and ask everyone to BYOP — bring your own protein — and contribute a side dish.

To create anticipation for the big BBQ block party, you can’t go wrong with this Burger Essentials invite.

16. Have Plenty of Dessert Options

For many people, dessert is the star of the show. Set up an ice cream bar where people can customize their own ice cream sundaes. Along with this (or instead of), you could create a donut wall, have a cookie decorating area, or organize a fire pit so everyone can roast their own s’mores.

17. Give Party Favors

Even though a neighborhood block party isn’t like a traditional birthday party or baby shower, it’s still a sweet idea to hand out party favors — at least to all the kids. Bubble wands, flower garlands, keyrings, and snack bags are all great options.

Host an Impressive Get-Together with These Block Party Ideas

Whether this is your first time planning a neighborhood bash or you’re a seasoned pro, we hope this list of ideas gives you some new inspiration for your next block party. Whatever the theme, season, or occasion, you’ll have a fun get-together that strengthens bonds among your neighbors.

Once you have all the party details planned, use our entertaining invitations to spread the word about your celebration. Customize the design to feature all your block party details, then send your invites out via email or text to reach everyone and watch those RSVPs roll in!