Perhaps one of the most daunting and challenging things you will have to do is meeting your neighbours after moving. One of the logical places where you would want to establish some sort of camaraderie is with your neighbours, but you first need to break the ice so you can get to know them and decide whether they are people you want in your circle of friends.

It is not an easy task to make the decision to move, pack up your things, and end up with your family in a new city where you know absolutely no one. You left everyone you know and some very good friends behind, and everyone in the family will want to establish new friendships.

You are going to meet all sorts of people in your new neighbourhood, and you may not want to associate with everyone you meet.

Where to meet your neighbours?

At homeowners association meetings

If you move into a place with a homeowners association, then a logical place to start meeting people is at one of the meetings. People from the community will usually gather there to discuss things that are going on in the community, and you can become aware of what’s going on at the same time that you try to meet people.

At a local park

Another good place to meet your neighbours is at a local park where neighbours gather with their families and friends on weekends. This would be a great place for you to go with your family so that you could try to get to know other people with families.

At the common areas

A great place where you can meet people is if you live in a community with shared common areas such as laundry rooms, swimming pools, exercise areas, recreation rooms, spas and the like. You can definitely meet people who share common interests in these areas, and you can go about trying to get to know them.

Be active!

You could always wait until some of the neighbours begin coming over to your home to greet you, but you may not ever get to meet the shier ones. An excellent way to try to get to know your neighbours is by simply going over to their house, knocking on the door and introducing yourself. You will be surprised at how many great people you can meet by simply going over and breaking the ice.

Your children will probably make friends before you because it will not take them long to start playing with other children in the neighbourhood. This is a great way for you to break the ice with other families because you could ask to meet the families of your children’s friends.

In addition, this is also an excellent way to get to know the kind of people that your children are going to be hanging around with. You are going to be in a new neighbourhood, where you know absolutely no one, and you will want to keep a watchful eye over your children and make sure that they are going to be safe.

If you moved to your new neighbourhood because of work, you could always try to find out which of your coworkers lives close to where you live, and you could begin to meet other people in this manner. If your coworker has been in the area for a while, he/she is bound to know many people.

There are also local libraries, grocery stores, bookstores, cafes, churches and other places where friends and neighbours gather, and they are also excellent places for you to begin making new friends.