Before the Halloween celebrations could begin, residents and staff got to work this week making their spooky decorations and carving pumpkins. Some residents were happy to get their hands a bit dirty and carve their own pumpkins, carving all kinds of funny or scary faces into them, whilst others relished in making creative and creepy decorations. It was incredible to see so many residents and staff joining in the fun and games throughout the week. Everyone looked wonderful in their costumes at the Halloween party and got stuck into the silly party games!
Monday morning, we get into the spirit of Halloween as part of our arts and crafts club, decorating bunting and Halloween faces to decorate the lounges.
14 of us assembled in the lounge for an intensive game of floor bowls after lunch, divided into teams we played on the bowling green competing for the over all win. There are many health benefits linked with indoor bowls. It improves our hand eye coordination and strengthens muscle tone. Any type of exercise will lead to stronger bones, muscles and joints all while having fun.
Tuesday morning, we played the double dice game, this game mental stimulates as we have to think fast and add up on our heads.
That afternoon we were invited to the Hill House fancy dress Halloween party, the staff had gone all out dressed in silly, funny outfits bright and cheery even though it was Halloween. the afternoon was filled with fun party games, trying to eat a donut on a string without steading it with your hands and a monster pinata that we had to bash to reveal the trick or treat hidden inside. We enjoyed party food; including themed cupcakes baked by our amazing chefs.
The party continued after dark as more staff materialised, including the directors dressed head to toe in fancy dress, serving us drinks from cart, music played we sand and danced, before being treated to a fancy dress fashion show, we clapped along as staff danced, wiggled and trotted tehri way down the cat walk, outfits included; a pumpkin patch, sloth, horse jockey, blood soaked chef, witch doctor and of course the cat walk winners; Shrek & Fiona.
Wednesday morning after the excitement of the halloween party the night before we enjoyed a wide range of indepent activities, reading the daily papers, jigsaw puzzles, number games. Others enjoyed small group activities including the interactive centres floor sensory activity and a game of dominos.
the afternoon was filled with exercises and sporty games as we played mini golf on garden view lounge as well as parachute games. The lounge played Jenga and spent the afternoon laughing and joking together in the group social.
Thursday morning in the garden view lounges there was lots to choose from, we created pumpkin faces out of paper to decorate the lounge, our fidget board are very popular they help to strengthen muscles in the hands and fingers, helping to reduce the stiffness in our joints and others played carpet floor bowls cheering each other on and chatting and laughing together. Alliteratively in the lounge our exercise class to music got the blood flowing first things, singing the grand old duck of York as we marched in our arm chairs, followed by a game of tin can-alley.
Another of our main events this week was pumpkin carving, the whole home got involved, scooping pulling and carving our way to create silly faces on our pumpkins, we laughed a lot throughout the activity and reminisced about grandchildren and how things have changed in the last 10years, we never had Halloween it just wasn’t a thing!
A lot of us also thought that carving a pumpkin was very American but we were very interested to learn that it originated from Ireland. In Ireland, people started to carve demonic faces out of turnips to frighten away Jack’s wandering soul. When Irish immigrants moved to the U.S., they began carving jack-o’-lanterns from pumpkins, as these were native to the region.
As an early riser Kath has become a champion knitter here at hill House early morning knitting session over a hot coffee, Kath has knitting enough squares for 4 giant blankets and as the weather starts to get colder and residents are enjoying family visits, she decided that they would need a scarf as the go outside to the visiting room. She completed her first scarf in just two mornings and is now on to the next!!
Friday morning, our forestry group met in the lounge, this weeks floral arrangement had a twist and we couldn’t wait to get stuck in. This week we carefully arranged flowers into wet oasis before placing them inside our carved pumpkins from the day before, the oasis was wrapped in plastic wrap to keep the water from the pumpkin flesh, once placed inside we added extra flowers to the displays. The lounge was filled with laughter and conversation as we worked together on our displays.
Before lunch we played a game of Bananagram, where we used lettered tiles to spell words, the object of the game is to be the first to complete a word grid after all the game tiles have been used.
Friday afternoon continued to be as busy as the morning, with a wide range of activities on offer across the home, cooking club took part in 3 separate location, as we cut up pumpkin chunks to make pumpkin scones, weighing out and mixing the ingrediencies before cutting them out into pumpkin shapes using a cutter.
While the scones baked and cooled down, we played a game of floor bowls in the lounge, while on garden view we started a new 750-piece jigsaw puzzle and played ball games. Once the scones where baked and cooled enough but still warm we lavished them in butter and jam and relaxed with a hot drink and a freshly baked scone.
Saturday morning, we played board games and picture pairs in the garden view lounge followed by a musical singalong before lunch. Others enjoyed a group game of floor darts, aiming for targets to build up pints on the leader board, we welcomed new players this week to the game it was a very bubbly atmosphere that rippled through the home and lifted everyone spirits.
Saturday afternoon the lounge settled down with a pot of ice-cream and hairspray the musical a feel food film. Alterity we sorted and cut out pictures to change a photo board in the garden view lounge, we picked the pictures we thought best showed off what we got up to over Halloween before sticking them to brightly coloured paper and displaying them.
As Halloween night drew in and the sun went down, our fantastic kitchen team lit up the dining room by candle light. It was amazing to see our pumpkins lit and our creative designs come to life.
Sunday morning, we had the choice to attend one of two religious services held across the home. While others opted for a game of giant snakes and ladders, skittles and helping o change over the display board in the lounge.
The afternoon we joined in the lounge for this week’s giant crossword puzzle followed by an afternoon tea social, and singalong.