Squeaky Clean in 2013

The first thing we did on the last day of the year was finish up the 2012 scrapbook. It was great to look back on all the memories we've made and fun things we've done.

Next we did a word guess (hangman) with new year's resolutions. I looked up the top 10 which were things like "tame the bulge", "stop smoking", "learn something new", and "spend time with family". After all 10 resolutions were guessed we played "Putting the Past in Order" for the first time and the residents really got into it.

Before dinner I sneaked into a corner and decorated to look like a 50's soda shop. These were decorations I found in a closet but served to make the area look special for our party.  To go with it, I played 50's music they enjoyed.

 After dinner we had our party. I brought drinks and pretzels and handed out word searches to start. I have found these sheets are great for activities because they give people something to do while waiting for the other residents to arrive. They are also great cognitive challenges that can be done on an individual basis.

For the main event in our party I wanted different balloons with various mini-activities to help celebrate the end of the year/ beginning of the new year. The balloons were tied to every chair and read by the resident sitting it in. Three were marked: the 1st was "Come up with a phrase for 2013", the Count Down, and the last was "find out who is the oldest person here and let him or her select a game to play to keep the party going". We also had New Year's trivia, talking about traditions, looking at the scrapbook, New Year's jokes, and Guess the Resolution.

The party turned out really well and I think everyone who came was glad they did.

Putting the Past in Order

I'm excited about an activity we put together today. Using index cards and a list of historic events we put a description of the events on one side, and the year it occurred on the other.

A game could be played with this by randomly drawing 4 cards and setting them up to show only the description. Then you "put the past in order" by moving the cards into a chronological sequence. You can check accuracy by turning them over to see the dates. I tried this out with a resident with memory difficulties and he did well because it was a matter of shuffling cards on the table rather than come up with exact dates on his own.

One reason I'm excited about this is it's an activity we can build on all year long. For instance, I added a card about Texas joining the union because of the Lone State trivia we had yesterday.

Another reason I'm excited about this is it can be personalized to include history about the residents themselves or simply the information they are most interested in. For instance, Joe might want cards about US presidents while Jennifer might want ones about famous painters.

The last reason I'm excited is this is another example of a fun thing I can use in my own life. For friends it can be a game we play that can be tailored to our preferences in many ways.

6 Flags

Once in a while I get a glimpse of what life on a stage is like. Wanting to please a diverse crowd is no easy task but being an activities person means you can't just run away. Unlike an actress, thankfully, I can change my "lines" and adapt the activity as needed.

On this day in 1845 Texas joined the union and hung the last of its Six Flags. On this day in 2012 I learned that 6 Flags is not just the name of an amusement park but succinctly describes the history of Texas under Spain, France, Mexico (remember the Alamo?), itself as a republic, the Confederacy, and finally the Union we recognize today. My job allows me to learn about all sorts of interesting things, fortunately.

We began the day with a walk to pass out calendars and then had an activity for the "State of the Day". As I handed residents their calendars I let them know about the activity and then mentioned that if they wanted to know the state of the day they'd have to come out. I used this order of things because this was the first time that I was doing an activity like this and I was nervous about how it would go. Reminding and inviting people individually is a great way to ensure good attendance and it definitely worked today.

To begin the "State of the Day" activity I gave them hints like "Lone star", "6 Flags", "Everything is Bigger" until they guessed which state it was. Then I read some trivia questions and gave 1 point for a correct answer. In between questions I asked things like who had visited the state or knew people who lived there. One question was about armadillos and a woman had a funny story about getting one as a present from her army husband. There weren't too many questions so I had the chance to ask about what they would guess the motto of Texas was (oddly enough: friendship) and if anyone had been to a rodeo.

Talking is not always a good way to keep everyone involved so we also played a game involving index cards. I taped pictures of cows to 2 cards and a picture of the flag to 1. The rest were blank and worth 0 points. Then I played songs about Texas ("There's a Girl in Texas" and "Texas" by the Charlie Daniels band were the only ones I could find at the library) while they passed the cards one at a time in a circle. When I stopped the music the person holding the flag got 2 points and anyone holding a cow got 1. This worked okay but what worked even better was allowing 2 people to pass them between each other for a "tie breaker".

There were so many residents there that we were able to keep the conversation going for a while and by the end everyone learned something new about the State of the Day.

