Building our new house is very exciting for me, but I know that not all of my neighbors may share my enthusiasm in the construction process.
For one, there are trucks and workmen on the street most days, along with extra mud when it rains and extra noise.
I didn’t want everyone on the street to dislike me before I even had a chance to move in, so I came up with a plan, a plan to introduce myself and hopefully sow some good will up front. I don’t know
about you, but when I think of introducing myself, I think cookies. You too? See, that’s why we are simpatico If you didn’t think cookies, it’s okay, you probably like to eat them any way, and that works for me.
I whipped up 10 pounds of walnut fudge, and added some cookies to the mix. I found some adorable and affordable pastry boxes at World Market that will work well for packaging.
For the label, I used a fab graphic from the Graphics Fairy. I had a hard time deciding which one to use, but this one really popped out at me. Just like people have a hard time being mad at a cute puppy for tinkling on the carpet, I thought, who could be irritated with a bit of mud in the street, when there are cookies and fudge to eat?
Here’s the graphic I used. I also added our phone number and email address. I want to be sure they can reach me if they need to. If a truck is blocking a driveway, I would prefer that they call me before they call a tow truck.
As I assembled the boxes I remembered to include a box for my builder. He’s doing a great job, and I want him to know I notice and appreciate his efforts.
P.S. I delivered the cookie boxes and met 3 more of my new neighbors! They are so friendly, I know we are going to get along so well. We’ve already been invited over for game night across the street!
P. P. S. Yes, there’s a post-post script, here. The rest of the story is that there was someone on our street looking for a car to break into a few weeks ago. Some vigilant neighbors saw the suspect and called the police. As the police pursued him, he jumped into an open window of our new house. An officer went in after him, and the bad guy was taken into custody from there. A neighbor gave the police our number so they could contact us about the case. They used the phone number from my little card. So see? It already came in handy. I just had no idea my first phone call would be from the police. 😮
Have you missed any posts on the construction progress? You can catch up here.
Such a cute idea to introduce yourself. That is neat that the police caught the guy in your house.
Anita what a great idea to do this as an introduction.I am sure they appreciate your sweet gesture and will be also watching out for you now too :-)!
xx
Anne
A wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing.
That is such a great idea, Anita! Who could resist your offer of friendship {or cookies and fudge!}. : ) Love the cards you made up and it sounds like it was a good idea. I’ll bet you never thought it would have come in handy in that way or so quickly!
You are so smart! You didn’t even wait to move in to start building good will. It has been said, often, that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. You don’t have to be a man to appreciate goodies of any kind. Your neighbors probably can’t wait for you to get moved in now!
That is one of the loveliest ideas I have seen lately! By the stack of boxes there, you do have many neighbors!!! 🙂
They get to know who you are and what you represent. They are blessed to have you and your family on their street.
I think of cookies a lot.
ps -The Police Dept probably wouldn’t be opposed to a box either! Hee!
Cute post! Won’t you be MY neighbor”….Totally wish you were my neighbor….Mine move in and an empty box from their move stays in my yard for 4 days until I “nicely” place it back on their froont porch….LOL
Think I’ll print your post and place it in their mailbox…
LOL!! Yes I would have given some cookies to the police, but there weren’t any left!! Sorry Christine about the empty box on your front lawn!! That’s funny. Maybe they just didn’t notice it? Maybe?
What a fabulous way to meet your new neighbors. The boxes look so pretty. Great idea. Hugs, Marty
What a lovely idea!
Hi Anita. That was the nicest gesture. Normally the new neighbor is greeted first by the existing neighbors to be welcomed into the neighborhood…I love that you reached out to them. It is true to have a friend you have to be a friend!! Great lesson for all of us…and I’m sure your cookies and fudge were out of this world delicious! Who could resist being friends with you!
June 🙂
Anita,
What a great idea and fantastic that the police caught the man who jumped in your window.
Cynthia
Anita,
What a great idea and fantastic that the police caught the man who jumped in your window.
Cynthia
What a lovely way to greet your new neighbors. Thanks for sharing the inspiration.
Amelia
I wish I ad thought to do this. We met everyone on our street while building. And they were all really nice too. We have become good friends with all the “new” people though, the ones building as we were:) Best of luck in the new house, Anita. I hope you will love it. XO, Pinky
What a wonderful, thoughtful gesture!
