Restvale

Hi from OZ.
We have just done a two week wedding theme. We decorated the facility with wedding dresses and men's suits from residents, families and staff all bringing in their garments. One dress was from 1929! We had photo and decoration displays. All our activities were themed around wedding stuff. Bingo we used fancy buttons, we conducted small group conversations centered around weddings, brain games and quizzes were wedding themed and at the end of the two weeks we had a full on wedding reception with a wedding cake, staff dressed in wedding dresses, residents dressed up in their good clothes, tables were set, music on, etc. Limitless as to what you can do. I follow the months of the year like what Susan above does.
January - Australia Day.
Feb - Valentines Day.
March - St Patrick's Day. Easter
April - Easter Anzac day in Australia.
May - Mothers Day
June - Queens Birthday holiday
July - Nothing on so this is when we do a theme such as our wedding day.
August - Daffodil Day; this is a fundraiser for the Cancer Society of Australia. We have a morning tea/luncheon/afternoon.
September - Start of Spring for us! We also have fathers Day.
October - Octoberfest. A German theme.
November - We have the Melbourne Cup horse race. Big on our calendar. We also have Remembrance Day (for the wars).
December - Christmas.
We also do color days some months, encouraging the staff and residents to dress in different colors. Hope this all helps. Regards, Sallie.

See my reply Carol.

Hi we are in South Australia and do a 'Pamper Day' every 6/8 weeks. Our residents love this day. We use essential olds in a diffuser, have hand spa's, massages, cutting and polishing nails and foot spa's with flowers and marbles for them to roll their feet on. We also use a 'princess' chair where we can lay back a resident and do a facial and cucumber on the eyes! We play soft music and close the curtains. We do it as a group activity and the carer bring resident up when they are ready and they take it in turns to have the various things done. They love to chat; even the dementia about other times when they have had this done in their lives; weddings. For you Carol what we have done is do the nail cutting first, then the hand massage, leave it for a few minutes for the resident to enjoy the feeling and then use an alcohol wipe to give a good wipe over the nail bed. Leave it to dry then apply the polish. Seems to work well. Some people have their nails/massage done in the morning and come back in the afternoon for the polish.

Great ideas. Thanks everyone for them and keep them coming. Remember we are all doing a fantastic job no matter how big or small it is. Keep up the great work.

We have arranged with our local schools to visit on regular occasions. The children play games and read with the Residents. They also offer end of term performances and special plays, especially end of year Christmas performances. The Residents love it and it keeps them connected to their community.

Really like the "This day in History..." articles. Lots of information and reminiscing topics. A day can nearly go on for a week! :) Thanks for all the hard research that you have done for them.

Hi folks,
couldn't find the text for the quiz??

We have a church service in the morning via the radio therefore not much to set up for carers and in the afternoon have a movie. We (lifestyle) set up the day before and have it all ready for the carers to do. Our morning and afternoon tea is served by kitchen staff. Our residents are quite happy with this as we also promote that it is 'family time'! with families.

Don't forget change of address forms for the electoral.
Hand cream
pens, pencils.
colouring item
note pad
lollies/food item
balloon!
Hope these help. Susan has covered quite a few.

You could ask some volunteers if they have anything that they do not want anymore and would be willing to donate some!