30 Ideas for Resident Events: Virtual, Grab-N-Go, & Social Media
We’ve seen the craziness you’ve had to deal with as a property manager and then also everything that you’re probably juggling at home, and you’re all doing it with such grace. So, give yourself a pat on the back and take a breather.
With all that craziness, property managers and leasing offices are having to be creative in how they are connecting and communicating with their residents. To help you out, we’ve pulled together 15 Favorite Event ideas for your apartment community to post about on social media and some unique virtual resident events. And after be sure to download our full list of event ideas!
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RESIDENT EVENT IDEAS
AND OTHER EVENT ESSENTIALS
DIGITAL EVENT: ROMANCE MOVIE BINGO
February is the perfect month for romantic comedy binge-watching (helloooo Netflix)! Host a micro-event with this virtual bingo game. This would be really fun to do with an ongoing series like Emily In Paris!
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS CHALLENGE
Spread kindness among your community with this pay-it-forward social media challenge. 💕 Challenge your residents (and team) to pay-it-forward and do simple random acts of kindness for another person.
Ideas for Random Acts of Kindness Initiatives
This is one of the thousands of instant download social media graphics included in the Ultimate Apartment Marketing membership.
“Our community LOVES the Canva designs. Thank you Sprout team for giving us this option to use in addition to your amazing customizable designs!!”
Guess How Many
Simply fill a jar with candy hearts, display your signs, and let people start guessing. You can have guess cards out or people can guess online on social media to do it totally virtual.
Examples of Various Guess How Many Events Available to Sprout Members
This is one of the thousands of instant download social media graphics included in the Ultimate Apartment Marketing membership.
“We use all of the templates and content that you share almost daily. Love the creativity and ease of use for all sorts of different occasions with really good content and design!”
Game Day Fun
Host a virtual contest to PREDICT THE SCORE of the game. Invite residents to comment on social media and whoever gets the closest wins.
It can be a great way for residents to feel connected while they watch the game.
You could also have a poll or commentary about the half-time entertainment.
VIRTUAL HEART-HEALTH FITNESS CLASS
February is American Heart Month and is an ideal time to remind everyone to focus on their hearts and encourage them to get their families, friends, and communities involved (though heart health is a year-round thing so anytime is good).
Create a virtual heart-health event to focus on your health with regular exercise and good posting!
You could do a week of social media challenges (25 squats, 100 jumping jacks, etc.) and invite residents to tag you or emoji the post when they’ve completed the challenge. Then randomly select a winner from those that engaged.
Hire a nutritionist to host a class via zoom and share easy ways to pack heart-healthy lunches for work or simple heart-smart dinners after a busy day. These are the kind of practical events residents will love!
Partner with a professional physical therapist or a fitness trainer to share simple ways for people to get more exercise to strengthen their hearts.
VIRTUAL BUILD-A-BOUQUET
Flowers make us happy! Offer a virtual build-a-bouquet class and let your residents pick up their floral kits from the office. Learn how to create colorful and aesthetic works of art while using flowers as a medium of expression.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Announce and invite residents to RSVP through IG, FB, or email.
Pick out fresh flowers and greenery. Decide if you’ll provide the vases or mason jars (Buying flowers and supplies in bulk from a wholesale shop is cost-saving).
A nearby florist or resident who knows about floristry and is willing to teach the virtual class. Host it via zoom!
WINE & CHOCOLATE TO-GO
What could be better than 1) drinking wine or 2) eating chocolate? Drinking wine AND eating chocolate. Let your residents do both with this wine and chocolate to-go event.
DO IT NOW IN A FEW EASY STEPS
Host a grab-and-go event! Announce on social media that you have wine & chocolate available for residents during business hours.
Be sure to get a few smiling faces on camera! Brag about your residents on social media and show off their treats.
8. TAKE AND BAKE BROWNIES
Building your community through events doesn’t mean every event has to be hosted in your community room (which isn’t possible right now). Enter the Take & Bake Brownie event. You provide the brownie ingredients, they take it home… everyone wins!
Example of all the Take and Bake goodies Available to Sprout Members
Sprout Members get instant downloads, customizable flyers, gift tags and party signs with the Ultimate Apartment Marketing membership.