Merry Mimosas

Working holidays can be bittersweet. You miss your biological family yet are glad to see the family you work for. Many of the residents are out for the day and some who remain are relieved to have activities to look forward to while others are depressed that they are not "home".

To begin the day I brewed good coffee and we decorated donuts to dunk in it or drink with milk instead.

reindeer and snowmen

 There was a big church service and during that time people who stayed behind made tree ribbon ornaments.

After lunch we had a big Bingo that was special because rather than tickets that go toward a drawing at the end of the month, residents won a present such as the throw blankets we made in November.

I made mimosas (orange juice and sparkling wine).

Finally, I visited everyone in their rooms to wish them a merry day and to remind them I am glad they are in my life.

a last minute snapshot of my antlers

Stages of Santa

The Four Stages of Life:

1. you believe in Santa
2. you don't believe in Santa
3. you are Santa
4. you look like Santa



This past week I got a wonderful gift: a new person in activities in my department. Now that she has joined we shouldn't have any days when the activity calendar is mostly resident-led. She's done a great job so far, has not been shy about joining in any of the activities, and makes me relieved to have someone to work with for ideas and bigger events.

For her training we've done a lot of activities to get ready for Christmas. We made giant snowflakes as door decorations that have been remarked upon so much that I think we'll make extra for the executive director and Chaplain, among others.

We had a happy hour with seasonal puzzles and a matching games between all the names of Santa Claus and the countries that use them.

We also made a variation of crispy rice treats with o-cereal and marshmallows, green food dye, and sprinkles for ornaments. For this I would suggest cooking spray on the foil or surface you are using to mold and spray on hands or gloved hands so that it doesn't stick to you in frustrating ways. The results of this were not only tasty but decorative and I think the employees we made them for were happy with them. 

Winter Brunch

Almost a week later, I am still impressed with our winter brunch. For this event we invited residents' families and had a very popular local musician come in to sing and play for the duration of the 2 hours.

The kitchen made delicious brunch food and decorated the dining room for a buffet style meal. There were eggs to order, breakfast meats, and a variety of pastries. I made Belgium waffles, mixed with green food coloring and stacked with points up, in the shape of Christmas trees. We had cookies, fruit, quiche, and eggnog. Really, it would have been hard to leave hungry.
 While I was busy getting things ready that morning (extra chairs, table cloths, extension cords) I set up Wii bowling for families to play with the residents, and after the party and a bit of a rest, we had a sweater party to celebrate December birthdays. There was still a lot of food left over for it, and we gave out superlative pins for "cutest", "most unusual", "most holiday spirit", etc. My sweater was "most British" since it was given to me by a friend as she studied abroad in England. 

The best part was watching the families interact in a setting purely orchestrated to have fun. Although these events are a lot of work, they always feel worth it.

What's in the Gift Bag?

 I was a bit sneaky and hid our event today under the title of "what's in the bag?" Instead we made holiday gift bags for the employees to give to them during their pot luck tomorrow. The bags were put together by the residents and contained a candy cane, pen on a rope, carabiner, pencil, and pencil sharpener. Just a small thank you for all the wonderful care that they take. 

Candy Cane Day

Today was a beautiful example of how assigning a theme can give flow and purpose to an otherwise ordinary day.

We began the morning with a visit from our friends in the daycare. How to keep eighteen 4 year olds entertained and on track? They handed out mini candy canes to the residents... because it was candy cane day.

We added a scarf of wrapping paper to our fridge snowman... because it was candy cane day.

I gave out sharpened striped pencils to residents who dressed for the day ... because it was candy cane day.

We drank candy cane tea, regular tea, or hot chocolate with red and white sugary garnish... because it was candy cane day.

 The employee who dressed with the most spirit for the day was awarded peppermint lip gloss... because it was candy cane day.

We made ornaments for our tree. I turned this into a cognitive as well as a fine motor skill activity when I started a pattern and challenged them to continue it ... because it was candy cane day.

 We discussed fun things to do with candy canes, the history of the treat, and took pictures with the huge "cat in the hat" hat I brought in for the occasion. The day gave the residents purpose starting with a chance to choose festive attire, gave them a fun direction to take their thoughts, and gave them dignity in small ways such as changing ornament making on pipe cleaners from a childish hobby to a rational ending to a themed day.

