Thanksgiving is approaching, which means that families are making their plans to spend time together and celebrate the holiday. Families often plan get-togethers that involve multiple generations of the family for Thanksgiving, including children and grandparents. When preparing for the holiday, it is important to consider activities that will allow family members across generations to bond and keep your senior loved ones engaged.

It is common for seniors to experience feelings of social isolation and loneliness during the holidays, especially if they live alone. If you have senior loved ones visiting your home for Thanksgiving, make sure to involve them in conversations and the festivities, do not leave them to sit alone. Plan activities that encourage relatives to engage with your senior loved ones, and the kids to interact with their grandparents.

Thanksgiving Day is the ideal time to show gratitude, so expressing thanks to the elderly individuals who have made a special impact on the lives of family members can make the holiday even more memorable for everyone.  The following are fun Thanksgiving activities for your family to enjoy with your senior loved ones.

1. Consider Traditions

Like with any holiday, everyone has their favorite Thanksgiving traditions. Your senior loved ones may remember certain traditions that your family no longer follow that might be fun to bring back. Ask them what traditions are most important to them and determine if an old tradition can be brought back and even modified in a way that will make it more fun and interesting for the family. Resurrecting old Thanksgiving traditions can be a real joy for seniors, especially if you let them lead the charge.

2. Thanksgiving Events in Palm Beach County

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, there are several activities and events in Palm Beach County that are ideal for you to check out with your senior parents to spend time with their loved ones and grandchildren.

The Fall Festival & Bazaar put on by St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is a great event to take the whole family. This fall festival includes baked goods as well as arts and crafts from local artists that can make unique gifts for loved ones. Enjoy the fall festivities with your family and support local artisans and vendors. The Fall Festival & Bazaar is on November 16 between 8:00am and 2:00pm at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Lake Worth Beach, FL and it is free to attend.

If you have a senior relative who loves doing crafts, they will enjoy Thanksgiving in Full Bloom in which they can make their own Thanksgiving Day centerpiece. Guests will get expert guidance from florists and use flowers and foliage provided to create their own original centerpiece. This event takes place at Blooms Social in West Palm Beach, FL on November 27 from 6:30 to 8:30pm and you must buy tickets to attend.

If you are looking for an alternative to preparing a Thanksgiving meal, you and your family can enjoy the Thanksgiving Buffet at Hilton Palm Beach Airport in West Palm Beach, FL. Your senior loved ones will be able to choose from a wide range of traditional favorites and there will be carving stations featuring roasted turkey and ham. This event takes place from 4-7pm on Thanksgiving Day.

3. Capture the Moments of Your Senior Loved Ones

Thanksgiving is an excellent time to capture some important moments with your senior loved ones. Make sure to take pictures of them with their grandchildren and you can even have the children prepare questions to ask their grandparents about their past, including their childhoods, what they did for a living, and their favorite memories and activities.

Recording videos of the children interviewing their grandparents creates an excellent time capsule that your family can revisit for years to come. It is also a great way to preserve the memory of your loved ones and document their experiences from their younger days as well as long forgotten family stories that they still remember.

4. Decorate

Preparing for a festive Thanksgiving Day starts with decorating the home. Include the seniors in the activity, assigning them small, manageable tasks, such as hanging acorn garlands or setting pumpkins on the windowsill. Seniors who are more artistically inclined can also help create decorations such as crocheted items, wreaths, and even centerpieces.

If your senior loved ones are not interested in creating or putting up Thanksgiving decorations, you can put them in charge of directing where to place the decorations.

5. Create Gratitude Trees

Creating mini gratitude trees is a fun, simple craft in which seniors can easily participate. Put a branch in a vase and have the senior cut out leaf shapes from paper. Distribute the paper leaves and have each member of the family write something that they are thankful for on their leaf. Have the senior collect the leaves and attach them to the branch with a ribbon.

6. Embellish the Thanksgiving Table

Ask your senior loved ones to help decorate the table in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. Seniors can arrange and set the table and decorate it with candles, wreathes, and gratitude trees. You can even top it off with a centerpiece made by one of your senior loved ones.

Involving your senior loved ones in decorating the table will create a positive experience that will strengthen bonds between family members.