What a great way to introduce yourself to the new neighbors! Very creative!
Anita, this is such a cute idea! You are so thoughtful! I know your new neighbors appreciated your kindness! It sounds like you have a wonderful neighborhood! Too funny the guy jumped through your window! You already have a story for your new home!
You know what I think? I think you are one smart cookie! If I was having any bad thoughts about the construction mess, they would be tossed out the window when that thoughtful little box arrived.
Bliss
What a lovely idea! I am so glad you were able to meet some neighbors- helps to make it feel more like home!
Cookies & fudge….I would let you park in my driveway!
You will be the most popular neighbor, Anita! What a lovely way to introduce yourself. Good to know your neighbors are watching out for each other!
I wish I lived near you! What a lovely idea. I always give cookies for Christmas to all my neighbors and when a neighbor moved in she was shocked to get cookies. She had lived (army) a lot of places both in the US and Europe and no one had ever given her cookies. Just watch out though, they may recruit you for neighborhood president. I was. Don’t go there. Don’t go there.
oh, you’re so sweet, this is such a great idea! Little thoughtful touches make such a huge difference to people, and I love the part about the cute puppy tinkling on the carpet!
Such a smart and thoughtful idea Anita! I’m sure your neighbors are enjoying their goodies and thinking good thoughts about you! Sounds like you’ll have plenty of new friends when you move in!
What a generous and fabulous idea-just love it.
That is such a sweet and thoughtful way to introduce yourself. And what a blessing it turned out to be, that your neighbor had your phone # for the police.
What a wonderful way to meet your new neighbors! And how nice that they had your number when they needed it! Hopefully that doesn’t happen too often that they need to give your number to the police! EEEK!
Fudge and cookies??? You could make all the noise you want!! That’s so sweet 😉 Pretty packaging and I love the graphic you picked!
Karen
Anita,
YuMMy!!!
I want to get to know the neighbor who makes fudge AND bakes cookies,for sure!!!
It’s been over 10 years since we moved in…but I’ll never forget the kindness of the sweet neighbor who brought cinnamon rolls and a carafe of coffee to “Mr.Ed” in our garage. Sadly, the next year she had to re~locate out~of~State to keep her employment. We were fortunate enough to repeat her kind favor during her move…with tears streaming down both our faces!!!
I adore the sweet little notes on your “goodies”!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!
Fondly,
Pat
This is a thoughtful idea. It’s important to know and befriend our neighbors. ‘-)
What a wonderful idea. Love how it came together.
I’m sure all the neighbors love you after delivering the yummy treats and such perfect packaging. Thanks for sharing.
i’ve just got one thing to say: won’t you be my neighbor!?
the boxed cookie idea is genius as well as your personalized card…how wonderful that one of your new neighbors was able to thwart the bad guy and get in touch with you and the police.
great idea!
I love everything about this… the thoughtfulness, the cute packaging, and so useful too! 🙂
What a cute idea Anita!
What a wonderful idea and thoughtful way to introduce yourself to the neighbors…Sounds like you have wonderful neighbors that look after each other and extend gracious invitations already!…Sounds like you will be very happy there!!
I bet they love you already!
What a lovely way to introduce yourselves. If they were inconvenienced before, I’m sure just you acknowledging that it can cause a bit of upheavel made the neighbours feel better.
Oh my, you are a good neighbor!! What a darling gift, I’m so glad my little graphic came in handy! Such a great idea!
What a wonderful idea! I love how thoughtful and smart you are.
Wish I was one of your neighbors receiving on of those delightful goody boxes.
Awesome idea and so pretty!
What a fabulous idea, I am also building but as it is a new site everybody is in the same position. Your idea came in handy as a way to introduce our family at our new address (small family, hubby, Labrador and me). I will use your tag wish was so nice with a little editing.
We recently bought a home that we plan to gut and remodel. I have met a couple of neighbors, who seem very nice. We began with some tree removal, which brought on a rash of phone calls from an unknown neighbor reporting us to the city. The phone calls cost us time and money as they brought out all kinds of city officials to stop whatever we were doing.
I got pretty frustrated and made a huge sign that said:dear neighbor who keeps calling the city on us, please come over for coffee on Sunday at 5:30 and we will be happy to show you our plans for this house”
We met several more fabulous neighbors, but never the one who has called the city on us.
Maybe I should have started out with fudge!!