Seasonal Events

I had a Pig Roast BFI provided the Grill. We provided the meat and charcoal. We cooked all night with resident volunteers and our staff. It was by the pool so the party went on all night. All of the builings were assigned different types of dishes to bring(you may not want to do that now) or you can order different salads and baked bean dihes with desserts. We partied all day at the pool and then ate about 5 that evening. The party continued way up into the night and continued the next day. I encouraged residents to bring friends and we had the best turnout with almost everyone attending. Everyone had so much fun. It was very interactive. This party was talked about for so long. You can get your vendors to donate almost everything and have...

Independent Living Retirement Community - We hosted a Mardi Gras Parade and Party. We built floats, made masks and costumes. Decorated the entire community. New Orleans Jazz music, Hurricane Punch, parade marshall AND a King & Queen of the Mardi Gras. We marched through the building with floats, horns,and noisemakers. A jazz piano player entertained as we marched. We ended with a belly dancing and Bollywood dancing demo, along with our own dancing skit. After a New Orleans style dinner - our residents danced to the sounds of a 50's/60's singer. It was great fun and took a lot of time but all our residents pitched in to make this second only to the real Mardi Gras. . .we even had a live feed from Bourbon Street on our big screen TV

We decided to do a Valentine's Day themed dessert bar. We had all kinds of desserts from cakes, cookies, candy, cupcakes, and even ice cream with red and pink sprinkles. We decorated the all kinds of hearts and red decorations throughout the clubroom.We also encouraged residents to bring their own Valentines themed dessert. It was a HUGE success, especially with the kids!

Mother's Day is coming up so let's get started on planning how to honor all the wonderful Moms in our communities that help make it a wonderful place to live. Mother's day is the perfect time to have a simple tea party. For this event, pull out all the stops...white table cloths, linen napkins, centerpieces on the tables, and finger foods. Have an assortment of teas available like green, black, Earl grey, and spiced teas. Serve all of those wonderful tea time treats such as tea sandwiches, scones, muffins, cupcakes, and biscuits. But this is more than just your ordinary tea party!! While you are preparing for this event, recruit some of the community's kids to volunteer as servers for the tea party. Take a couple of hours a day or two before the event to train them in the proper etiquette. Moms will love sitting down...

Hey, why do the kids always get all the fun of finding Easter eggs?!?!? Let's switch it up on them this year and let the kids hide the eggs for the grown-ups!! I would have really enjoyed this as a kid since I was slightly jealous that only adults got to hide the eggs. Here's how I would set this up: 1. Assign each kid who is "hiding" a number. 2. Give them a predetermined amount of plastic eggs to hide. Their number (or name if you skip step 1) will be contained inside the egg. 3. Have the adults find the eggs and turn them back in for recording and counting. 4. GIVE OUT PRIZES!! Assign a prize for First Egg Found, Middle Egg Found, and the Grand Prize for Last Egg Found! (or any other criteria you...

Use April Fool's Day as an excuse for silly antics at your lunch/dinner event. Or, try it any time of year for a fun twist on a resident meal. Supplies -The book "Hello Cupcake!" by Karen Tack (amazon.com or library or Barnes and Noble) -Internet (search April Fool's Day recipes) Food and drinks inspired by silliness Detailed Description Get totally silly by making your dinner look like dessert and your dessert look like dinner at your April Fool's lunch/dinner celebration. Make a shepherd's pie and color the mash potatoes with food coloring to make it look like icing; or use the recipe link below to make a meatloaf cake, or a spaghetti torte! If that weren't enough, make cupcakes that look like corn on the cob, peas and carrots, pizza, and even spaghetti! Your residents will be delighted to giggles. (You don't have to do...

If you want to ad some whimsy to a traditional event, you should try Over the Rainbow Pancake Breakfast. This event would tie in very nicely with St. Patrick's Day as residents eat their way through a rainbow of pancakes.

For Valentine's Day, show your residents how much you love them. Download some of the greatest and latest love songs and for about $1/unit, you can make a CD to give to your residents. Include the oldiest but goodies, and come up with a cute tagline related to your community name for the CD cover or disk. I just called a local company who had the CDs completed in a few days. We put We "heart" Our Residents and the community name on the disk, and made up a cute display for the jewel case.

Cutest Couples Contest is for residents only. Make up a flyer and request that residents who want to enter bring a picture of themselves and their better half to the office. Decorate a front table for Valentine's Day and a poster board where you will display the cute couples. The contest doesn't have to be just for couples per se, it can be for a resident and their pup, or even two best friends. So if they don't have a beau, no worries. The winners will receive a Valentine's Day dinner for two at a local restaurant, which you can get them to donate if you market with them already, and of course in return, they get to splash their logo and restaurant info. on your Valentine's board for all to see. The fairest way to choose the winner is to just pick the...

A social event to meet new "friends" :-). Cool to do around Valentine's Day. Set up clubhouse with one on one tables or areas to talk one on one. Have singles come in and speed date. Control the clock for when they need to move to the next person. Provide candy, snacks, drinks etc... at each station area. Provide notepads and pens and let them do all do the rest. You may want to have an easel up with ice breaker questions to help get everyone started. Great for larger communities!!!!