Seasonal Events

Valentine’s Day crafts are perfect for your whole community - from children to retirement age adults. The holiday projects are also easy to tailor to everyone’s tastes. This ensures that your craft is one that all ages will enjoy. Vintage-style materials One way to keep everyone entertained is to incorporate vintage Valentine designs, clipart, and other unique elements in your projects. Vintage valentines are known for offering clever rhymes and messages, while also adding an element of nostalgia. You can use them as stand-alone cards, or mix vintage elements with modern embellishments like glitter glue and pretty scrapbook papers. You can easily find pre-made vintage valentines online to use as templates. You can also search Pinterest for relevant vintage valentine images and ideas. Consider pre-printing out vintage children’s valentines designs for residents to glue to cardstock and...

For many, the New Year brings excitement and enthusiasm for big life changes and healthier habits. Many start reflecting on the year that’s passed and make plans and promises for the months ahead. These resolutions can include educational, professional, or health related goals. January is the best time to capitalize on this enthusiasm by hosting a New Years’ Resolution Gym Training for your residents. Getting organized Many communities have a gym on-site, but not all residents use it. Some may feel intimidated by the machines and weights. Even with posted equipment usage and safety diagrams, not all residents may understand how to properly use the equipment. Use this beginning of the year enthusiasm for training residents. Organize an event to help residents understand how to get the most out of their workout from your community’s gym. ...

With more people mindful of the waste they’re putting out into the world, and interested in recycling, this holiday season is a great time to offer an eco-wrapping party for your resident community. This event will cover everything from recycled papers to fabric bags, and handcrafted bows to name tags. It’s a great way to get rid of old catalogs and things hanging around the office while helping residents pretty up their gifts for the upcoming holiday season. Residents can be encouraged to bring gifts for wrapping (especially if the recipient is not attending the event) as well as create elements to take home and use later. Here are a few different gift-wrapping station ideas: Up-cycled and recycled papers Encourage residents to start saving their newspapers and Sunday comics now – if they get...

By January – snow is in the air! It’s also on the ground. This makes it the perfect time for communities with snow to gather residents and hold their very own snowman building contest. For communities in the Northwest, Northeast and all cities in the central part of the country (to about the latitude of Omaha, Nebraska) it’s time to make use of that fluffy white stuff and get creative! This event can easily turn into a day-long activity where families are coming and going most of the day with minimal supervision. However, make sure that everyone knows the cut-off time for judging. This way, they can come to the event to craft their snowy creation before the final buzzer. Two to three hours are usually needed to craft the more elaborate designs. Planning and prep ...

With everyone in the holiday spirit, it’s a great time to gather your residents together in one room and organize a community holiday craft party. This month, residents will be making an assortment of winter and holiday-themed crafts for all ages – from children to older adults and everyone in between. We’ve highlighted a few snowflake crafts but there are other ideas and links at the end of the article. Preparation As always, with any craft event, it’s important to try the crafts yourself before sharing them with your residents. While working on your own sample design, you may find ways to streamline the process or discover new techniques that you want to share. A trial run will also give you some finished samples you can set out for residents to copy so they know they’re on...