Celebrating The Festive Season in a Residential Care Home
In all care homes, fostering a sense of family and celebrating every occasion is important. Building a community that can share celebrations creates a joy-filled environment, no more so than at Christmas. No matter where your loved one is, the festive period is full of socialising, gifts, carols, mulled wine and decorating a Christmas tree - being in a care home for over Christmas is no different.
At Primrose Lodge Weymouth, the festive period is a highlight in our calendar as we all put our sparkly clothes on, sing along to Michael Bublé and put up the paperchains. Our staff are passionate about bringing everything that Christmas is into our care home, so our residents get to enjoy the full extent of it each year.
In this blog, we share the many ways that the festive season is celebrated in a care home.
Festive Activities for Residents
Our activities don't stop over the festive period. If anything, they ramp up!
As well as the usual activities that promote exercise and have an element of therapy (all of which will have a festive theme where possible), we include every festive activity you can think of!
Typical activities you can expect to see in our home over Christmas include:
- Christmas arts and crafts
- Baking festive goods such as gingerbread
- Carolling
- Christmas movie days
- Christmas quizzes
And, of course, the ever-important tree decorating.
We know there is nothing like experiencing the Christmas lights and market in Weymouth Square, so where we can, we always try to arrange a trip out to town for it.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are full of traditions your loved one will have grown up with, including traditional festive dinners and present giving. Our in-house chefs pull out all the stops over the festive season, so your loved one won't miss a thing with our festive menus.
Creating a Homely Atmosphere
Decorating your home is always a memorable event over Christmas. Whether your family embraces the season early or leaves it as late as possible, it always brings laughs and joy and creates a special festive and homely atmosphere.
Living with us at our care home is no different. We have debates as to when the tree will be going up, and get everyone who wants to be involved.
We turn our home into a winter wonderland with decorations around all of our facilities. And we always encourage residents to decorate their rooms, with our staff turning into elves and helping you and your loved one put up small trees, lights or a paper chain around the room.
Working together is a key aspect of Christmas, and this is something we treasure at our care home. Whether it is a staff member helping your loved one or your loved one and another resident working together to add a decoration to the tree, our festive atmosphere thrives on it.
The festive home ambience doesn't stop there. The smell of mulled wine, festive candles, and gingerbread fills the home throughout the season, enhancing the experience of Christmas.
Family Involvement in Celebrations
Christmas is about family and spending time with the ones you love. While this is at the heart of our home all year round, we love to use Christmas as an excuse to get family and friends into the home and join in our activities and community.
We hold several key Christmas events over December, each of which all of our residents' relatives are invited to - it doesn't matter if they are with us for long-term care or a short respite stay.
On top of this, our door is always open for you to join our festive activities or a traditional winter meal.
We understand that Christmas can be a busy time for everyone, which is why we want to be as flexible as possible, providing you with plenty of opportunities to enjoy the festive season with your loved one as often as you like.
While joyous and filled with love, the festive season can be a hard one for many for a variety of reasons, so our staff are always here to support you and your loved one through it.
Promoting Inclusivity and Joy for All
As an inclusive and multicultural care home, it is important that we also acknowledge other faith's beliefs and traditions.
We love to educate our residents about the various traditions and beliefs across the world, and where we can will always encourage residents to share their own experiences and religion.
This means celebrating events such as:
- Dewali
- Thanksgiving
- Hanukkah
- Bodhi Day
Festivities continue through December and culminate in our New Year's Eve party to bring in the new year.
Why Choose Primrose Lodge Weymouth?
From festive activities, a homely atmosphere and family involvement, we work hard to create a Christmas full of laughs, love and joy in our care home.
We don't want it to feel different to your loved one's family Christmas, so we will go out of our way to bring in traditions and celebrations that everyone enjoys.
We pride ourselves on the community we create within the home, and this is no more evident than throughout Christmas. It is this community that makes the festive season at our care home special. And this is always enhanced by relatives and friends popping in and out to celebrate with us.
Experience a bit of the festive season at our care home with a tour. Call us on 01305 786568 to book a tour and learn more about our care and festive celebrations.
Alternatively, complete our online contact form, and we will get in touch with answers to your questions or to arrange a visit.