10 Holiday Activities Older Adults Will Enjoy
For many families, the holiday season is a time to meet and celebrate together. However, these holidays can be a difficult time for some older adults, particularly for those living alone. Seniors with cognitive and mobility limitations or other forms of physical challenges can feel isolated when others are getting together for holiday celebrations. The holidays can also disrupt seniors’ familiar routines and even require difficult travels, which may not always be possible.
Although it’s a time for joy and coming together, remember to keep an eye out for signs of holiday blues in senior loved ones and try to make them feel loved and included during the holidays. Simply including them in holiday activities and events can brighten their holidays and allow them to have a memorable and meaningful experience. Here are some activities you can use to spruce up a senior’s holiday season!
1. Host a Christmas Party
Hosting a luncheon or party is one of the best Christmas activities for seniors. You can serve delicious food dishes like ham or turkey with some trimmings, followed by nice desserts. Play good music during the party and allow everyone to bond, laugh, and talk together.
Ask your family members to help you set up some fun board or card games for everyone to play after the meal. This way, the older adults can interact and come together with the younger generation to celebrate the holiday season.
2. Organize a Gift Swap in Your Neighborhood
Are you missing your favorite cocktail or your neighbor’s homemade chocolate chip cookies? Organizing a gift swap is a great way to spread some joy without too much hassle. You can call your friends and neighbors and organize a local gift swap to deliver personal notes, flower arrangements, or baked goods to nearby homes. Call beforehand to know if it’s okay to stop by for a chat, or you can leave the items in their mailbox.
3. Make Christmas Decorations
Nothing says Christmas like decorations, especially when you make them as a family. These activities can include making a collage, drawing, painting, and more. Have the older adults participate in adding some traditional Christmas decorations to the home and encourage them to decorate the Christmas tree. Make it a team effort and involve every family member in the activity to make a memory they won’t forget.
4. Host a Holiday Movie Night
Having a movie night is another surefire way to bond and share the joy of the holiday season with senior loved ones. Even if friends and family cannot watch the movie together in the same room, you can all share a movie night experience virtually. Get some popcorn, put on comfortable pajamas, and have everyone download or stream the same movie at the same time. You can also use apps like Gaze or Netflix Party to watch the movie and chat simultaneously.
Timeless holiday movies are a great option for both in-person and distanced family movie nights. They are festive, classics, and comforting for a reason. People looking for laughs and family-friendly nostalgia can try movies like Home Alone, A Christmas Story, or Elf. If you are a fan of classic movies, you can go for options like Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday Inn, and It’s a Wonderful Life. Allow seniors to pick the movies they enjoy and have the physical DVD in hand if you don’t have smart TVs or streaming services.
5. Have Friendly Competitions
Games aren’t just fun; they also work to enhance the brains of older adults by encouraging various ways of thinking and boosting cognitive abilities. Game show-style quizzes, puzzles, and trivia can help keep their minds sharp and inspire competition as well. You can also consider apps like Drawful and Kahoot, where you can easily customize quizzes and games with your family’s traditions and facts.
Add some holiday elements to your games or select themed puzzles to make the competition exciting and fun. Bingo is an excellent option if you are looking for something more traditional.
Whether it’s a card game like Go Fish and Bridge or a board game like Candy Land and Monopoly, playing games encourages social interactions and new friendships. It also eliminates the pressure of making conversation, which is especially helpful for seniors in the early phases of memory loss.
6. Cooking Holiday-Themed Meals
Does your extended family have a famed buttery shortbread or fruit cake recipe passed down the generations over the years? An inviting and warm kitchen full of different holiday treats is one of the best ways to bring different generations together. If a senior loved one has the recipes memorized, you can encourage the grandchildren to write them down to make a customized family cookbook for future use.
Cooking is a fun holiday activity for older people that can enhance mood, boost cognitive abilities and provide a sense of achievement. Not to mention, the kitchen is a great place to inspire bonding—it is the heart of the home, after all.
7. Go on a Holiday Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are among the most entertaining and engaging holiday activities for elder adults. It stimulates the brain, which is vital for seniors since it may decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Plan a fun holiday scavenger hunt your whole family will enjoy. You can place holiday-themed items throughout your backyard or home to get aging loved ones moving after eating a large meal. A customized scavenger hunt can also include inside jokes or riddles that are special to the family to make it more meaningful.
8. Revisit Old Memories
Do you have any keepsake boxes in the attic or garage that haven’t been opened in many years? If so, go ahead and dust off the family photo albums and old yearbooks to reminisce together. You can share exciting stories about your childhoods and laugh about the old-fashioned trends captured in the photos.
Photo albums will also allow older folks to become the center of attention as they recognize the people in the photos and share different stories about them. Revisiting old memories and remembering the good times your family shared is a wonderful way to make your senior loved ones feel appreciated and loved.
9. Visit a Holiday Lights Display
Many cities and towns in New Jersey set up incredible light displays that you can view either by car or on foot. These light displays run immediately after Thanksgiving and even extend after Christmas day. Whether you are checking out free displays in your neighborhood or looking for some paid drive-through displays, it is a joy to see the lights with your senior loved ones.
10. Sing Holiday Songs or Carols
Are you ready to ramp up the Christmas spirit? Breaking out in song is one of the best December activities for seniors and other family members. Holiday classic hits are always in the season immediately after Thanksgiving, so you can organize a singing gathering with your entire family.
Music inspires recollection and can be particularly helpful for aging loved ones with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Whether you’re bringing in professional entertainers or making the most of your own talents, singing carols together is an excellent way to have fun with the family. You can also encourage your loved ones to play simple and readily available musical instruments like shakers and tambourines to accompany a pianist or guitar player.
Even without musical instruments, it’s still fun to sing along with the family. Choose from unforgettable tunes and timeless classics such as “White Christmas,” “Deck the Halls,” “Feliz Navidad,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Jingle Bell Rock.” You can also bundle up and sing some Christmas carols in your local park or neighborhood. Or if you’re socially distancing, sing with your family members over Zoom or FaceTime. Singing Christmas songs is a wonderful way to recollect great holiday memories, bring joy to senior loved ones and brighten up their holiday.
Older adults love being included in family holiday activities—it helps them socialize, bond with their families and friends, and feel connected. Furthermore, it allows them to remain active throughout the holiday season instead of withdrawing from family functions and social activities. We hope this list of holiday activities for seniors gives you some food for thought as you plan festivities with your family and friends.
At Visiting Angels of Mercer and Burlington Counties, New Jersey, we understand that the holiday season can make your aging loved ones feel lonely and isolated. If you’re struggling to find suitable holiday activities for your senior loved ones, know that you are not alone. Our home care aides can help you craft simple activities to keep your older loved ones engaged physically, socially, and emotionally. To learn more about friendly and safe holiday activities for seniors, contact us today!