How To Meet The New Neighbors (with crafty gift in hand!)

Hello, cafe friends!  Today I'm going to show you a fun, easy gift to pass along to a friend or, in our case, new neighbor.

I found this idea on Pinterest when researching "How to introduce yourself to new neighbors." As a whole, this neighborhood is WAY WAY friendlier than what we left behind in Illinois. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it's a walking neighborhood, and folks are always outside pushing strollers, biking and walking dogs. We quickly became known here as "Jemma's family". But there are still a few houses nearby where we have yet to meet the occupants.

I know from experience how these things happen. A week goes by, and then a month goes by, and then a year goes by, and it just feels weird and awkward with time. I let that happen at the last house, and I refuse to let that happen here, too. Instead, I'm going to be a little more proactive and forward (which is SO not my nature!) and I'm going to ring on doorbells with gift in hand.

And here are the gift supplies:

A simple bag of microwave popcorn, with a sentiment that says "Popping by to say hi!" How fun is that?

Only problem: I don't have a sentiment that says "Popping by to say hi!" The closest I could find was from Lawn Fawn, and it says "Flying by to say hi". This is where a good alphabet stamp set can really save the day. I spelled out "Popping" on one block, and then left off "flying" when inking the rest of the sentiment. Easy!

I used tags and tag dies from Lawn Fawn. On the back of each tag, I printed our name, our house address, each family member's name, my telephone number and email address. All the contact info necessary. This way, if someone says to themselves "I'd invite Mary Rose for a coffee, but I don't have her telephone number"...well, now there are no more excuses. :)

I added the little stitched leaf diecut because our neighborhood is called "Wildwood" and it's filled with trees and woods. It just seemed appropriate. I kept the color palette blue and yellow to match the popcorn bag and the University of Michigan team colors. Go blue!

And here it is! We will be "Popping by to say hi" this weekend. It's all about building community, one person, one house, one family, one church, one school, one festival, one volunteer organization at a time. Small steps. Big reward.

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!