How to host a Block Party

Did you know that the Neighbourhood Small Grants South Okanagan Similkameen, Community Foundation and City of Penticton will give you money to host a party? Yes, I know, doesn’t seem real but it is. The project is called Neighbourhood Small Grants. I applied (it took some brain power, some ‘selling’ of my idea and some time (about 2 hours for application & many hours of preparation and planning as well as recruitment of friends and husbands to pitch in!)

But it was totally worth it.
Becoming Whole Block Party planning had begun…..

Goal: To bring people together through the customary tradition of sharing food.  

Result: Happy people, full belly’s and new connections made. I say that was a success!

I am so grateful to the Neighbourhood Small Grants South Okanagan Similkameen, Community Foundation and City of Penticton for making this event possible. It was a dream come true. The participants all asked that it become an annual thing! We will see what we can do to make that happen. 

The day threatened rain, but but luckily, we didn’t have to bring out any canopies. We set up two fire pits and this is where the gathering began. As more people trickled in, I served food and drinks with the help of an amazing friend (who had also slaved away creating all the food with me, packaging food and setting up for the event. I defiantly underestimated my superhero-ness on this one. My friend and Jason saved my butt by helping out SO much!! Couldn’t have kept my cool without them. Neighbours pitched in tables for the food, table cloths, help setting up, games and even MUSIC!!

Everyone got very excited about the food especially the deserts. The biggest hit of savoury food had to be the BBQ Jackfruit. We even had people creating their own mixes by adding the sesame bites to the jackfruit. As for desserts, they were all big hits and many people wanted to take home the recipe.

Everyone got very excited about the food especially the deserts. The biggest hit of savoury food had to be the BBQ Jackfruit. We even had people creating their own mixes by adding the sesame bites to the jackfruit. As for desserts, they were all big hits and many people wanted to take home the recipe.

We had a basketball and hockey net set up on one side. This was a hit for the older kids.

There was a toy station with car mats and big cars which was a hit for the littler kids. There was chalk as well as costumes for dress up. The biggest hit was the banana costume.

Sound like something you want to host in your hood?! I think its a yearly thing available to people of Penticton.

Check out Neighbourhood Small Grants for more information on upcoming grants.