If you'd like to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, here's everything you need to know about hosting a street party with minimum stress and maximum enjoyment. Don't forget the bunting!

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What exactly is a street party?

A street party is a small-scale gathering – it's not widely publicised and is usually open only to residents of the street itself (and their guests, in reasonable numbers) and perhaps residents of neighbouring roads.

A street party is usually a joint effort and relies on the involvement of a good proportion of the street's residents.

The street is closed to traffic for the duration of the event, allowing residents to spread out on the road, to chat, play, dance, eat, drink and generally have fun.

There doesn't have to be a specific reason for holding a party, though many organisers link in with nationwide events , such as the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Your party doesn't have to follow any set theme or format.

The wonderful and unique thing about a street party is that it allows people to get together on their own doorstep, to 'reclaim' the street from cars and get everyone involved, whatever their age or background.

You can get to know your neighbours a little better, something few of us have time to do in our busy day-to-day lives.

Before you start

Realistically, you'll need to get support for your idea before you start planning. You'll certainly need lots of extra pairs of hands to help with setting your event up.

Also, you need to make sure the idea is generally approved of by your neighbours – if no one really seems up for a street party, it's probably a non-starter, but perhaps there are other, smaller-scale things you can do if you want to organise a community event (you'll find some ideas further down the page.)

The point of a street party is to have fun and get to know your neighbours, not cause any tension so you need to respect the opinions of your fellow street-dwellers.

You may find some people aren't sure about the idea but are happy for you to go ahead and organise an event. They may ask that you give them plenty of notice about when the event is taking place so they can make arrangements for that day, so do be respectful of any reasonable requests and suggestions.

But if a considerable number of residents are vehemently against the idea, it's really not worth pursuing.

The important stuff

There are some key issues you'll need to address. For a definitive guide on the important stuff, such as organising your road closure , safety measures and licences , take a look at The Street Party Site .

This clear, informative website has been set up by Streets Alive , the national group promoting street parties and other community-building initiatives.

It explains everything you need to know about planning and meetings, how to encourage everyone in the street to get involved and making sure everything about your party is safe and legally sound.

Streets Alive can also offer support if you encounter any problems setting up your party.

For first-time organisers, Streets Alive recommend keeping things simple and achievable.

Remember, the main aim is for everyone – and that includes the organisers – to have fun and get to know each other. Below are some easy ideas covering the main elements of a street party:

Catering

Food should be simple, and easy to prepare and distribute.

How about getting everyone to contribute a cake or make up several big batches of cupcakes (easy to make and universally liked!)? Make up jugs of squash for the kids and teapots of tea for the grown-ups. Or you could go fancy and rustle up some mocktails .

Barbecues are another low-fuss way to feed large numbers – keep things simple by offering hot dogs and burgers (both meat and veggie versions).

Simple sandwiches and bowls of crisps are another low-cost, simple option – see if everyone can contribute to the cost and preparation, making sure you have a good range of fillings, suitable for both meat-eaters and veggies.

Remember that no one person should foot the cost for anything but of course if anyone wishes to donate the odd bottle of wine that's fine. Alternatively, you may like to club together to buy some kegs of beer and wine boxes.

If you want to offer something a little more adventurous than sandwiches or hot-dogs, perhaps you could suggest everyone contributes a different dish. It doesn't have to be fancy – simple pasta or rice salads , samosas , quiches , etc.

Remember that more adventurous foods may require paper plates and cutlery, which in addition may add to your costs and clearing up. If possible, keep to foods that can be eaten on the hop so you only have to supply napkins and black bins for clearing up afterwards.

Find fantastic party food ideas and recipes.

Activities and attractions

You don't need a raft of complicated activities to make your party sparkle. The kids will most likely be happy enough having their street to themselves, where they can play, scoot and toddle along on their trikes.

But remember that toddlers mooching about on their trikes is fine, but you certainly don't want older kids taking over the road with their bikes and skateboards – you may have to set some 'ground rules' with parents beforehand on this issue.

Here are some other street party activity ideas for different ages:

• Cupcake decorating – set up a table with plain cakes and bowls of icing and sprinkles.
• Dressing up parade – the best fancy dress costume wins a prize
• Egg and spoon race – kids pitted against parents!
• Pavement chalking – make some creative pavement art
• Skittles
• Face painting
• Outdoor Jenga/Connect 4 etc
• Tug of war
• Live/acoustic music
• A good old fashioned sing song – group hokey-cokey, conga lines etc!

Browse our list of party games for all ages for more fun activity ideas.

Ideally, you want to keep things low-key to save clearing up afterwards, and it's probably best to avoid personal items being used during the activities – you don't want yours or other kids' toys and personal possessions being mislaid.

It might also be better to discourage more raucous activities, such as football, to minimise the chance of hitting a window, or indeed another resident on the face or head!

Decorations / setting

Bunting is the traditional street party decoration, which is relatively easy to make in advance (but you'll need a lot of the stuff so you'll have to enlist the help of your neighbours to help you cut and sew your bunting, or opt for some easy paper bunting instead).

If you want to keep costs low but don't want the hassle of DIY, take a look at eBay for cheaper versions of ready-made bunting. There are also some recommended bunting specialists on The Street Party Site .

Seating is an essential consideration. You want everyone to feel comfortable and relaxed, especially older residents, so do ensure you have plenty of seats.

Garden furniture and pop-up canvas chairs are ideal, or you could see if a local school or community centre can loan you some plastic chairs for the day.

Other community-based party ideas

If you don't feel ready to take on the organisation of a street party this year, there are several other ways you can do something for your local community, or just your close neighbours:

Garden party

Depending on how many people you can realistically accommodate, you could extend an 'open garden' invite to all your neighbours or just a portion of the road, taking in your immediate neighbours.

An informal garden gathering is a a fairly low-impact way to get to know local residents over a cup of tea and slice of cake.

Street picnic

Is there a local park you and your neighbours could meet up at for a residents' picnic?

Everyone brings their own food so no one person has to be responsible for organising the catering, and you can take along sports equipment or games to play – a great way to break the ice!

How about getting everyone involved in a game of rounders or footy?

Progressive dinner/supper parties

A progressive dinner (lunch or supper – dinner may not be an option if you've got kids of a certain age) is where a group of friends or neighbours get together for a meal with a difference: a different course is served at a different participant's home, so that the party moves from place to place.

You can strike up conversation over nibbles, get to know each other over the starter and hopefully by the end of the evening you'll have had a conversation that's a little longer and more enlightening than the usual rushed "Morning" as you rush out of the house!

Looking for more help with planning your party? Check out our articles below, or swap ideas with other parents in the forum:

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