Themes to Use for National Nursing Home Week

National Nursing Home Week is May 8-14. A great way to celebrate is with some fun and creative themes. Here are a few theme ideas from notjustbingo.com to include in your week’s festivities:

• Western: Supply residents with bandanas to attend a chuck wagon lunch or encourage residents to assemble wooden wagons with craft sticks and connectors.
• Hawaiian Luau: Assist residents with making their own leis to wear when you teach them how to hula dance or invite residents to make their own sand art.
• Gentleman’s Club: Host a pub-like atmosphere for the men to socialize with one another while playing darts or talking about class male topics.
• Old Hollywood: Invite residents to get gussied up for a fun movie premiere in your facility or to play a movie trivia game.
• Ocean Liner: Have fun as you invite residents to assemble wooden vessels or encourage them to play shuffleboard on the Lido Deck.
• Arabian Nights: Add scarves to your Exercise Class to improve residents’ hand-eye coordination, or showcase beautiful Arabian horses during a Documentary Night.
• Prom: Teach your residents all the latest dance moves or recruit them to help you decorate for your big springtime dance.
• Black & White:. Encourage residents to dress in black and white as you provide fun events that relate to the theme, like a Dominoes Tournament or a Black & White Happy Hour.
• College Days: Invite residents to wear their Alma Mater’s logos as you schedule interesting classes that they can take during the day, like European History or Horticultural 101.
• Tailgating/Sports: Organize team competitions throughout the day that get your residents active, like a basketball game or a tennis match.
• Casino: Teach residents new card games or encourage them to play the ones that you know they know and love.
• Carnival: Set up a fun atmosphere as you invite residents to try their luck at playing carnival games and winning prizes.
• Campfire: Take residents back to their summer camping days by inviting them to make camp crafts or to simply learn how to make s’mores.

About notjustbingo.com

notjustbingo.com is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They have been providing fun activity ideas online since 2009, and we continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go “beyond bingo.” Don’t get them wrong – bingo is fun, but we want to spread the word that there is more to life than just bingo. Overall, notjustbingo.com feels privilege to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior’s quality of life can actually improve when they move to a nursing facility.