Welcoming your New Marylebone Neighbours

Posted on 13/01/2016

Living in a quiet Marylebone estate can mean that you don’t often get new neighbours, so when you do you will most likely want to make a good first impression and greet them with something nice.  Doing this can help you and your new neighbour to build a close friendship from the start, it is always useful to get on well with your neighbour, and they will appreciate you making them feel welcome, especially if they are new to the area.

Doing something nice for your new neighbours doesn’t have to cost you a great deal, there are lots of things that you can do for free, and for anything that does cost you, you can always ask other neighbours to chip in and give it as a neighbourhood gift.

Find out who you your new neighbours are, is it a professional couple? A family? An elderly couple? A young couple, this will help you to better tailor your gift ideas. The estate agent will most likely be able to fill you in on any details like this, however, they obviously won’t give out any personal information .

Here are some ideas for you to consider:

•    Gift or no gift, the most important thing is that you introduce yourself to your new neighbours quickly, but once they have had time to settle in of course.  The longer you leave it to introduce yourself, the more you run the risk of just bumping into them when they are outside on day, and this doesn’t give the best first impression.

•    Try to be informative when you first meet your neighbours, tell them about the neighbourhood, of any neighbourhood watch schemes and give them a general idea what the community is like,  and give them information for example, tell them what days the bins, recycling and green waste are collected.

•    Put a welcome pack together for your new neighbours, including things like a map of the local area, a note of where the shops, doctors etc. are, menus for local restaurants/take away places, vouchers for any local businesses, newsletters and a note of the dates of any local events that are occurring.

•    Try welcoming your neighbour with some home cooked food.  Moving is always a stressful and busy time, a home-cooked meal is something they won’t have the time to prepare but will greatly appreciate.  Alternatively make some home-made cookies or bread rather than a whole meal.

•    Consider a welcoming basket, there are lots of different kinds you could put together:

o    Soup basket: fill a basket with tins of soup, fresh bread or croutons, bowls and cutlery-everything they need for a quick meal.
o    Gourmet basket: fill a basket with cheeses, cooked meats, bread and butter and plates and some cutlery.
o    Fruit basket: fill a basket with fruit.
o    Basics basket: fill a basic with things like fresh bread, milk, cereal, soup, things that are basic and everybody needs daily.

•    Buy them a potted flower or plant to help them settle into their new home and make it their own.

•    Invite them round to your home for dinner one evening, as they will busy unpacking they won’t have much time to cook and so will really appreciate this offer.

•    If you feel like comfortable offering, them why not offer to look after their children for the day to give them time to unpack and not have children running around their feet.