NEW YEAR TRADITIONS
Learn & Listen – Discuss New Year traditions, customs and/or superstitions with the residents Ask the residents what traditions they had in their home to celebrate the New Year. Ask them if they had any superstitions that their grandparents told them about. This would be a good session to have someone record their answers to document in a journal for the resident’s family to present at the end of the year or when necessary.
Game – Name that resolution!
Give hints to popular resolutions without saying what it is and ask the residents to name the resolution. Below are a few resolution hints:
• If you stay on track to reach this goal you will have to buy new clothes. (Lose weight)
• Extra green will be in your pocket if you reach this goal. (Pay off debts)
• It always helps when you do this for a rainy day. (save money)
• People never seem to be happy with the position they are in, so they always want to do this. (get a better job)
• If you quit this habit you will add years to your life and save lots of money. (quit smoking)
• This goal will require a ticket of some kind. (Vacation to another country by ship or plane)
• Turn off the TV and get in a comfy chair to do this goal. (read more good books or read through the Bible in a year)
• To do this you must give some of your time, but it is well worth it. (volunteer to help others)
• This is more than just an attitude it is a state of mind and condition of the heart. (Be happy)
Food – Try letting the residents make a special New Year’s food. You can find some interesting New Year’s recipes online.
At our house my mom would cook cabbage. This cabbage was a little different than most. She would sterilize a quarter and mix it in the cabbage serving dish. The first person that found the quarter in their serving was blessed with good fortune for the entire year. I am not sure where this tradition came from, however since we have Irish descendants I am guessing it came from that branch of our genealogy tree. Ask the residents if they had any family food traditions while you make your recipe.
Exercise – Do something different! Please don’t listen to the same music or do the same exercises that you do every day. As a volunteer I have heard residents say how boring it is to do the same stuff over and over. They have heard the same CD so much that it just does not excite them anymore. I can say I have to agree. Try playing show tunes, big band, classical, kid songs that have motions to it, or disco music to get them wanting to move. This will also help stimulate memories and help the residents relate to different times in their life. Try new exercise props. If you use a ball all the time, switch it up and use stretch bands, hand weights, or yoga blocks. This is a NEW YEAR, so do something NEW for your exercise time.
Craft – Call in the children and grandchildren for this project. Take digital pictures of the three different generations hands. You can print out the pictures from your computer on iron transfer paper so the residents can iron it on fabric to frame, or iron on a T-shirt, or a pillowcase to decorate their beds. This is also something that can be passed down to the family member. Don’t forget to use a fabric washable pen to write the names and date under the picture.
If you want to make this a facility craft project then take pictures of your residents hands with your staff. Partner up the nursing station with the residents they care for and include housekeeping, cooks/kitchen and maintenance staff. You could display this in a framed picture in the main entrance of your facility with the title like “Heritage Hands” or have a vote on the name of the picture. In fact you could turn naming the picture into a facility activity.
Game – Since today is all about NEW, let’s see how many things the residents can think of that is NEW. It does not matter if it is an item, position, world/local event as long as it is NEW.
Example: New potatoes, new shoes, new car, new day, new clothes, new policy, new job, new school, new TV show, new movie, new president, new carpet, new doctor, new hip, new judge, new hair style, etc. Make a list of your own before the activity time and then see how many they can guess that is on your list. You can also ask what’s new in the News, in your facility or your community. This will help residents recall changes they have noticed and you can note if you see change in their recognition and memory skills for their chart.
Movie – The Bucket List – 2007 – PG-13 for language (mild), and includes some sexual reference (mild and few). As always please review any movie suggestions to see if it is right for your residents.
BLACK AND WHITE GALA
Make this the classical social event to start off the New Year. Invite residents, staff, families, and vendors to this formal event. Since this will be a grand social I am just suggesting ideas to help make this event special. For those AD’s that need to have activities during the day until they have the gala in the late afternoon or evening hours, I will give a couple of suggestions as well.
Invitation ideas
White with black lettering and the theater black masks on the front cover. After printing out the invitation text on paper in black lettering, then fold and glue white and black glitter randomly across the front cover. (If you have this event in late January, you could have the residents help decorate these glitter invitations as a craft activity in the first week of January in preparation for the event. Make sure you send them out by the second week of January so your guest can plan to attend). Or print clip art of a top hat on the front cover.
Decoration ideas
Hang fabric from ceiling, door frame or drape along walls and tie with big black bows. Suggested fabrics: tulle, organza, or long white sheets. I know budgets are very tie, so check with your local free cycle website and ask for any of these fabrics, or contact a local wedding planner or event planner that might loan you the fabric. It never hurts to ask! OR you can ask staff if any have King size white flat sheets to use. Depending on your ceiling type you can use heavy duty magnets to help hold the fabric on metal runners on the push up light weight tile ceilings or use Christmas tree ornament hooks (keep in mind the hooks will put a pin hole in the fabric). If you have solid ceilings then try the Command Strips which come off walls easy and without hurting the walls. I personally would keep them up since you know you will be using them again for other party decorations and they are better than staples in the walls.
Adorn any dining tables with table cloths of white or black (you can sheets, fabric, plastic or paper and zigzag scissors to cut to size for each table. Top with any of the following:
• Sheer scarf (white on black or black on white)
• Confetti (black or white)
• A black plastic top hat turned upside down on table with one of the following a top it:
• Single white rose or carnation
• White gloves
• Add a wine bottle and surround it with crumpled clear basket wrap to give it an ice affect. OR fill with it with ice and add a bottle of sparkling juice or wine to serve during the event.
• Black and white balloons are always great to decorate. If you have helium tank then float the balloons with a stream of tulle to add elegance to them.
