Not sure how to phrase the title and didn't have much luck trying to find out via forum searches if someone else had asked the question. Anyway, we have recently moved into our new home and aren't sure what is customary as far as introducing ourselves. Needing some help and input ...
The previous home owner took us to one of the four attached houses (of which ours is one) and introduced us since the couple is in charge of the few small shared items for the four attached houses. This couple told us that another family had moved in just up the road and had placed a note in everyone's mailbox introducing themselves.
I'm thinking this would be a good start, a nicely worded note in all the neighbourhood mailboxes? Or do we need to throw an apéro? Since we have dogs we're slowly unofficially meeting the neighbours with dogs, either out on walks or along the fence line, but I do feel like I want to get off on the right foot with everyone. For reference we are in Vaud, small town.
I'm not sure about your Kanton, but in Zürich, a tradition is to bake bread. Then to give new neighbors a SMALL loaf. This shows, homeliness, local respect, cooking ability and friendship.
Hope you have good cooking skills. Remember, to give the bread when freshly baked.
Should have explained it better, they're the couple who has been there the longest and there was simply a need for two people to be signatures on the shared account for the heating, which is managed really by the heating company but the bank wanted two homeowners for signatures on all documents etc. The wife is one official signature and the previous owner of our house was the other. The idea is that my husband (since I'm not Swiss lol) becomes the other official signature and also slowly takes over the minimal accounting work needed that the heating company requests ... anyway lol.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. So far we've been warmly welcomed and hope to keep the friendliness alive for the duration
In our (very) small village in Vaud there are a number of people that are isolating and staying in their bubble.
If you’d like to do an Apéro I would recommend something outdoors if possible. I wouldn’t bake bread though, I’ve not heard of that here.
So a note in letterboxes introducing yourselves and your dogs, with an invite to apéro with a starting and finishing time. Also ask for a RSVP to avoid surprises.
When we moved into our apartment building in Basel it was brand new. After 3 months there was only 1 apartment still to be let and someone put a note on the front door and in everyone's mail box to ask if we would all like to get together one evening in the courtyard to introduce ourselves and have an apero. Everyone was keen and we all brought a little bit of food, wine and beer to share. The guy who was moving into the last flat moved in the same evening so he was able to briefly join us. It was a real ice breaker and turned us into a nice little community, since then we've had a 25th birthday and a few other things. Sadly Covid killed the plans this year which were for a BBQ. I'm hoping things might be better by Christmas, if not I plan to put a table in the entrance hall with a jolly tablecloth and lots of bags of chocs and sweets. The tenants did that at our last place and the caretaker put up a tree and decorations every Christmas, also bunnies and decorations at Easter
We live in canton Zurich, and there have been quite a few families move in and out of our building over the years, and none of them have ever held an apero or baked bread or anything such as that. It was always just a "hello" in the hallway if we bump into each other and maybe a "Welcome to the building, I'm so and so" when the situation is right. And that's it. But maybe people do things differently in Vaud? Or maybe we just have unfriendly neighbors.
Just wanted to update—we went to an apero hosted by the neighbors who moved a few weeks before us and the neighbors were almost all present and were extremely kind. We are now looking forward to hosting our own apero as soon as we have ourselves organized!