We have two great Christmas celebrations. One is for our residents living on South/west. This celebration happens on the 3rd Wed of December and begins at 7:30PM. The resident family members are invited to attend via the newsletter and to bring a present for Santa to deliver during the party. We have a live band that plays Christmas carols and any requests that our residents may have. We have a dance every month on the 3rd Wednesday, but of course the Christmas one has a lot more Oomph and Pizzazz!
Every resident receives a present from Santa (My assistant, Lorna’s husband is great). If the resident has no family to provide for them, we make sure they have a present. We make a lot of joyful noise during this party; the band encourages us to sing a long!
We serve fancy decorated cup cakes, candy, and we have a punch fountain that is beautiful with lights shining through our red Christmas punch. We hold this party in our main dining room; we just push the tables back to the wall to allow room for dancing; this also gives residents and their guests a place to eat their treats. We find having our South/West party on this particular evening gives family members the opportunity to spend some Christmas time with their loved one in case they may be out of town for the actual Holiday.
Our other Christmas part occurs on the 3rd Friday of the Month ion our Sunshine North Memory Care Unit. Again, all family members are invited and asked to bring a wrapped present for Santa to deliver. The reason that we do not have combined Christmas parties is that it has been our experience that most of our Sunshine North residents become agitated and overloaded with the noise etc. and they definitely do not enjoy themselves. The party On sunshine North consists of singing Christmas carols, decorated cupcakes, the punch fountain, and of course a visit from Santa Claus (one of our Sunshine North CNAs is a great Santa for this party he is well versed in Alzheimer dementia care and is a great, gentle Santa) This party occurs during the early afternoon. An evening party on Sunshine North is not usually a good idea as it may cause some resident overload adding to the sundowning issues already occurring. We have several Sunshine North residents that do very well during our monthly dance (off unit), but do not do well with the Holiday bells and whistles thrown in.
We also have a children’s Christmas party that our residents really enjoy. This party if for all of the staff’s children and resident’s grand children and greatgrandchildren. You can’t beat the combination of the very young and the very old. It is always a great combination. I guess I have taken enough of your time. If you need anything else, be sure and let me know…we’re always glad to help.
Linda Lachman, Activity Director
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