Christmas Decoration Contest

Started by DianeK1 • 9 replies • 2005 views

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DianeK1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5

Posted:

We sponsored a "Best Decorations" contest in the various neighborhoods we manage. No homeowner monies were involved. We did the judging, not the neighbors. We are starting to get calls asking us why we choose the homes we did. Our intent was for it to just be fun. Each homeowner who won received a $10 gift certificate to a local store. Because these calls are rather nasty (because their house was not choosen or they just didn't agree with the choice)we are wondering whether we should continue to do it in the future. Any advice?

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

You Know Diane, there will always be this kind of intellect everywhere that you go. Life cheated them or they weren't considered because of Blah, whatever. They suck the fun out of anything that they get near, Ignore them. You did it the fairest way that you could. Isn't it wonderful that many of the neighbors did get involved. Don't let them change the fact that there was community involvement. It wasn't manditory so if they have a gripe with it, let them not get involved next year. And no matter what, they will be nasty just because that is how they go thru life, just nasty.

Maybe next year, you could get a neighboring association to judge? Just another option.

GeraldT4
Posts: 1,022

Posted:

DianeK - "Best" is subjective and does indicate that one is better than the other. This sets up a competitive spirit and I'm not surprised that some chose to take the low road and be offended over a $10.00 gift from the management company. While I wouldn't let that dissuade you from trying to build community spirit you may try different approaches in the future and hold the final results until after all holidays have passed. Meaning, allow those that celebrate Kwanza, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, etc. holidays to all be judged and included. I'm surprised there weren't complaints about that. You may just want to fund the event but let each community pick a committee to do the judging.

RickR3 (California)
Posts: 42

Posted:

Our HOA sponsors a Winter Wonderland contest. This gets away from being religion specific. The social committee does the judging with nice gift baskets for First and Second prizes. Every resident that decorates gets a token gift valued at about $5. The Board and the committee members are not elegible to win. Each year we have about 4 or 5 more homes lighting up the neighborhood. We have had no unhappy comments.

Rick
HOA President

DianeK1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Most contests of any sort are for the "BEST". That's what a contest is all about, or at least that's what I've been told. And a contest is competitive. As I stated, this was just for fun, no homeowner was going to get written up with a picture in a national, or even local magazine. While it would be nice to include every celebration, down here, you do not see homes decorated for Kwanza, Muslim or any of the other groups. There's a saying, "you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time". I honestly do not believe your suggestion to let each community pick a committee would change the outcome. You will still have someone who thought they should have won and not the one that did. I appreciate your thoughts.

GeraldT4
Posts: 1,022

Posted:

DianeK1 - "Winter Wonderland" has a much better ring than "Best Decorations". I am not disputing that some people will choose to complain as my post states, some chose to take the low road. If you let each community pick a committee it absolutely would change the results of a lot more than you think. First people would judge themselves and remove the management company from being in the middle of that responsibility, second it would give people the chance to volunteer for something and bring people out of the woodwork. Those who think they should have won can blame someone from within their community rather than the management company which should always try to remain objective, not subjective our "Best".

GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829

Posted:

Diane:

We have Yard of the Month, contests for Christmas decorations etc., however we as management do not do the judging. The social committee or the board members do the judging of their own community.

I would not recommend the MC to be a part of this process, because it does open the door for critisim of the MC (as if we don't get lots of that already).

If the board or committees judge their own neighbors/community well...it does belong to them. Merry Christmas!

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

One subdivision in our area has several categories - best use of white lights, most colorful, religious theme, holiday theme, most lighted street, etc.

DJ1 (Ontario)
Posts: 798

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DianeK1 on 12/19/2007 11:16 AM
We sponsored a "Best Decorations" contest in the various neighborhoods we manage. No homeowner monies were involved. We did the judging, not the neighbors. We are starting to get calls asking us why we choose the homes we did. Our intent was for it to just be fun. Each homeowner who won received a $10 gift certificate to a local store. Because these calls are rather nasty (because their house was not choosen or they just didn't agree with the choice)we are wondering whether we should continue to do it in the future. Any advice?

Did they have to submit their decoration plan to the ARC for approval before installing it? Send the bah humbugs a violation letter for not getting prior approval since they have already admitted they decorated but didn'
t win!

.....just kidding, really. I think it was a great idea and like others have said, ya can't please everyone all the time. Ah what the heck, send the complainers a violation notice!

DwightT (Idaho)
Posts: 664

Posted:

Last year we used a judging committee made up of homeowners, and we still had those complaints. This year I'm using an on-line voting system so that all of the homeowners have the opportunity to vote. I've taken photos of the participating homes and posted them on our website. Registered homeowners can pick their top three. At the end of the voting period (this weekend) I'll post the results. I'm sure there will still be some complaints (as has been mentioned, some people just like to complain) but since the "winners" were selected by everyone in the neighborhood, I'm hoping to at least keep the complaints to a minimum.

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