Party Themes and Group Games You Sent In!

These ideas sound like a lot of fun for everyone. You are sure to find some new ideas and inspiration here.

An Auction

My residents enjoy an auction. We use play money and the items are stuffed animals, jewellery, toiletries, candy, fruit, anything you want. But what is so funny is that they don’t want to bid too high because they act like it’s their own money. I guess that comes from living in the depression maybe.

Submitted by Mary

Family Fun Fair

We had a "Family Fun Fair". We had "fair" foods, like hot dogs, funnel cakes, popcorn, and a chilli cook off. We had a photo booth where residents could take their picture on what looked like a roller coaster ride, we took it with a Polaroid camera and gave it to them. We sent out invitations to family and friends to join us. We had a pie toss, where residents got to pie staff members. We had face painting, animals, and even carnival games with tickets to redeem for prizes. Our residents and their families had a GREAT TIME!

Submitted by Kathryn Arent

Kentucky Derby

We recently held our version of the Kentucky Derby. We made a track and residents rolled dice to move their horses forward. The residents named all of the horses prior to the race, and I put them in a program. The residents painted the pieces and track and helped make the trophies. They seemed to have a great time!

Submitted by Tony

Memory Book

Although this isn’t really a group activity per se, it is an activity that can be done each senior alone while in a group doing the same activity.

Have residents to help make a memory book. We use pictures and cards that residents and family have saved through the years.

Submitted by Sandra Harvel

Balloon Raquetball

I made balloon racquetball paddles by taking colorful 5-inch plastic picnic plates and glueing them to wooden paint stick-stirrers (the local hardware store gave me a whole box for free). I painted the wooden sticks in bright colors and hot-glued the plates to the sticks. We play balloon racquetball at least once a week, and it is something all level of residents can do...and they love it. Great way to get them moving and it's so much fun.

Submitted by Bonnie

Right, Center, Left

A new game I have Started with my resident's is Right, Center, Left. It is a dice game that can be purchased for around $8.00 dollars or so. It has 3 dice R,L,C and chips. I use poker chips. Everyone gets six chips. They shake the dice and distribute chips according to what is on the dice.(L,R,C,or ).

When a player gets down to 2 chips he/she shakes 2 dice, and when they have only 1 chip they shake 1 dice. Even though they run out of chips they are still in the game until only one person has chips left, because the person next to them can still pass them a chip if they still have some or get chips from a player next to them. When all but one have any chips left, the person wins the chips in the center and has won the game. They all seem to enjoy this and it helps them concentrate on right and left direction. I am sure it can be played with regular dice also by making numbers on the dice L,R,C.

Submitted by Donna

Name That Tune

I work with large groups of elderly people both with and without dementia so the activities I use have to be appropriate to both. One idea that puts people on an even keel is “Name That Tune”. Just say a lyric out of a tune eg: “The pipes are calling”. It gets the brain cells moving, and in no time people will realize it is actually “Danny Boy” - you may have to sing a little bit.

A Beach Ball

I found a large beach ball at a car boot sale and one day while throwing it, it fell in the floor. Now we use it for football and its great fun. Any game dividing people into teams works really well Bowling, Bowls, Ring Toss, etc.

Submitted by Christine

Share Stories out of a Bag!

I wrote down different categories on pieces of paper, about different things like ‘your favourite color’, ‘what kind of job did you have’, ‘what kind of car did you first drive’ etc. I put these paper pieces in a bag and started with one resident to pick a piece of paper and talk about what she drew out. Then we went around the circle and let everyone tell their story. Then we went to the next person and they drew a different subject. We kept going until all the papers were gone or time was up. They really enjoyed it and they stated they hope we do it again.

Memory Game

Another game is I took 4 paper bags and put about 4-5 different items in the bags. The residents sat around a table and took items out of a bag. They looked at them for a few minutes, then put them back in the bag. I then asked them to tell me what was in the bag. They also enjoyed that.

Both sent in by Donna

Reminiscence Boxes

I do a discussion group each month with elderly residents. Recently we have covered life right through the 1940s using Reminiscence boxes borrowed from a local museum. It has been very good to see how the residents react to the objects being shown around from their era. It has brought back for them many memories and the objects have stimulated their minds. Just wondered if any of you fancy using these boxes? I am now making one myself for the residents to use at their home to pick up on a regular basis to try and keep their memories alive.

Sent in by Lynne

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What party did you throw that was so much fun? What games did you play that they are STILL talking about? Tell us! We'd love to hear about them.

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