Air Quality Alert: 6 New Ideas for Indoor Resident Events

Editor-in-Chief
Jessica Fiur

Look out your window right now.

If you’re in New England, Northeast and even some parts of the South, it might look like a post-apocalyptic dystopia. It’s eerily quiet, and everything is cast in a bleak sepia tone. If you dare to crack that window, you might smell burnt toast.

Turns out, this is all being caused by Canadian wildfires. The New York Times is reporting that there are health alerts in many areas of the country warning people of poor air quality.

In other words: Stay inside.

Hopefully this will dissipate soon. If you’re in one of the affected areas and you had an outdoor resident event planned, you should probably cancel it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still plan some fun indoor events!

After all, we all learned during the COVID lockdown that, if anything, we are adaptable—and this time people can actually be in one place together!

Here are some indoor resident event ideas for when it’s raining, snowing, hailing, or if it looks like the last 10 minutes of a zombie movie outside.

Make your own cupcake/sundae/hot chocolate bar. OK, this isn’t really a new idea, but you can’t mess with a classic, and anything with free food is a classic! The possibilities are practically endless when it comes to food, and there are no bad options. (Wait. No. A “make your own salad” bar would be bad. I refuse to come to that, and you can’t make me!)

Host a headshot session. You can set up a photo studio and hire a photographer (or maybe even one of your residents who is good with the camera), and take headshots that people can use on their LinkedIn profile or for other professional events. This type of event is already gaining popularity at some multifamily communities!

Work out. Another classic. Get in a yoga instructor, spinning instructor, running coach, etc., to host a fun class for your residents. My pick? A Jane Fonda-esqe aerobicize class (with leotards and leg warmers required, obviously). You could even invite prospective residents to join in to really see how good your fitness facilities are.

Image by Ylanite Koppens via Pexels.com

Have a game night. A game night is a great opportunity to get residents to hang out and chat together. People can play classic games, or the really intense new ones where it takes an hour to read the instructions plus the extra time to watch a YouTube video on gameplay before you begin. Both fun options! On a related note, if anyone can explain to me like I’m a 5 year old how to play Catan, please do, because I bought it at the height of the pandemic and still can’t figure out how to play!

Run a digital scavenger hunt. Not a regular scavenger hunt. A cool scavenger hunt. These utilize phones, and you can use pictures, videos, QR codes and even GPS to make them really fun and tailor them to your residents and your community.

Get a babysitter. Have residents drop off their kids to play games, watch movies and other fun activities. Then the parents can go out and do something fun. Or get some errands done. Or finally watch that Max show with all the bad words. (It’s not like they’re going outside right now anyway.)

What are some other ideas for indoor resident activities? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Send a tweet to @MHNOnline or @jfiur, or send me a message on LinkedIn. Hope everyone stays safe!