"House party" control ideas
 

My biological sister and I have had NUMEROUS house parties and have NEVER, EVER had a single problem. This past weekend we had a bash and about 1:30am I get a call from my neighbor asking that we keep it down b/c we woke him up. There were only about 10 people outside but I had them come inside. My street is a cul-de-sac with only about 15 houses on the street, so you can imagine that with about 40 people at my house that night, there was lots of traffic down a generally quiet street. The next day my neighbor told my dad that after he called and spoke with me at 1:30, we continued to be loud, we had blaring music, and that we had vehicles up and down the street until 5 in the morning. It was a very low-key get-together, but supposedly my neighbor couldn't sleep. He never bothered to call my house again and let me know, although I know we weren't loud after his call. This neighbor that was complaining lives across the street from me. NONE of my other neighbors complained what-so-ever, not even the next door neighbors who always complain about my dog keeping them awake all night b/c of her non-stop barking.

Here's the deal:
In a few weeks my sister and I are having another party and are expecting it to be about twice the size as the one we had this past weekend. In order to keep things as quiet as possible, I won't allow anybody to be standing in front of the house. If they want to smoke or get a fresh breath of air, they can go to the back yard, but I do not want anybody "hanging out" in the back yard. Other than that, I have no other ideas as to how we can keep the party "under control." Like I mentioned, we've never had any problems before, but with my neighbor acting silly this past weekend, I think I need to take certain precautions for our next bash. My sister told his daughter about our upcoming bash, but I am not sure if her dad (the complainant) knows about it. If I were to talk to him about the bash beforehand and ask him to call me if there were any problems, I know he would call and expect me to send everyone home, which I will not do (not immediately, any way). What is good common ground for this situation? Should I ask people to carpool? Not to be leaving and coming back? Our parties are always a blast and I don't want to put a damper on our infamous Mardi Gras party because of a silly neighbor.

Okay, I think I covered what was important. I need some major help with this situation, as I've never been in this situation before. Thanks in advance to all of you party animals who know the ropes and want to help a girl out. :) I'd also be interested in hearing from people who are on the other side of the table and have been bothered by partying neighbors. Thank ya much!

(Sorry for my rediculously long post. I'm pretty bored at work and can't wait to leave in an hour to head to the Shakira concert!! :D)

Invite the neighbor!

Seriously though you might just make an attempt to discuss the situation with the neighbor, let them know before you have a party so maybe they can make plans.

They probably didn't call you a second time because people generally don't like to directly confront people about issues. In this guy's case I think that is evident since he called your folks before talking to you.

You just need to find out exactly what would be defined as too loud. At least then you'll have a starting point for your party control.

Good luck!

The guy didn't call my parents before he called us. He talked to my dad the day after the party and told him about it being "too loud." I want to let him know beforehand about the bash, I just don't know how to do it. He doesn't have a problem confronting people, believe me. That is why I said that if we were still "too loud" after his call, he would have called us again. Ahh, thanks for the luck. At the rate of things, we will need it. :)

We live in apartments. The neighbors on either side of us have night jobs(thank God for UPS and hospital ERs!!!). So, usually only one will be home. We will tell them or leave a note that we are having a couple of people over. We'll always make sure that it's okay for them to use the extra visitors parking space. And we make sure that everyone smokes out back. It's just the neighborly thing to do.

And one of our neighbors was invited to our party. He didn't realize that everyone was a Greek until later. It totally changed his opinion of Greeks. He's thinking about pledging Sigma Chi or PIKE next semester.

I wouldn't tell jim about it because he may throw such a fit that you have to cancel. I would ask that people don't park on your street, so the cars don't bother him, and ask that they don't go outside, but if they do, they be quiet. Maybe you could make signs?

I have dealt with a LOT of totally unreasonable neighbours, and sometimes you just have to do what you want. Don't worry too much unless he calls the police. I doesn't sound liek you have raginig parties, so he really can't do anything but be an ass.

-Michelle