National Cookie Day

Sometimes I make cookies like it is my job. Actually, sometimes it is my job. Today was national cookie day and to celebrate we made brownie cookies and peanut butter cookies. Sometimes it is fun to celebrate things that are not quite so weighty and the day easily turned into "decorating cookies", "cookies and cocoa", "cookie trivia" and tomorrow you can guess what will come up for our taste testing.

No Sew

The thing about supplies for activities... sometimes things get left behind. Things are ever shifting in retirement communities. Residents, employees, expectations, time, money. When I first saw the abandoned stash I was incredulous that anyone could bear to part with such materials. In the closets we have leftovers, half-completes, and never even touched.

Many moons ago I found some fleece cuts and set them aside without even scrutinizing them. This month I figured out their purpose. As an activity we looked at them today and found that one was pre-cut to make a nice no-sew blanket and the others needed a bit more work. It took the afternoon but we completed them all and now have three beautiful lap blankets.

On Christmas they will go in a pile of prizes to be won by playing BINGO that day. Which means the residents who worked so hard on them might be able to enjoy them later on. It was a great activity, cost nothing, and freed up space in the closet. Hopefully whomever left them behind would be happy we were finally able to use them.

Trimming

When I think of trimming, I think of my overgrown bangs, my parents' dog's toenails, and the out of control plants on my porch.

Some people think of trimming and it means the opposite: making things fuller, longer, and more festive.

"Trimming" is a verb to describe decorating the Christmas tree. After much hard work we accomplished not only that but also we trimmed above the cabinets, various ledges, tops of tables, backs of doors, a few love seats, and even a piano with holiday spirit.

Bom-Da-Ti

I invited two other sections of the building to come for a large drum circle and it turned out well. The residents get a choice of drums and percussion instruments and they play along to various songs. The theme this time was Native American because November is the month to celebrate that heritage. It is a change of pace and allows the residents to be a part of the music in a much different way than singing along.

Afterwards, the performer taught a small class for those interested in performing their own drum circles and it gave me a lot of food for thought in regards to an activity I already do. It is something I never expected to be doing, but the new ideas he gave us actually have me excited.

Typing Class

We had the most successful computer class yet just because I changed the name to "Typing Class". It turns out I have more residents interested in learning to use the keyboard than the internet. I was happy to see them enjoying it so much. Many of them had experience at some point with typewriters or computers but had long since gotten out of practice so it is not so much learning as it is re-learning.

My goal for the class now is to give them as much time in the computer lab as possible. To start I printed out a list of 10 sentences which each use every letter of the alphabet and they do as many as possible. When they are comfortable with those I will transition to using the mouse.

Cornucopias

Without the employees, there would be no retirement community. The relationships between employees and the residents can be many things, but in the one I work at it it feels like we are all family.

I thought the residents might like to make something to show the employees how thankful they are for them. It needed to be something sweet, cute, and labor-intensive to show how much love is present.

It took about two hours but we made cornucopia treats and they turned out just how I had hoped. We bent the edges of sugar ice cream cones and filled them with m&m's, reese's, candy corn, and skittles. Then we sealed them with plastic wrap and tied them off with ribbon. There were plenty to give out and I hope they convey the gratitude the residents feel for the people who take such good care of them.

Thankful Rolls

Today I am grateful for my job.

We did activities inclined towards Thanksgiving including a special Happy Hour that began with a gratitude alphabet of things we are thankful for (at least one for every letter). I transposed that list onto paper and had a resident cut each into strips. Another resident covered the strip in aluminum foil and we then rolled that into a crescent biscuit. The results were "thankful rolls" with words like kindness and grandchildren snuck into each. Residents unfolded them and read them off before eating.

Using the same list we played the word guess game after drinks so residents filled in blanks for words like dessert and phrases like good music.

We also decorated the doors with turkeys. I wanted something unique so we used ribbon for the plumage. The results were beautiful.

Western Day

I've long since had "Western" on my list of possible theme days. I've just been waiting for the weather to get cool enough to warrant flannel. The idea behind theme days is that I am required to have one activity a month to celebrate birthdays and other accomplishments. Rather than making cupcakes each time, I decided we would have an entire day devoted to it. Days previous we would spend getting ready and on the actual day each activity would adhere to the theme so that by the time the "party" began we would all be in the mood to celebrate. Also it would mean each was unique.

