What Does Christmas Look Like in a Care Home?
Christmas is a magical time of year, filled with traditions, joy, and the opportunity to spend time with loved ones. For residents in a care home, the festive season is no different—it’s a time to celebrate Christmas with warmth, togetherness, and plenty of festive activities. Many care homes go above and beyond to ensure the Christmas season feels as special and homely as possible for residents, their families, and the care teams who work tirelessly to create a wonderful atmosphere.
In this blog, we’ll explore what Christmas looks like in a care home, touching on the joy of Christmas celebrations, carefully planned festive activities, and how care homes embrace the holiday spirit to make it a meaningful time for everyone.
A Festive Atmosphere to Call Home
The Christmas period in a care home starts with transforming the communal areas into a haven of festive cheer. Christmas decorations play a key role in creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere. This could include sparkling fairy lights, a beautiful Christmas tree, and homemade wreaths on the doors. Residents often take part in the decorating process and add their personal touch to the home, whether it’s hanging baubles, stringing tinsel or making paperchains.
Care homes often provide themed arts and crafts sessions where residents can create handmade decorations, such as garlands, Christmas cards, or even festive centrepieces for the dining area. These activities are not only enjoyable but also a great way to spark creativity and socialise. Many residents enjoy reminiscing about past Christmases while crafting, which adds a lovely sense of nostalgia to the festive atmosphere.
Bringing Families Together
For many residents, Christmas is a time to reconnect with their loved ones. Care homes typically welcome family members with open arms throughout the entire year but also during the festive season, encouraging visits and sometimes even hosting family-centred events. Whether they come together for shared Christmas lunches to gift-giving sessions, these moments provide opportunities for families to maintain their traditions with residents and spend quality time together.
Video calls are also a brilliant option for keeping in touch during the Christmas season for residents whose families live further away. With the help of the care team, residents can connect virtually with children, grandchildren, or even great-grandchildren, ensuring no one feels left out, even if distance prevents an in-person visit.
Festive Activities for All
Care homes work hard to make the festive period full of joy and engagement, organising a variety of Christmas activities that cater to different interests and abilities through their all-inclusive activities programme. We have collated a list of our most popular Christmas activities to give you some inspiration.
Singalong Christmas Carols
There’s nothing quite like the sound of Christmas carols to set the festive mood. Many care homes invite local schools, choirs, or even staff to sing their favourite carols with residents. Popular choices like Silent Night and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing creates an uplifting atmosphere, and singalong sessions ensure everyone can join in. These gatherings often spark happy memories, giving residents the opportunities to share their own stories and help them feel part of a joyful community.
Watching Christmas Movies
A classic Christmas movie never fails to bring people together. Care homes often turn their lounges into cosy cinemas, complete with comfortable seating, popcorn, and mugs of hot chocolate. Films like It’s a Wonderful Life or Elf are always crowd-pleasers, offering residents the chance to relax and share laughs or touching moments with like-minded individuals. Watching Christmas movies also helps build a warm and homely festive spirit.
Arts and Crafts Sessions
Festive arts and crafts sessions give residents to express their creativity and personality by designing Christmas cards, creating handmade tree decorations, or crafting table centrepieces. These sessions are not just fun but also meaningful, as they allow residents to contribute to creating a festive atmosphere within the home or make personalised gifts for loved ones. Baking treats like mince pies is also a popular activity that fills the home with delicious aromas.
Christmas Quizzes and Games
Games are a wonderful way to bring residents together. A lively Christmas quiz filled with questions about holiday traditions, famous carols, and classic Christmas movies always sparks a bit of friendly competition and is a great way to combat the cold weather. Other games, such as festive-themed bingo or traditional board games, also provide hours of entertainment and help residents socialise in a relaxed and cheerful setting.
Christmas Jumper Day
Christmas Jumper Day is a lighthearted event where residents, staff, and visitors put on their most festive jumpers. It could include a classic knitted design or a playful jumper complete with flashing lights, either way, it brings smiles all around. It’s a great excuse for everyone to come together, get involved, share laughs, and take photos to capture the fun.
Visits from Entertainers
Some care homes invite local entertainers or performers to put on festive shows such as a Christmas-themed play, live music, or storytelling sessions. A visit from Santa Claus himself often delights residents, spreading a sense of fun and nostalgia. These performances bring the holiday magic to life and create moments residents cherish long after the festive season is over.
Hot Chocolate Bar
Care homes often set up a hot chocolate bar during the festive season to combat the cold winter weather, where residents can customise their drinks with marshmallows, whipped cream, and sprinkles. This cosy and indulgent activity is a simple pleasure that everyone can enjoy and provides a comforting treat as part of the day’s festivities.
A Feast to Remember
Christmas Day in a care home wouldn’t be complete without a special meal. Many care homes pull out all the stops to ensure the dining experience feels just as special as it does at home. Tables are decorated with Christmas crackers, centrepieces, and handmade touches from residents themselves.
Residents can look forward to a traditional Christmas dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, and all the trimmings, followed by mince pies or a slice of Christmas cake. For those who enjoy the sweeter side of Christmas, several themed desserts and treats might also be on the menu during the festive period.
Care homes often involve residents in planning these meals, using their food passports and asking about their favourite festive food or family traditions to ensure the menu feels personal and meaningful. It also gives residents the opportunity to talk about their traditions or favourite Christmas meals when growing up!
Thoughtful Gift Giving
Gift-giving is an integral part of Christmas celebrations in most care homes. Residents exchange gifts with each other, receive thoughtful tokens from the care team, and share presents with family members. Some care homes also organise a community gift exchange, where local organisations or volunteers provide small gifts to residents.
These moments of kindness and generosity foster a strong sense of community spirit, making the festive season even more memorable. For many residents, it’s not about the size of the gift but the thought and effort behind it that matters most.
Exploring the Community
Many care homes take residents out into the local community to soak up the festive atmosphere. A Christmas lights tour is a particular highlight for many, with residents enjoying drives through local streets to admire the displays. Trips to see local Christmas lights not only provide a change of scenery but also bring back memories of festive outings from years gone by.
Some care homes also organise Christmas shopping days, where residents can browse for gifts or pick out something special for themselves. These trips are often accompanied by a stop for a warm drink, like a hot chocolate or a cup of tea, making them an enjoyable day out.
A Time for Reflection
While Christmas is a time of joy, it’s also a moment to reflect on the year gone by. Not everyone finds the festive season easy, particularly if they’re missing loved ones or feeling nostalgic for Christmases of the past. Care homes are mindful of this and work hard to ensure that no one feels alone during this time of year.
Many care homes offer quiet spaces for residents who prefer a more low-key celebration or simply want to reflect. The care team is always on hand to lend a listening ear, ensuring that every resident feels supported and included, no matter how they choose to celebrate Christmas.
Experience Christmas at Oakdene Care Home
Oakdene Care Home is a luxury care all-inclusive facility located near Verwood in East Dorset and provides exceptional Residential Care, Dementia Care, Respite Care and Palliative Care. We understand that Christmas is a time that embraces community and is a chance for everybody to come together and celebrate. However, we also know that this isn't always an easy time of year for all of our residents and are on hand to provide them with compassion and support around the clock.
At our Care Home in Wimborne Minster, we go above and beyond throughout the Christmas period and ensure there is something for our residents to look forward to each day, whether it is taking part in Christmas crafts, going on outings, spending time with friends and family or taking part in our weekly activities programme.
No matter the time of year, we are here to provide first-class support to ensure we improve the quality of life of our residents. Book a tour to see for yourselves how magical Christmas can be at Oakdene Care Home and whether we are the right fit for you or your loved one.
