Moving house is a super-busy period when your moving and packing checklist will be full to the brim with important move-related tasks. Still, no matter how busy you may be, you must do everything in your power to find time to say goodbye to your friends before you move out.
Everyone knows that good friends are a treasure, so if you’ve been blessed to have great friends around you, genuinely awesome people who love you and care about you, then no moving job is more important than spending some quality time with your closest ones before your move takes you away to another part of the country, or maybe even abroad.
Deep down, you know that saying goodbye to your friends when you move away is something that you must do regardless of how little time you may have until the day of the move. However, you may not be sure how to approach that goodbye thing properly. Or you may think that you won’t be able to find enough time for it.
Here are the best ways to say goodbye to friends when you move.
1. Find the time to inform your friends about the move
As soon as it becomes clear that you have to move away and there’s nothing you can do to stop or postpone that move – especially when you do want it to become a reality, one of the first things you should do is share the news with your closest friends.
Without a doubt, you’ll have plenty of worries to occupy your mind and you may come to the conclusion that telling your friends that you’re moving is not a big deal and certainly not an urgent matter in any way. And most of the time, you’ll be wrong to think that. Why?
Here are the top 3 reasons why contacting your friends to arrange a proper goodbye is a high-priority task:
- The longer you keep your move under wraps, the less time you will give the people who care about you to process the news that soon you won’t be there with them. And that’s not really fair of you.
- The more you wait until you tell your friends that you’re moving away, the smaller your chances will be of getting their help with packing or lifting heavy items. This has to do with disrupting your friends’ plans with your delayed information.
- The more time you keep your pals unaware of your impending house move, the more undervalued they may feel, especially if they happen to learn about your move from somebody else.
So, don’t waste valuable time but get in touch with your good friends to break the news to them as soon as you can.
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2. Tell your friends in person that you’re moving away
Once you know that it is time to say goodbye to all your friends before you move away, the big question will be exactly how to inform them of the big step that you’re about to take.
Sit down for a moment and think: what’s the best way to say goodbye to your friends?
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Make an effort to inform your best friends about the move in person.
In person. Without a doubt, this is the best method of informing your pals that you’re moving house. It shows that you do care about them and you will have the chance to first invite them to a farewell party (see below) and then to ask them to help you pack and move, if they can.
- On the phone. The next best thing to meeting your friends face to face in order to tell them you’re moving soon is to pick up the phone and give them a call. This approach is still personal as you’ll be hearing each other’s voices – it may be next to impossible to meet all of your dear friends in person during your moving preparation.
DON’T make the rookie mistake of sending a mass e-mail or composing a soulless post on your favorite social network to inform your best friends that you’ll be practically gone before long. After all, the people who are closest to you do deserve a bit of a personal touch, don’t you think?
3. Do something fun together with your friends
Reaching out to your best friends and saying a quick Bye-bye won’t really work. Unless you’re desperately trying to pull off an emergency move, you should plan to dedicate some of your pre-move time to the ones you love and will miss the most after you’ve moved away.
You’re moving but you’re still there, so that’s a great chance to spend some quality time with your closest friends, one last time before you drive away in the direction of your new home. It won’t be the end of your friendships, of course, for there are many present-day ways to keep in touch with friends via long-distance communication (see below for more info).
And yet, nothing compares to doing something fun with your pals so that you can create new pleasurable memories and get that gratifying sense of proper farewell. Do your best to find some time in your busy moving calendar to do any of the following fun activities with your favorite people:
- Go see a movie or a theater play together – an excellent way for you to let go of some of the accumulated moving stress.
- Go to a live music performance and let the good music give you hope and reassurance about what the future holds for you after the move.
- Play sports or games together – any type of sport or game that you all practice and enjoy to raise your spirits despite that fact that you’ll be gone soon.
- Take a walk in a park or have a short hike in nature – a great chance to talk to each other at length and discuss the future leisurely.
Make sure you visit your and your friends’ favorite places to create new unforgettable memories.