 This day I asked everyone to wear plaid and we began the day with a cowboy chat. I brought in two books with lots of descriptions of real cowboy life for us to discuss. Next we "redecorated the ranch" with horseshoes I brought in. Also, we finished painting the picture props I have been working on for weeks.

After lunch I got the residents who were most dressed up to help with passing out the weekly calendars. While we visiting each room I reminded people about the things that were happening a little later. The first of which was turning afternoon drinks into the "Saloon". Then we made our "Mix for the Trail" which included ranch rice snacks, harvest cheddar sun chips, sweet chili snacks, acorn cookies (of hershey's kisses and peanut butter sandwich cookies), and s'more bites (marshmallows plugged with pretzels, smothered in chocolate and rolled in crushed graham). The food was good, singing happy birthday in Western accents was better, but I think the best was taking pictures.

The four picture props included a wanted posted, a jail, a cowboy, and a cowgirl. They were worth the work because the residents didn't need to dress up, buy clothes, or hire someone to come in for "antique photos".

Since I wanted at least one physical game we also lassoed  a stuffed horse with craft rope which turned out to be pretty entertaining.

Shane

After an interview for an activities position in my building, a woman "shadowed" me for a few hours and it made me realize how often I use tricks that I've learned with experience. For example,  we were playing a new game and I opened the box for the first time after gathering 6 residents to try it out. It wasn't meant for more than four people to play at a time and they were meant to play on the same board. The residents were spread out along a long table. So, after a look at the pieces and people involved, I quickly made up new rules that could include everyone on their own board. Another look around and I adjusted the rules again- once for a resident with severe memory challenges and again for a pair of women who I knew worked best as "partners". Meanwhile the interviewee was trying to understand the "real rules" and the hardest part was conveying to her that "real" didn't matter as much as everyone enjoying the activity while still being challenged cognitively.

Since then I've been noticing how I do things like invite people purely on which aspect of the activity I know they'll most enjoy, "Come get out of your room", "We'll have snacks", "Try something new", "Mary will be there" or change locations to suite a bigger crowd.

Another thing I've improved upon is showing a movie. I've learned to plan on staying in the room (I set aside work I can get caught up on just for the purpose) to keep volume control, make popcorn, and invite early so we don't have to delay the start of the show. Another good idea is to play a movie the residents really enjoy, such as "Shane". Not only did they love seeing the movie again,  it got them geared up for the next day which had a Western Theme.

Native American Heritage Day

Today we had a theme that involved the whole building.

Native American Heritage Day

When considering what to do for this day, I decided against making headdresses because I didn't know enough about Native American symbols. Instead I devised a matching game between symbols and their definitions I think it was much more meaningful, pun intended.

For example, a horse is a symbol for a journey. We speculated as to why a bear track would be a symbol of a good omen, where you put a symbol of a shaman's eye to denote medicine, and how arrowheads (for alertness) and still used -> today.

It was interesting to think about symbols as much more than decoration.

Pass the Thankerchief

We visited our friends at the daycare and on that day they were studying pilgrims. To start our activity I brought paper to make pilgrim hats. The kids got to choose from our big box of ribbon to make their hat unique. They also helped the residents choose ribbon for their own hats so they would fit right in to our pilgrim party.

Next we did an activity called "Pass the Thankerchief" where the kids sat in a circle and passed a handkerchief while I read a poem. The one who was holding it when I finished had to tell something they were grateful for:

Thankerchief, Thankerchief, around you go,
where are you going to stop, well no one knows.
But when you do, I will say, 
what I'm thankful for, on this very day!

When the kids each had a turn we asked the residents what they were thankful for and most said being able to come visit some adorable children. Moments like that make the planning and implementing worth it.

Giant Group Crossword Puzzles

A great activity that always goes over well is a group crossword puzzle. In order for it to include a group the puzzle is huge (2 feet by 3 feet I would guess). When you order the puzzles you get a large roll of blank ones and a book with clues. I tape them to a white board in sight of everyone who'd like to contribute. Everyone is welcome to answer, and if we get to a point where the puzzle is unsolvable I begin using "heavy clues". For example "Ham" was the answer and the clue was a radio operator. If they had not been able to guess it I might have said "another name for pig meat". As we go along and fill things in I like to circle the ones that are new to everyone. At the end I pick the most interesting circled word and challenge everyone to use it in a sentence that day. Then I offer the completed puzzle to anyone who'd like it as a souvenir. No one has taken me up on that, yet.