“I really love the personal customization options. It affords me the ability to find cute & informational fliers, but tailor them to EXACTLY what I want/need.”
(#9) FOOD EVENTS FOR APARTMENTS
We all love it so Make a post with a picture of your dinner and ask residents to comment on what they’re having.
You can post a recipe for one of your favorite dinners and ask residents to drop their favorite recipes in the comments.
Repost recipes from other resources.
Disclaimer though… be mindful of your area and what’s available and in-season when you post. Also, make sure you aren’t posting recipes that your residents might not be able to recreate! This should be fun and easy for everyone.
(#10) VIRTUAL CHALLENGES FOR APARTMENTS
Get Cleaning: a Cleaning Challenge on social media! Ask residents to post a before and after picture of a junk drawer, or closet, or bedroom that they cleaned out. Perfect for Spring or any time of year.
How about a “Virtual Hang” Challenge? Encourage people to connect with loved ones and friends.
Host a Selfie Challenge virtual event on your social media page and encourage your followers to create a photo diary.
(#11) PET-FRIENDLY EVENTS FOR APARTMENTS
give residents a reason to talk about their pets with pet-friendly themed social media posts
Everyone loves their pets and loves to talk about them. Here are some posts you can make to encourage residents to comment on social media.
🐶💘🐱
Post a picture of what your pet is doing right now
What’s the most mischievous thing your pet has done?
How did you get your pet?
How did your pet get its name?
(#12)Additional FITNESS EVENTS FOR APARTMENT communities
encourage residents to stay active
Highlight fitness opportunities around your community like a park nearby for them to go on a run or a community basketball court.
Share some Apps your residents can use. Here are a few that I’ve seen having promotions lately.
Invite residents to participate in a virtual steps challenge. Everyone has to post a picture of their watch or pedometer for accountability.
For residents that feel comfortable with outside meet-ups, host weekly walking and/or running clubs.
(#13) EDUCATIONAL EVENTS FOR APARTMENTS
Encourage Your Residents to Learn a New Skill
Make a poll on social media to see what your residents are interested in learning about and post resources about the things they chose.
Eventbright.com is a website that has some great training events.
Reach out to residents or team members that they could host a live event based on a topic or skill that they are talented at. This is a great bonding experience for your community!
Ask residents to record mini-tutorials teaching their skill and you can share on your social media.
You can also keep the new skill simple by encouraging residents to have a little TRIVIA fun. We put a few of our favorites for you to instantly download after purchase here.
Our team recently did a virtual chunky blanket class and it was so much fun. In the upcoming month, we are learning about ancient tea brewing since many on our team have an interest in that. Check out the site we booked through here.
(#14) additional WATCH PARTY EVENTS FOR APARTMENTS
host a Netflix Watch Party with your residents
After installing the Chrome extension, simply navigate to the streaming service of your choice and click on the extension in the corner.
This will start a room and from there, you send the link out. Teleparty supports a group chat feature, though it doesn’t come with video.
Capacity depends on server capabilities but at some times you can fit up to 50 people in a group.
Ideas for grab-n-go goodies for residents
STEP 1: ORDER YOUR GOODIES
STEP 2: PICK YOUR FLYER
STEP 3: PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
various other Social Media posts to create engagement with residents:
Post about podcasts you like.
Give suggestions on accounts to follow on social media (interior design, funny, inspirational, etc..)
Shoutout restaurants that are delivering in your area.
Highlight different things that are happening near your community.
Encourage virtual acts of kindness.
Show some appreciation to all the healthcare workers.
Share music that makes you happy. You could share a Spotify Playlist, or have residents send in songs that make them happy and have a community playlist.
Keep it light with straight-up funnies. We have a few favorites below.
NEED MORE IDEAS FOR YOUR RESIDENT EVENTS?
8 Heartwarming Events to Keep Your Residents Falling in Love with Your Community
Unique (and easy) Resident Appreciation Ideas for Your Apartment Community
12 Fun and Easy Resident Event Ideas to Show Resident Appreciation
Episode 53: Building a Sense of Community in a No-Touch World
See how Sprout Members are bringing Resident Events to life at their apartment communities!