7. Prepare a Turkey Dinner

Plenty of preparation goes into hosting the Thanksgiving feast. The special holiday meal that all relatives savor must be cooked—and seniors can lend a hand. Involve your senior loved ones by giving them minor, enjoyable tasks such as cutting out pieces of pie with holiday shaped cookie cutters. Seniors who are more adept may be tasked with preparing a side or dessert.

8. Host a Cook-Off

Equally fun is hosting a cook-off on this festive day. Give elderly guests the opportunity to cook their best meal or dessert. Seniors who do not cook anymore can still participate by serving as the judges of the extraordinary cook-off. You can also honor them by asking for some of their recipes and preparing that dish. You can choose to award prizes to those who prepare the best dishes or simply enjoy the food together.

9. Play Thanksgiving Games

After Thanksgiving dinner, there is an abundance of fun to be had by playing games with the family. Older adults love playing games and involving the entire family makes it fun for everyone. Consider handing out Thanksgiving bingo cards or word puzzles with a Thanksgiving theme.

Make Thanksgiving-themed bingo cards that feature statements related to the holiday. Unlike traditional bingo, where numbers are called out, the host announces these statements. This game offers seniors the opportunity to engage both their short- and long-term memory while enjoying the company of others.

Social games like bingo not only boost memory but also contribute significantly to the overall well-being of seniors through social interaction. Other brain-stimulating games, such as number puzzles, can be enjoyed with family, providing a positive and engaging social outlet for seniors.

10. Painting Pumpkins

Thanksgiving is a great holiday for grandparents to form a bond with their grandchildren. One activity that is easy and safe for both children and seniors is painting pumpkins and gourds that can be used as decorations throughout the house. Grandparents and their grandchildren can be creative and work together to turn pumpkins into art.

11. Research Genealogy

Thanksgiving is all about family, and what better way to spend the holiday than looking back in time to discover surprising ancestors. Seniors are a treasure trove of family history and can meaningfully contribute to genealogy research, even sharing stories that give meaning to the historic findings. A senior loved one may have a vivid enough memory of an ancestor that most of the family never met to be able to bring this person to life.

12. Listen to Music

After bellyfuls of turkey and pumpkin pie, seniors and the rest of the family will want to relax, loosen their belts, and listen to a series of musical tunes. Seniors might be tasked with picking favorite oldies, while the younger generations may look up lyrics online so everyone can sing along. Bonding over music can strengthen the ties between generations as relatives of different ages choose songs.

13. Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

Putting together a Thanksgiving scavenger hunt is a great way to involve the whole family. Place Thanksgiving themed items around the home and backyard if weather permits and form teams to follow clues and find the items. You can also include prizes to encourage more family members to join the hunt.

Scavenger hunts allow seniors and their grandchildren to work together to find the items in the hunt which can strengthen their bond.

14. Enjoy the Company of Your Loved Ones

Simply spending quality time with the family around the fireplace or dining table on Thanksgiving Day is meaningful. Sharing laughs, stories, and memories of past Thanksgivings can give seniors a prominent place during the holiday. After the holiday is over, your senior loved ones will return home with new, special memories of the time they have spent with the entire family.

Companion Care from Assisting Hands

The fun Thanksgiving activities that you plan for your family should be easy for seniors and children to perform so grandparents can participate with their grandchildren. Involving your senior loved ones throughout the Thanksgiving festivities will help them feel special and connected to members of their family in every generation.

If your senior loved ones could use some help with personal care, mobility, and getting around to family events and holidays, Assisting Hands Home Care can help with our companion care services.  Our companion caregivers not only provide personal care and assistance and help with mobility issues, but also ensure that they arrive at your Thanksgiving Day celebration safely.

The holidays can be particularly lonely for seniors living alone with few relatives nearby. Our companion care services can alleviate this isolation by providing invaluable social interaction. Our caregivers engage seniors in conversation, play games, and accompany them on safe outings. Beyond companionship, our professional caregivers deliver additional services that make both the holidays and everyday life more fulfilling and enjoyable. We offer non-medical in-home support for daily activities, ranging from personal hygiene to grocery shopping and meal preparation.

Families in Boynton Beach, Jupiter,North Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Royal Palm Beach, Singer Island, Wellington, and West Palm Beach, Florida can turn to our reputable home care agency for the most dependable senior care and companionship services. When your aging loved one struggles at home, set up an in-home consultation with us. We will develop a flexible care plan to ensure your loved one receives optimum home care. Call us at (561) 566-5989 today to learn more.