Spouse of Veterans Tea

At work some of the other activities people have been busy planning a special breakfast for the Veterans that happened yesterday.

 Since I wasn't working on Veteran's day I instead put my effort into a tea today for Spouses of Veterans. Originally it was for "Wives of Veterans" but a broadminded activities person pointed out that women served during the war too.

 We had tea, snacks, decorations, a raffle, music, and a quote board.

 Close to 50 residents joined us and were able to share stories about the Veterans in their lives.

Sometimes You Feel Like a Fagales, Sometimes You Don't

Our latest taste testing was of a variety of nuts. I brought in almonds, cashews, peanuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and pecans. I'm not sure if all of those belong to the taxonomic Order of "Fagales" but I wanted to use an unusual word to describe the activity. It caught the attention of a bunch handful of residents.

Everyone was given a piece of paper, pen, spoon, and napkin. I cut up the nuts into small pieces and doled out one at a time onto the spoon so they could eat it without seeing or feeling it. I encouraged the residents to name as many nuts as they could before we began testing so it would be easier to guess.

The person who guessed the most correctly got 2.5 right. Many people guessed coconut and pistachio much to my surprise. Afterwards we discussed favorite nuts and chestnuts got the most votes.

You Can't Judge a Book by It's Cover

Another great meeting of Book Club at work. So far we have read "One Thousand White Women", "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", "Bel Canto" and our next one up is "Night". We also discussed "The Help".

The residents constantly amaze me. There is a woman with the best sense of humor, and Parkinson's; a men who can remember every meal he ever had on an outing, but can hardly move because of a stroke; a woman who has the figure of a teenager, but can't remember any games with new rules. They deal with loss, pain, and limitations, yet they go out of their ways to be nice to new people. They don't complain and they are determined to make the best of each day.

Some friends have told me they suspect older people don't have any fresh ideas. They think older people just rely on canned phrases and repeated stories. Certainly this may be true for some but many more times I've been surprised by the resident's wittiness or assertions which could only have been newly generated for the situation at hand.

I look forward to book club because I genuinely want to know what they think of the things we read. They shock me with their insight and I think they would shock the people who believe young ideas can't come from 90-somethings. For most of the residents- looks are very deceiving.

Witch Pitch

Today I came to work dressed as "Activities Girl". Along with my playing card cape I had a bag with all the things needed to avoid ennui and that a resident has asked me for in the past and been shocked if I didn't have:  games, pens, markers, tape, glue, dry eraser, paper clips, tissues, scissors, a master key, a Magic 8 ball, a notepad, straws, napkins, camera, snacks, a ruler, string, coffee creamers, sugar, 3 types of artificial sweetener, tickets, and prizes. Even if I had been a real superhero it would have weighed me down.

Fighting Boredom and Supply Crises

 Over the past week we've been preparing for Halloween by picking out jokes, making enough copies for every resident, cutting them into slips, and putting bags on each door. Today the residents added one of their jokes to each door while I taped on a Halloween pencil.

Also we played a game I named Witch Pitch that involved throwing candy and balloons into fake cauldrons I found in a decoration closet. The pencils, balloons, and bags came from the same closet. The day was made all the more sweeter because the power was up and running.

Hurricane Happy Hour

Monday was my first attempt at a new style of Happy Hour and I will always remember the winds and rain that accompanied it.

My section had their own hour before dinner with a variety of wine and diet sodas. Campus-wide happy hour is offered almost every day of the week in the retirement community I work in but the bar is too far of a walk for most of my residents. We had a great turn-out for our own socializing time and I've been collecting left-over goodies from activities so I also had an assortment of snacks to go with the drinks.

On Tuesday the power was out and the building ran only on generators. This meant a change of plans (I wasn't convinced that sewing in the poor light was such a good idea). I encouraged the residents to come to the better-lit better-warmed common areas to play cards, Rummikub, and do a puzzle. In the afternoon I gathered various teas and hot chocolate and offered every resident something hot to drink since the live performers scheduled to come in choose to stay safe and dry.

Monster Fingers

Today's kitchen/activities theme was "Wellness" rather than "Italy" or "Greece". For my part I didn't want to lecture about not eating so much fat, sugar, and salt. Instead I introduced the residents to the concept of eat this, not that. I brought in as many of David Zinczenko's books as I could check out from the library and we took turns sharing interesting facts about the foods we're drawn to. The take away message was to not let ourselves go even when we're snacking. Even in junk food there are better options than others.

