Neighbours Day

Celebrating Neighbours Day Aotearoa in the beautiful Kāpiti Coast is the perfect way to take that first step in getting to know your neighbours better – or to renew the relationships you've already created. It encourages us all to connect with our neighbours and celebrate our neighbourhoods.

Getting to know your neighbours strengthens our community making it healthier, safer and more resilient – especially during emergencies when we need to support each other.

Theme and event dates

The theme for Neighbours Day 2022 is Kai Connections. Connecting over kai is a fun, inclusive and creative way to get involved. You can choose to grow, make or share your kai with your community.

Neighbours Day events run any time between Friday 18 March and Sunday 27 March and most events are online this year due to Covid-19.

How to hold an event

You can still get involved in Neighbours Day or host an event — and we are recommending moving your events online.

For example, you could create a neighbourhood group chat on social media channels like Messenger or What's App, or leave recipes or produce in your neighbour's letterbox or on their doorstep. You could also take photos of your kai creations and recipes and share them with your neighbours online.

For more guidance about participating in events at red level, see the Ministry of Health guidelines.

Special Neighbours Day events

We have arranged three special events for Neighbours' Day – a ‘recipe swap stand’ in your local library; an Ako Skill Cafe session on "Love food, hate waste"; and an online foraging workshop with Mike King. Read on for details!

Foraging workshop

Mike King from Finders Eating Foraging uses kai to connect to his community.

In this introductory workshop you'll learn a couple of native plants you may not have known you can eat! Enjoy this sneak peek into Ōtaki College's garden, where Mike uses ice cream to teach the students about horticulture and foraging.

Activity suggestions

Neighbourhoods can make their own plan or choose from this list of suggested fun activities:

swapping home-grown produce
sharing recipes
drawing kai with chalk on the footpath (children)
planting seeds to grow your own kai
or simply enjoying a cup of tea, a biscuit and a friendly chat.

For more ideas visit the Neighbours Day Aotearoa website.

Support and resources

To help make your event as good as possible, you will receive:

support, tips and resources to organise your event
goodie pack including Neighbours Day resources, vouchers and other goodies
follow-up support and information to help neighbours stay connected.

In addition, all event hosts go in the draw to win some great prizes.

More information

To get your resources and goodies bag or find out more, email [email protected]

He wake eke noa! We're all in this together!