Observing annual holidays with your family lets you switch up normal routines and enjoy activities and treats specific to that time of year. This provides the opportunity for seniors to pass on traditions and make special memories before their grand kids grow up.
Exploring pumpkin patches and corn mazes, picking out costumes and going trick or treating around our Hickory Villa community are just a few of the classic pastimes that our residents can pick from when planning visits and trips. For additional ideas, here are four ways to celebrate Halloween with your grandchildren.
Watching "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" each year has been a tradition for many families around the nation since its debut in 1966. The comical antics of Snoopy role-playing a WWI pilot and jokes about pumpkin carving are a simple, but timeless way to relax and celebrate.
A more recent animated special, Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest is another lighthearted take on the holiday. The hour-long film captures the fun and wonder of George's first Halloween festival in a small country town. Though the movie is aimed at a younger audience, the humorous scenes during songs such as Kinda, Sorta Haunted House are universal in their appeal and will leave you chuckling along with your grand kids.
Reading is another way that you can experience Halloween together and get to see what some of your grandchildren's favorite fictional characters do during the holiday. Picture books that are written with engaging questions and text such as The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree can be especially fun for both age groups, and you can embellish the story with your own spooky voices and sound effects.
Treats don't have to be limited to candy on Halloween. These cleverly designed snacks can be fixed using the microwave in your senior living apartment's kitchen, which makes preparation and clean up easy.
Though instructions for preparing melted chocolate or rice crispy treats often call for a stovetop and pan, there are many microwave tutorials on the web that simplify the process and actually take less time than their stovetop alternatives.
Microwave Rice Krispie Treat Tutorial
How to Melt Chocolate in a Microwave
Making crafts are a great way to expand the holiday fun from beyond the big day to the entire season. And the resulting decorations help transform your assisted living apartment, or your grand kid's home, so that it looks and feels like a special time of year.
Windows and doors are a great place to start, and these pumpkin popsicle hangers are easy to make in matching sets so that each of you can have a decoration for your entry or bedroom. And the iconic shapes of these suncatchers prove that Halloween doesn't have to be dark or scary for the kids to have fun.
Tables are a good way to round out your decorations. This gourd family makes a cute centerpiece as is, however, you can adjust the number of figures and their hair color to literally bring your entire family into your decor by modeling this craft after them.