After lunch I invited everyone to decorate toilet paper with me. Curiosity won many people over and I explained that we were decorating rolls to use as pins for a pumpkin bowling game we're hosting later this week. The results were almost too cute to knock over.    Almost.

After baking for the employees, the residents were disappointed we couldn't try the lemon cookies. Luckily I brought a snack for us to make: monster fingers. Pretzel sticks dipped in green baking chocolate and topped with almond slivers for fingernails. I even went around and drew "knuckles" with a knife.

Monster fingers turned out to be a victory treat because the Fall door decorating contest was today and my section won for "most spirited".

Word Guess

A great thing about working in a retirement community is that to the residents, days of the week don't have quite the significance that they used to. For instance, today all my activities were well attended despite the fact it was a Monday. My job is often compared to working in a school but there are no Monday blues or Friday impatiencenesses or "get over the hump" day sluggishnesses for people who live there full time.

In particular I had a huge crowd for word guess. We guess a word or phrase one letter at a time a bit like wheel of fortune or hangman. Today's theme was Halloween and residents took turns guessing letters but could get points only by correctly guessing what word or phrase filled in the blanks. If they guess incorrectly, they can't guess again until the next round.

My other activities; door decorating, information about the election, and Pokeno also enjoyed a sizable turn out. When friends send out mass text messages like "It's raining, I don't think I'll make it to Tuesday" I can't say I feel a lot of empathy.

one of our door decorations

Harry Potter Day

For the month of October's theme day, I thought I'd go simple and do "Magic Day". However, it was suggested that I turn that into Harry Potter day so that residents could interact with a big cultural reference. I think next year I'll stick to "Magic Day".

The day did not go poorly, but it did not go as I would have liked considering how much work I put into it.

Today actually began yesterday with a showing of the first movie in the Harry Potter series. I pre-watched this recently to make sure all of my activities would be in line with the movie and so that anyone who watched it would have a base knowledge. I actually took notes. The problem is that I could not get the closed captioning to work for the movie and so the voices of the high pitched 11 years olds only sounded like "cheep-cheep-cheep". Worse, they were British 11 years old ("cheep cheep, tea-time, cheep") which means most of the dialogue was lost to the unfortunates watching.

Early this morning we started with a Harry Potter chat during which I passed around my copy of the first book and gave a synopsis of the story: there is a secret magical subculture of wizards non-magic people do not know about due to a ministry of magical cover-ups. The wizards go to their own school and everything is similar to but more interesting than our world. In this culture there are good wizards who protect non-magical people and bad wizards who wish us harm. Harry Potter is on the good side. I asked if anyone could think of such a wildly popular icon when they were growing up and they could not.

Although it wasn't addressed in the first movie, I renamed our gardening session into "herbology".

Then we came inside for decorating. I filled white balloons with helium and we used black markers to draw owls on them.


















After lunch the calendar pass-out was Quidditch paced. Then came the party.

The school in Harry Potter is called Hogwarts and there are four houses in Hogwarts. I represented them by color with crepe paper. When residents sat down I asked if they wanted "red, green, yellow, or blue" and then made a stole out of the paper. It was clipped together with a badge of the appropriate house.

Hufflepuff badge and stole

During my walks along my long driveway lately I've been picking up interesting twigs. These acted as wands and for each I had a description of it's special magical abilities. For example: " a reliable wand with consistency, reliable strength, and power. works with a wizard or witch with clear morals" and "supposed to be a protective wand, most happy when its owner has a clear head and pure heart. this wood is not known to have fallen into the hands of a dark witch or wizard".

 

Once everyone had read their description for their wand, I explained the colors they were wearing. For example, for all those wearing the red, Gryffindor, I told them their group values bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry. We discussed if they thought their wand and house choices suited their personality. Next came snacks.

Butterbeer (vanilla ice cream, cream soda, butterscotch syrup)

peppermint toads, broomstick (pretzel sticks and string cheese)

Lastly we used a broom to knock a non-helium owl through one of the three Quidditch hoops.

My hope for the day was that afterwards the residents would be better able to connect with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My fear was that the day will make people confused. However I didn't anticipate that some people just like change and the owl decorations and snacks were fun regardless of the their relevance to J.K. Rowling.

after-work picture of my Harry Potter apron