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4. Organize a farewell party for your friends
You’re about to move away and you do want to see all of your good friends for one last time. After you’re gone, who knows when you’ll be able to see those kind faces again – it could be soon but it could also be months or even years before you meet some of them again.
Organizing a goodbye party is a great way to see your closest friends once again.
This is why, the best way to say goodbye to your friends when you’re moving is to invite them over to a party, the so-called farewell party. The timing of that friendly get-together should be shortly before you leave your current place – somewhere within the final week of your preparations. Of course, the exact date and time should be convenient for everyone on your guest list.
A goodbye party is an excellent opportunity to see all your good friends in one place and to spend some fun time with them. Make the occasion as informal as possible with no strict rules to spoil the fun. You can either cook something delicious for your pals or order tasty food from a local restaurant. Buy refreshing drinks, including a variety of alcoholic beverages, and prepare good music to keep your guests content.
Expect sad feelings to take over at your farewell party – after all, you’re moving away so your good friends won’t be thrilled by that thought that they may not see you for a long, long time. And you won’t be around your buddies anymore – a fact that should make you rather miserable too.
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5. Do something special with and for your friends
Bittersweet emotions will be running high at the moving away party but it’ll be up to you to make that last goodbye with your friends exceedingly memorable and exceptionally special.
Here are a few ideas to make your farewell party extra special.
- Play fun games. What better way to say goodbye to your friends when moving than to have a fun-filled evening that all of you will remember for a long time! You know your pals best so you should know what they will enjoy. Get creative. Hire a karaoke system from the local music store and sing your favorite songs. Think of a board game that everyone loves (Monopoly, anyone?) and have fun with it.
- Take a walk down memory lane. Ask your friends to share their favorite memories of your time together. If some of them are too shy to do it in front of anyone, have them write those cool memories on pieces of paper, then keep them and read them later when you’re all by yourself. In fact, reminiscing over happy memories of past events is one of the greatest ways to say goodbye to your friends before you move away.
- Make a farewell speech. Your closest friends should know how much you value their friendship but it’ll make a huge difference if you make the effort to reinforce that once more. Deliver a special farewell speech for your friends in which you thank your friends and assure them how much they mean to you. It’ll be best if you can share out load a great memory with each one.
- Give special gifts to your friends. Finally, you can prepare some farewell gifts for your friends that will symbolize your friendship. Possible gift ideas include photo albums, scrapbooks, signed books, thank-you cards, or some other pieces of art you made yourself (priceless hand-made gifts).
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6. Promise your friends to keep in touch after the move
There’s no question that it can be very hard to say goodbye to your friends before you move away. You’ll soon lose the comfort and familiarity of your life where your good and loyal friends were there for you through thick and thin. Often, losing that friendly support system can be a hard pill to swallow and may trigger unwelcoming side effects after the move like separation anxiety (aka relocation depression).
Promise your best friends that you’ll keep in touch after you move away, and then try not to break that promise.
Luckily, we’re well inside the Information Age so it’s easier than ever before to keep in touch with your old friends regardless of the distance between you – just think of smartphone calls and texts, free calls via the Internet, e-mail messages, instant messages (online chatting), social networks, and of course – real postcards and letters. All it takes is a mutual desire to do so, really.
While you’re saying goodbye to friends when moving, one thing you should definitely do is to promise to each other that you’ll keep in touch after you’ve already moved to the town or city you’re moving to. So, give your pals your new address in case they wish to visit you sometimes or send you a postcard, or even write you a real old-school letter on paper. Exchange current phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and social media profiles – make sure you’ve got all the prerequisites for a successful post-move communication so that nobody can come up with the excuse that they didn’t have your contact information.
Ultimately, a promise to keep in touch is just that – a promise that some will keep while others will break. It’s okay though – you’re starting a brand-new phase in your life and you’ll need to concentrate on all the things (and people!) that will be waiting for you at your destination. It may seem uncool and even harsh at the time of saying your goodbyes with your old friends, but you will, inevitably, make new friends in the new city. And when you do, don’t forget how special your present-day friends are.
