Flamingo Friday

‘Sorry, I can’t make it, we have Flamingo Friday that night.’

What? What the heck is Flamingo Friday???

Flamingo Fridays are essentially a neighborhood happy hour or block party. It’s an opportunity for people in your neighborhood to get together, get to know each other better and bring back the camaraderie of neighbors prior to social media.

We moved into our home in November of 2014. It was the weekend before Thanksgiving, the weather was getting colder, so not a popular time to move but move we did. Within a week or 2 of being in the house, we met our neighbors from across the street. A couple near-in-age with our parents, the husband retired and wife close to retired. We quickly developed a neighborly relationship with them and over the next summer got to know a few others. We learned there was a neighborhood group that would meet and pick up garbage, but they did little else socially and there were a few people who liked to stir political drama, so we limited our interaction.

Within about 5 years of moving in, several of the houses on our block and adjacent flipped and quickly we were the ones introducing ourselves to the newcomers. Sometimes we would get invited over for a backyard fire or we might invite them over, but soon my husband started to have this reoccurring wish.

He wanted to start Flamingo Fridays in our neighborhood. I encouraged this idea and finally, he made the move, I helped him print off letters to the neighbors explaining it, he walked door-to-door putting them in the mailbox with the invitation, expectations and general rules. And then we waited for the day!

Our first ‘Flamingle’ was a success! People came out of curiosity and left knowing everyone a bit better. Soon, each neighbor was claiming their date and the tradition began!

Four years later (I think), we are still meeting more of our neighbors and have a regular running group chat that includes things like, ‘can I borrow____’ or ‘does anyone know who to contact for____.’ It’s been a joy to get to know everyone and keep an eye out for each other. 

Does this seem like something you want to bring to your neighborhood?

Here’s how we started ours:

1.       We ordered the flamingos from Amazon. We only use 2, but you can definitely have fun with it!

2.       We decided on a date and wrote up an invitation on the computer.

3.       We walked the invitations to all the houses on our street (yup, all of them).

4.       We put the flamingos in our front yard the Monday prior.

5.       On Friday, I made up some food, sat in the yard and crossed my fingers. Lol!

The Rules

Each group establishes their own rules that can vary based on personal comfort or size of the group.

Our Flamingo Friday is frequently one of the last Fridays of the month (although that’s not an official agreement). We begin in either April or May (depending on the weather) and go through October.

Our FF Rules:

1.       April/May through October. Months are claimed at the first meet.

2.       People gather outside.

3.       Host provides a snack.

4.       BYOB

I’ve seen some groups who have stricter rules than ours, such as:

                -Guests stay outside and go to their own home to use the bathroom

                -Stricter begin and end times, Ex: 5-7pm

                -Bring your own chair

Our group is on the smaller side (less than 25) and we are pretty close, so we are not very strict. The host has never been required to offer more than a snack, but there are so many people who like to cook/host on our street the food offerings can get very generous!

We initially slated the event to be 5-7pm, but we often go over because we enjoy each other. That’s been nice for some people who work late, they will stop byThe person hosting the next month can take the flamingos home with them that night to set out for the following month. In our group, we have a deck box on the porch they live in, so everyone knows to just come grab them from there.

Again, you can make the rules/expectations as broad or specific as you want! Some places have different rules, based off how their space functions and we just roll with it. These expectations are things like: please bring your own folding chair or we will be on the driveway. More than anything, it’s about nurturing relationships with people you share your space with!

Have fun and let me know in the comments if you start and have a Flamingle of your own!