Forum Discussion

This is your life? Works beautifully with family support, photos and special friends visiting...

Hi heather a few suggestions with Australia Day coming. I've got my koala and wombat puppets coming with me tomorrow . I've made made flash cards of all states and capitals for a matching and Aussie singalong . Give out song sheets of Advance Aust fair very large print . Get care staff to singalong from Lauretta

For my client who reached her 100th birthday,we did a surprise "This is Your Life...............".We gathered information from family and from the birthday girl herself, without giving the secret away and made it into a book.We had a devonshire tea,inviting family and friends to join her while they listened to her history and watched photos of her projected on a wall.In preparation for the event we cut out the numbers 100 from gold cardboard and had them "blu tacked" on walls , smaller 100 numerals were strung together on string and hung from various locations in the room so they would spin in the breeze.Also pictures throughout those 100 years were displayed to show how much the client had lived through. It was a great success . Family arranged for a large Birthday Cake to be shared with all residents.Not a day went by without her reliving a part of that day. We were so happy we gave her a special day as she passed away 3 months later. Family members and friends gave high praise that we went to so much effort.It is worthwhile just to see their reaction.
Good luck with the event
Lesley Robinson

Hi Gerry,

Decorate a room, invite family members to bring in a cake, have balloons and other decorations. Make the setting special with tablecloths etc. Research what life was like 100 years ago. Ask children to give a speech. If resident can still talk, ask her/him a few days before some questions about life, or look at their social profile and do a little talk about their life. Order a newspaper that was published on their birthday 100 years ago. Find out what basic things cost 100 years ago. Good luck!

Hiya. Thankyou for the ideas. X

I did This is your Life for one of our members, she was a jolly person, loved to laugh, and that's what I worked on. I found out as much about her as I could, played music she liked, we baked her a cake that she liked, she loved wearing hats, so we all wore hats, all sent her a lovely card, a lovely bouquet of flowers, and at that time we had no pandemic so we invited her family along, we also organised a letter from the Queen, which she got in time for her birthday, which delighted her. It was magical, we really found out a lot about her . People see us as oldies, but they don't know half of what we have been capable of doing - some of us can write a book of what we have done during our life time, and this you may find out with this lovely person. Have a great day, Gwyneth