Ways to Spend New Years with Your Senior Parents

Staying up till midnight to watch the ball drop just may not be in the cards for some seniors. Fortunately, there are so many other fun ways to ring in the New Year with mom and dad. If you’re looking for some new ideas, our team at UMC at Collingswood put together a list of unconventional ways to spend this holiday with your senior parents.

New Year’s Eve Brunch

Who doesn’t love brunch foods… and perhaps a little mimosa? This is an especially great way to celebrate if mom or dad doesn’t usually stay up late past midnight. Celebrate the same way you would at a traditional New Year’s Eve party with fun hats and streamers.  We recommend starting at 11am, so you can have your own ball drop countdown at 12 noon. If your loved one lives in a senior community like UMC at Collingswood, ask their Community Life director if they have an event like this already planned that you can join.

Craft Memory Jars

This is a great bonding activity for the whole family. The best part is that it’s very inexpensive to do. Grab one mason jar for each member of your family, along with craft supplies like glitter or garland to decorate the jars. After each member of your family decorates their own jar to their liking, have them write on little pieces of paper their favorite memories from the past year. After everyone has filled their memory jar, you can exchange them and read each other’s memories and reminisce.

Play Games – Lots of em!

No party is complete without playing some fun games! Our seniors in Camden County especially enjoy a good old fashioned trivia or bingo game. Make a night out of it by asking each member of the family what their favorite game is and incorporating all of their suggestions. Although we don’t condone extreme gambling, you can definitely make game night a little more interesting by placing fun bets. For example, the loser has to prepare dessert for the rest of the family or perform a dare suggested by the winner.

Fun and Independent Seniors in Camden County

At UMC at Collingswood, our residents are free to engage in the lifestyle that makes the most sense to them. Essentially, they can be as involved as they please with their community of peers through many weekly activity classes, themed events, and monthly club meetings. If your loved one wants to engage in an activity that is not currently offered by our community, we strongly encourage them to speak to their Community Life director. Many of our most successful clubs have been started by the residents themselves! By offering many different activities, seniors can exercise their independence by choosing how they would like to socialize with others in our community in Camden County.

To find out more about how we’re keeping seniors active and independent in Camden County, please call us today or visit our website at: https://umcommunities.org/collingswood/

This blog was originally published at https://umcommunities.org/collingswood/blog/ways-to-spend-new-years-with-your-senior-parents/