Fun and Easy Ways to Celebrate the Holidays with Your Senior
Sometimes the holiday season can be overwhelming. This can be especially true if you are caring for an elderly loved one who has fairly strict restrictions on what she can manage due to her health or other reasons. And while you might not be able to do every activity that is out there or attend the large gatherings that many people attend during the holiday season, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy this holiday season in little bite-sized pieces that will bring joy to your elderly loved one and not overwhelm her or you.
Why Small Celebrations Are Better for Some Elderly
Small moments of enjoying the holidays can be great when you have someone you care for who either has physical or cognitive struggles that make larger, louder, and busier gatherings too difficult. These smaller moments can be just what’s needed to keep the festive spirit of the holidays alive without resulting in a massive recuperation from the event.
Smaller celebrations can be beneficial for several reasons:
- They’re more customizable to what your loved one likes
- You have fewer people to manage
- They’re usually less expensive
- They protect your loved one from being exposed to unwanted situations, such as crowds or loud noises.
- They’re over fairly quickly, so you don’t need to worry about your loved one getting exhausted.
- If something does go wrong, it’s less likely to be overly upsetting.
Four Fun Ways to Celebrate the Holidays without Overextending Your Loved One or Yourself
Before you choose activities, consider having a companion care at home provider also choose a few activities to do with your loved one. Companion care at home providers can offer you a bit of relief when your schedule is overflowing with holiday expectations from every direction, and they can also provide your loved one with a change of pace as needed. You can also ask your companion care at home provider to start the process (such as helping your loved one shop for perfect cookie-baking ingredients), and then you can pick up at the actual event (like baking the cookies).
Once you have the people and the times picked out for some fun mini holiday celebrations, here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Tour some Lights. This is the perfect time of year to take your elderly loved one for a nighttime ride around the neighborhood to check out all of the pretty Christmas displays. Some communities even create entire parks filled with lights that you can drive through. Bring some hot cocoa or apple cider, turn on those holiday songs, and it’s a night to remember that’s very low stress.
- Bake some Treats. Whether your loved one wants to bake cookies from scratch or simply decorate some pre-bought cookies, a Sunday afternoon in the kitchen enveloped with the smells of holiday baking can be wonderful.
- Watch a Favorite Holiday movie. Make it fun and have each person put on their holiday jammies, pop some popcorn, and watch those movies that bring memories of years long ago back to life.
- Create Christmas Crafts. Don those ugly sweaters, put out some festive holiday snacks, and work on fun projects that can be shared this holiday with others.
The holidays don’t have to be larger than life to be enjoyable. Soak up those smaller moments as well.
If you or an aging loved one is considering companion care at home in Queens Creek, AZ, please call the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Scottsdale at (480) 284-7360. We are here to help!
