Forum Messages

I need help on planning the birthday parties.  What do you do?  I can't just have music and be done, the residents need to be engaged.  What do you do at your birthday parties?

Please Help!!!

Are you engaged in some kind of activities at parties? Sure, when you're a child. When you're an adult you spend your time socializing at a party. You can try to guide the conversation or maybe have the birthday folks talk about their favorite birthday present or party or a special birthday memory.

We do a monthly birthday party, assemble all of our birthday guests, sing Happy Birthday, and then serve cake and play music. And everyone has a good time. :)

Just cake, ice cream and socialization????? Seriously?  I would like to hear from others on this topic.  Kudo's to those of you who serve cake, ice cream and just socialize and this works for you!  I wish I was that lucky!  If I were to do this (even waiting the 15 minutes to serve the cake), my party would only last the 15 minutes!  What do others do for your parties? 

Waiting for your input!  Thanks! 

Treasa

HartfordCTRS:  I love the idea of pulling all of your residents together that have birthdays in a specific month and having them vote for a special meal just for them.  I am curious, for any given month, on average how many residents would you have for this meal?

I would also like to know if anyone has done anything for a birthday party besides cake, ice cream and entertainment.  To me, birthday parties should be special, memorable and that is not to say that entertainment is not special but my budget does not allow for entertainment every month and in the area where we are located, free entertainment is hard to come by.

I have always struggled with birthday parties, trying to make each month different so that residents would attend.  I am often met with, "It's not my birthday".  I have done sing-a-longs using our piano that has built in music (demo's) so we had music and not just our off key singing!  I did Pajama Party-Birthday Parties, including truth-or-dare, spin the bottle, blankets & pillows in the center of the floor with residents seated around the circle telling ghost stories, reminiscing etc.  I created a few games, Pass the Present, Cake-Sit (Stationary Cake Walk), I had a ladies church group come in 4 months out of the year to do entertainment, I've done a special bingo game (one card one game, with a special prize), I have done guessing games how many M&M's in the jar, simple theme parties (Luau, etc.) I had an alter-ego that I created years ago (Lillie) and did some of the birthday parties with her (crazy personality).  All of these events included some type of special snack as well as a birthday cake & ice cream.

Every month I always felt like I was scrambling to find something interesting to get the residents interesting in attending because if I just offered cake & ice cream, residents wouldn't attend.  They could get cake & ice cream most any day.  So am I thinking too much into this or on the wrong track.  What do others do for birthday parties that can not offer entertainment on a regular basis?

Thanks!  Treasa 

I think the problem is, that when you are already serving cake and ice cream to 20 plus people ( and preparing an rv cart for another 50  people to have cake and ic ) that theres really not a lot of time for anything else. 

Its already a huge drain on time and energy just to make sure 70+ people get cake and ic.  Thats between two people and our activities are based in a dining room, so its a full teardown and rebuild of the dining room into a bday room. 

Haha i'm sure many of the others are in the same boat.

I find that the entertainer keeps everyone pretty engaged!  Think about it!  Just because the residents aren't up dancing (in our home that is a huge safety hazard) doesn't mean they aren't enjoying themselves!  I watch their faces...they are all smiling and nearly every single one of their toes are tapping to the music.  They know ALL the words to ALL the songs.  Music is the best tool for engaging a resident.  Top it off with a nice coffee or tea, and a piece of cake, life is good!

I agree!!!!!  We have done away with monthly parties as well for some time now. Honoring the individual on THEIR day for us has more meaning. Dietary, Nursing, Housekeeping all get to contribute something at different times of the day to make that one Resident feel special. This serves to bring all departments together and we "bond" into a team effort. Celebrating birthdays does not always have to be Recreation's exclusive domain, nor should Residents feel lumped together.