8 Ways to Celebrate Birthdays in Senior Care Homes

Cupcakes shaped in the number of their age.

Hi Ellen
This seems like a lovely idea
We always celebrated the birthdays of people born in a particular month at the party
So there was more than one birthday we celebrated
But we made the birthday people feel very special

At our facility, we print of a photo of something the Resident likes such as flowers and animal etc. We Print their name on it. We laminate the picture this goes on top of the cake. If it is a special Birthday such as 100, we print a photo of their younger self, laminate and place on cake. They love this and it makes it more personalised for them.

At our Day Care Centre we have a book of everyones birthday, volunteers and clients, so we celebrate birthdays every month, could be for only one, or sometimes for a few, - we have special felt birthday hats, which some of the volunteers have donated, with pretend candles on them, you can buy them in cheap shops, so everyone whose birthday it is , if they want to, no pressure put on them, wears the hats for as long as they want and everyone sings happy birthday to them, we have a sing a long, and with their cooked lunch they have a very special dessert, everyone looks forward to birthdays. Short and simple, but everyone enjoys themselves.

Gwyneth (volunteer)

We celebrate the birthdays during the month for afternoon tea with cake and singing and then a movie after.

Potreste suggerirmi il setting migliore durante la festa di compleanno per anziani non autosufficienti (nessuno riesce a ballare) ma gradiscono molto la musica!

Hello,
I am a professional magician in SW Florida. I think about sometime offering a residents birthday party performance at this facilities. I just don't know if these would have the budget say even $100 for forty minutes or so. I think it would really be a greater way of celebrating the special occasion.
Please give me your feedback on this especially if you are in this industry.

Thanks, Glenn

I currently do a monthly birthday party with a cake and luncheon entertainment to follow. Seems a little boring not a lot of residents why attend their own birthday. I like your ideas.

Hi Emma and Nori, congratulations on the creative ideas. Thank you for the feedback; food for thought for our colleagues.

I have had the pleasure of taking part in 2 centenary birthdays...and on those days we have a Centenians trail..it starts off with a photo of the birthday resident, and then there is a photo & some information of each year they were alive (about things that have happened eg: WW2, JFK, TV being invented, queens jubilee etc)...and finises with a photo of how they are now. Not only is it fun and gets people talking, but it is great for younger carers to create a bridge with the more elderly residents. After the birthday, all the photos are place in a book and used as an engagement item.

I'm a fan of doing MONTHLY parties, as well. If all tenants know that we're celebrating LOTS of birthdays, I'm apt to get a better turn-out.
I get wrist corsages (easier to put on and take off) for everyone having a birthday that month, get ONE cake, and then sing, play games, etc., much like a child's party. Trivia, indoor bowling, parachute games, bean-bag baseball, etc. are all great games and they can be adapted for many different abilities.
One of my favorite things is to do an Acrostic Poem for each birthday "boy" or "girl": Write the letters of his/her first name vertically down a dry-erase board or large piece of cardboard and then have other tenants think of POSITIVE words that describe that person starting with each letter. For example: L-O-I-S: L = lively, likable, lovely; O = original; I = imaginative, intelligent; S = social, snazzy. Then I take a photo of each person with his/her poem to print out and give to them later. Write everything big so it shows up in the photo!