• White flower such as roses or carnations are always great and you can also use black flowers in the mix as well. If using silk flowers, it is cheaper to lightly spray paint the white flowers black or just use a paint brush to tip the white flowers with black paint.
• In a tall clear vase display black and white feathers as a center piece on tables.
• In a clear vase add clear or black marbles or glass stones and add in the center a small battery operated candle. Make sure to have someone to turn them on before the event begins. This gives the appearance of a candle, without the risk of a fire. You can also use a single string of white lights that are battery operated in a glass vase with white and black tulle or silk rose petals, or clear crumpled basket wrap.
Activities for Black and White theme
If you can hire a live band that is great, if not then make sure to use CD’s that are instrumental so the residents can relax and dance.
Riddle Me This
Ask resident riddles relating to Black and White. You can find many riddles on Riddles.com. In the site search type “Black and White”, then click on “Exact phrase” and search again. This will list categories of riddles that you can choose from to read to your residents to see if they can guess the answers to. The answers are on the site as well. Make it a challenging game by dividing the residents into teams. Read the riddle to the selected team; allow them a minute to determine the answer allowing only one member to give you the answer. If the answer is wrong the next team can try to guess the answer. For each right answer they get a point.
What’s Black and White?
This is more of a discussion group; however you can turn it into a game. Ask the residents to list common things in the following category that are black and white:
Home or Everyday life
Black and white tile floor, old photos, kitchen or bathroom curtains, table cloth, car, white house with black shutters, newspaper, pages of a book, applicants, clothes, fancy candies, furniture, street signs, new pavement with fresh paint street markings, etc.
Animal life
Zebra, skunk, cat, dog (Dalmatian), cow, bird, rare black and white tiger, birds, goats, black and white ruffed lemur
Whales, panda bears, butterflies, etc.
Name that Black and White Film Movie Star
The game is the same as the title. Give a brief description of movie star or a film during the Black and White film era so the residents can determine the title or star. You may have to give hints or show pictures (print movie star pictures on classicmovies.org, or you can check out film books from the library). Here is a list to get you started:
Stars: Louis Armstrong, Ingmar Bergman, Milton Berle, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, James Dean, Vincent Price, Ronald Reagan, Greta Garbo, The Marx Brothers, Shirley Temple, Jack Lemmon, Grace Kelly, Gloria Swanson, Orson Welles
Films:
• Sunset Boulevard (Gloria Swanson)
• Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)
• Casablanca (Humphrey Bogart)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (James Stewart)
• Some Like It Hot (Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Mary Badham and Gregory Peck)
• Wikipedia has a list in the category section of Black and White films you can use to reference.
Movie – Play any of the black and white classic movies.
BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE
Listen and learn – What was the coldest recorded winter in your area?
Google your home town or contact your local newspaper to get the five coldest winters in your area. Present the information to the residents and ask them if they remember the recorded winters. Ask them what they did to keep warm or if they remember something special they would like to share with the group. If you have residents that are from other states make an effort to find out what the past winters were like in their area. They will appreciate your efforts (even if they don’t tell you so, they will) and it will help them to participate in the discussion.
Game – Fill two boxes with clothes that are for both cold and warm weather. Hats, gloves, boots, mittens, swimsuits, shorts, coats, tank tops…etc, now divide the residents into teams and let them have a race to dress one of their team mates for cold weather. Each resident will need to take a turn reaching in their team’s box and pulling out one piece of clothing that feels like it would be for cold weather. The first team to dress their team mate wins.
Exercise – Bowling for Penguins – Decorate your bowling pins to look like penguins. Then let the residents see how many penguins they can take out. To make it interesting spread them out in different positions other than the normal bowling pin layout. If you don’t want to bowl for exercise time, then do some of the following to change the exercise time to fit today’s theme.
Decorated a bowling pin, balloon or use a toy stuffed penguin as a prop for the following stretches:
• Pass around turning in their chairs from side to side.
• Pass it over head from front to back passing it to the person behind them.
• Reverse the pass from back to front making sure they lean forward in their chair slightly to stretch.
• Pass it around with arms stretched out in front of them swinging it to the person on the other side.
• Put the prop in a light weight bucket with a large handle big enough to slide over a foot. Pass the bucket around using only their foot to hook the handle on. If this is a good way to strengthen the leg(s).
Do yoga, free dance or easy stretching to the sound track from “March of the Penguins” composer Alex Wurman.
Food – Make a warm apple cobbler. Residents can help with peeling, slicing and putting together the cobble. If you make several you could serve them during the Winter Social along with decaf coffee, hot tea, or milk.
Craft – Recycle old sweaters to make warm mittens for residents. This project is very simple and the residents can help with the simple pattern and those that can still use sewing machines can help sew since it is very simple. You will find complete instructions on craftbits.com, enter in site search window “Recycled Sweater Mittens” and clink on title. This gives you a list of materials and step by step pictures with instructions. This also has a four star rating at the time I found it.
Game – Inside snow fight – Use marshmallows, or rolled up white sock. Give each resident and staff members that want to participate. Give each a cup of marshmallows or a couple of rolled up white socks to represent snowballs. Once the fight begins they can catch any snowballs thrown at them to throw back. OR Let the resident throw their snowball at a moving staff members (like dodge ball style).
Movie/Social – Movie suggestion “March of the Penguins” or have a winter social serving the apple cobbler with hot drinks to warm their tummies. You can also have open mike night letting the resident try singing a few winter songs such as “Baby it’s cold outside”, “Winter Wonderland”, “Let it Snow Song”, or “Auld Lang Syne”. These are known as Christmas songs, however they have no reference of Christmas in the songs and would work well for the theme. You can find the lyrics for these songs and a little history of the writers online.
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CHRISTINE'S THEMES: 