Now that your community is off to its best HOA holiday ever with clear and easy-to-follow decorating guidelines, board members and managers should put policy development, implementation, and enforcement aside for a minute and remember what’s really important: celebrating the season. Often, that means helping residents with the influx of packages and guests. It also means creating opportunities for residents to get together and boost engagement.
Events
Many communities organize parties to decorate common areas and common elements. Some hold contests for decorated homes — within the guidelines of your official policy, of course — and award prizes. Here are 15 ways to create new traditions and make merry memories in your community:
- Bring together volunteers who like collaborating with each other.
- Create a social committee that can brainstorm ideas for events.
- Make the mission about making people happy, not putting organizers in the limelight.
- Tap local resources and experts.
- Involve older children as volunteers so they can learn about giving back to the community.
- Learn from your mistakes each year, and adjust next year’s program.
- Ask vendors and local businesses for donations of goods or money for the event.
- Task your community clubs for support.
- Save money. Reuse decorations, lights, and volunteer T-shirts each year.
- Prioritize the parts of the holiday celebration that are most important to residents and skip the rest when budget is tight.
- Start small and let the event grow over the years.
- Get in the spirit of the season. Ask residents to bring food or gifts for the needy as their price of admission.
- Spark some competition with decorating contests.
- Plan events that encourage as many participants as possible.
- Plan more festivities during the year if a winter holiday celebration succeeds.
Packages
If residents in your community association have been frequent targets of package theft, share these tips to deter thieves and ensure packages are kept safe:
- Schedule deliveries. When purchasing expensive items such as electronics, arrange for deliveries to be made when you are home.
- Notify a household member or a neighbor when you are expecting a package. If you can’t be home when a package is delivered, have a household member or a trusted neighbor be on the lookout. You also may want to give them permission to pick up your package and hold it until you arrive.
- Install doorbell cameras or other security systems. Recording devices can provide evidence of package theft to bring to your association’s board and notify police. Check your association’s rules and regulations on these devices before installing them.
- Opt for package pickup. Many delivery companies have lockers and pickup points in numerous retail locations that have extended hours, allowing you to collect your package at your convenience.
Preventing package theft is a community effort. Encourage your neighbors to be on alert and report any incidents to the association board and police.
Guests
It wouldn’t be the holidays without some close friends or relatives making an extended stay. Depending on how long guests are staying, the association may need to be informed. The governing documents typically have rules for both short-term and long-term guests.
It also means extra cars will need to be parked. Associations usually have broad authority to make rules and regulations related to temporary, short-term parking. The community can prohibit parking on lawns, in front of a fire hydrant, or anywhere that blocks a sidewalk, an emergency vehicle’s access, or another driver’s view.
Residents hosting guests should check the rules on visitor parking, including where they can park (such as an overflow lot, if the association has one) and what kind of parking passes they may need.
Noise also is inevitable with visitors in town, especially for residents in a condominium. It can become a nuisance if it stretches into midnight or if it makes the walls and floors in neighbors’ homes reverberate continuously. If residents are hosting a holiday party, they should give neighbors a heads up of how many guests are expected and how long you anticipate the celebration to last. Be considerate of the amount of noise being generated by music, television, or pets. The association’s governing documents can provide guidelines for hosting parties and when quiet hours begin and end.
>>Want more best HOA holiday ever tips? Read our post on holiday decorations.
Information for this post was compiled from numerous articles in CAI’s Common Ground magazine.
