With the weather getting warmer, the flowers blooming and the days lasting longer, April is a great month for resident events. The possibilities are endless, from outdoor resident events, to virtual resident events, these resident event ideas for April will make sure your residents are happy, your community is engaged and your retention rates are off the hook.
Let’s get your inspiration going with some outdoor events your apartment community can try out:
Outdoor Resident Event Ideas for April
1. Yappy Hour
A Yappy Hour is an ideal outdoor resident event! Residents already love happy hours; they’ll love it even more now that their furry friends are invited. It’s all good four-legged fun where owners and pets can enjoy a nice day outside meeting their neighbors. We recommend having drinks and a few light appetizers for your residents, and simple pet treats for the furry ones.
Treating your resident’s pets with kindness can go a LONG way with resident retention. Pet owners are less likely to move buildings than non-pet owners, so take advantage of that. This is also a great resident event to invite prospects to (the ones who have pets). It’ll give them a chance to meet current residents and get a better idea of how their and their pet’s lives could be if they joined your apartment community.
2. Picnic + DJ Hangout
This resident event is so simple and has huge ROI. You can keep it very casual with pizza, a bagel bar or even turn it into a potluck situation. Add a nice audio setup with a professional DJ and you have a family-friendly day outside for your residents. The nice thing about outdoor resident events is that people get naturally chatty, so you don’t really have to do any type of activity to ensure residents have a good time.
We definitely recommend adding a bit of alcohol to the picnic, this tiny detail does wonders for your attendance rates. Residents are simply more interested in attending an event if has alcohol.
3. Outdoor Movie Night
This resident event idea is a no brainer. April has the nicest weather because it’s not cold anymore but it’s not too hot either. So night time is perfect to host an Outdoor Movie Night. We’ve seen apartment communities take this resident event and turn it into a monthly recurrance. We love this idea because it allows site teams to target different audiences. One month you might do a kids movie, the next month an adult one, the next one something within season (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc).
4. Wing Fest
A Wing Fest is a true celebration of the amazing chicken wing! Residents can try all sorts of flavors and styles and have a great family day outdoors. This resident event can also be easily hosted indoors. It depends on your property and the type of amenities you offer. One cool thing about this event is that you don’t have to cater the food yourself, you could go for a Wing Contest where residents can sign up beforehand and compete for the most tasty wing recipe. If you do, I’d call it a Chicken Wing Cook-Off.
5. Food Truck
Everyone loves the experience of eating out of food trucks. Residents show up in herds when our customers host Food Truck in their properties.
If you want to take a bit further, you can always do a Food Truck Fest and invite a ton of them. As this would be a much bigger event, you can pair it up with a Leasing Day special and invite prospects or even open it up to the whole neighborhood. The cool thing about a resident event like this one is that it takes very little effort from the site team, which is always a plus.
6. Spring-Break Pool Party
People are so ready to get back to the pool and this Spring-Break Pool Party is the perfect resident event for it! We suggest getting a ton of fun floats (Flamingo ones are specially cool, even if we’re biased) or asking residents to bring their own. Pool parties are always great fun, but “branding it” under the Spring Break theme is a great way to bring more attention to it.
Indoor or Regular Event Ideas for April
1. Happy Hour
This is an oldie but goodie. Also, this event, like many on the list, can be done outdoors.
A Happy Hour is great because it needs little explanation and yet attracts so many people. Residents are always down for a few drinks and chatting with their neighbors. The best way to do Happy Hours is setting them up monthly. We have a ton of customers who have a booked Happy Hour every month for the next 6 months. A Last Fridays Happy Hour is an easy event that will give the opportunity to residents to constantly catch up and form connections.
2. Coffee & Muffins Mornin’
I absolutely LOVE this resident event for any type of apartment building because you don’t need much space and residents are always very appreciative. The trick to get this right is to do it early in the morning so that you catch the peeps who are going to work and so that those who work from home can just come downstairs (pijamas are generally allowed) and enjoy a nice cup of coffee and some muffins. It looks small, but residents really enjoy it and sometimes spend time in the area talking to their neighbors. It’s a nice and unique way of getting your day started.
3. Hawaiian-Themed Luau Dinner
Bring the tropical Hawaiian vibes to your property! Instead of hosting a regular Dinner Party or a Pizza Night, you can go for a Hawaiian Luau where residents can enjoy typical hawaiian dishes like Poke, Kalua Pig or Laulau. It’s more fun if you put up decorations and maybe throw in a few Wikipedia fun facts on typical Hawaiian traditions. You might not believe it, but residents appreciate learning new things through events and a unique, very different dinner party is one way to offer that!
4. Make Your Own Pretzel Class
How fun would it be to do a pretzel-cooking class?! Residents of all ages love this event because it’s hands-on, pretty easy and specially delicious. Cooking classes are always popular and this one is no exception. The fun thing about this resident event is that you can do it adults-only and offer wine and beer during the class or make it more family-friendly and have a nice mix of both adults and kids or families.
5. Egg Decorating Class
With April comes Easter and that means, Easter Egg Hunt! Put together a cool, egg decoration workshop or class where kids can have a great time doing a bit of arts and crafts with their eggs. You could even ask residents to bring their own eggshells so that you only have to provide painting supplies. That makes this event super easy to pull off but as much fun as a big, highly produced event.
6. Board Games & Beer
Board games are a great way for residents to interact with each other. Throw in a few beers and you’re guaranteed a sell out event people will continuously request. A board game tournament along with a bit of music and drinks is a perfect resident event to have on a late saturday morning or even a thursday night. Apartment buildings always have a place where people already enjoy to hang out, use this to host a small Board Games & Beer event and give your residents the opportunity to compete against each other. You know what they say, a bit of friendly competition never hurt anybody.
7. Popcorn & Prosecco Movie Night
Residents can enjoy an up-scale movie night accompanied with a glass (or two!) of Prosecco along with different-flavored popcorn. This gives regular movie nights a nice twist to it. Something nice about this event is that it can be done for children or families and you can offer the Prosecco to the parents so that they’re more likely to watch Frozen for the 18th time. It’s got something for everyone!
8. Chocolate Fondue Night
This so beats an Ice Cream social. If you want to offer something sweet, creamy and delicious, you gotta go with a chocolate fondue night. You can cater to a lot of tastes by making sure you have lots of different yummy things to dip: strawberries, cookies, marshmallows, brownies. So many things go well with hot, warm chocolate fondue, it’s hard to get it wrong.
9. Fiesta Taco Social
Another spin on the ice-cream social, the Taco Social is a fun resident event idea you gotta try. Set up a taco bar with different fillings, hard and soft tortillas, cheese, sour-cream, avocado, the whole thing! We’ve mentioned this before, but making a theme out of a more simple catering event can do wonders to your resident events. They feel more like an experience and they get people to engage with each other.
10. In-House Ice Cream Crawl
You didn’t think we’d leave behind a nice little ice-cream party, did you? An Ice-Cream Crawl will have everyone enjoying an awesome day of tons of ice-cream flavors and toppings. Usually, a crawl means you have to go from shop to shop trying out flavors. However, this ice cream crawl only requires residents to try out as many flavors as they want right there in their homes! A great resident event idea to kick-off the warm weather and get everyone together.
Conclusion
April is a great time to host resident events because the weather is improving and residents are looking for ways to get out of their homes and socialize. April also brings fresher air, longer days, and brighter skies which can make outdoor events even more enjoyable. Additionally, hosting a resident event in Spring can provide an opportunity for community members to take part in activities that foster relationships and bring people together. From Yappy Hours to Movie Nights, there is no shortage of fun activities to help create a sense of camaraderie among the residents.
