Birthdays in long term care

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I think many of your residents like celebrating their birthday as well because it is a day that they are special and can be treated like a king or queen. Usually you have a monthly birthday party where residents young and old born in a particular month are recognized and honored. Everyone eats cake and ice cream because of them. Who doesn’t like cake and ice cream?

Here are some other ideas for a monthly birthday party for your residents. Every month has special days associated with it. I talk about these special days discussing facts about them and asking the residents questions about them. Of course, we cheer for those giving the correct answer. I also find songs related to the special days and alternate songs with discussions.

During the month I pass out homemade, resident made or computer generated cards about a particular subject occurring that month with several questions about the topic. I invite residents to answer the questions with space provided on the card. Then I and other staff members collect the cards. During the party I have several residents pick a winning card from those that have been turned in. The more residents that turn in the cards, the more prizes I give out. I also give out certificates to those who turned in a card but did not win a prize

I have a hanging pocket organizer hanging on a wall in a central location with these special cards and various other independent activities the residents can do when no activity staff is around.

Anyway back to the party. We always serve the cake and ice cream last because it seems like once the residents have something to eat, they want to leave.

I find that I can fill up an hour of time pretty easily with this strategy. I then can have entertainment on another day thus stretching my activity budget.