Advice for Planning the Most Incredible Care Home Event
Whether you join in with the annual Macmillan Coffee Morning, are organising an open day, or are planning another event, planning is crucial. If there is not a plan in place in advance, you will find organising a day that is fun and memorable, and allows you to achieve your goals, to be incredibly difficult.
So bearing that in mind, and the fact that care home life can be notoriously hectic, below are some tips and useful pieces of advice for planning the most incredible care home event. Regardless of what that event may be, the advice below should help you to plan an incredible event.
Know what you want to achieve
The first step to planning any event, whether it’s a birthday party for one of your residents or a BBQ for friends and family of your residents, is knowing what you want to achieve. Having a clear idea of what you want to achieve on the day, will make it easier to focus and come up with ideas.
Do you want to build bonds within the community? Do you want to promote your care home to potential residents and their families? Are you trying to raise funds for a good cause? Or, are you simply hoping to organise a fun and memorable day that your residents and their families, and your team members can enjoy?
Whatever you want from your day, it is vital that you know what it is that you are trying to achieve beforehand, so that you can take steps to ensure that any goals you have are met.
Theme your event
All of the most successful events are themed, so whether it’s an open day that you are planning or a resident’s birthday party, it pays to choose a theme. This is because when you have a theme, you can use this to tie the whole event together, from the food to the entertainment.
Once you have picked a theme, the next step is to consider how you can create an event that focuses on it. Stuck for theme ideas, don’t worry there are plenty of options to choose from. For instance, for a resident’s birthday party, a theme that appeals to them is important. So, say they lived in Mexico when they were younger, a Mexican themed party could work well, complete with enchiladas, sombreros, and a pinata. Or, say they have always loved football, a football-themed do could be a great success. Think football decorations, cupcakes, and themed games.
The idea is to think about who the party is for and choose a theme that the person or group of people would like.
Put a plan in place
Next, you need to begin planning the event in detail. Ask for volunteers to help out and organise regular planning meetings, to ensure that the event is taken seriously from the get-go. Delegate different tasks, to ensure that no one is inundated with things to organise.
Start by deciding what activities the event will include and when they will happen. It’s also worth thinking about food and what food to serve. Ideally, you want the food served to be suitable for your residents, as well as any guests who attend. A buffet can be a great option, as can a BBQ or hog or ram roast. For a coffee morning, cupcakes could work well. When it comes to the food that you serve, make sure to theme it. If anyone within your care home suffers from allergies, it could be worth ensuring that all of the food and drinks served are allergy friendly.
If your event is going to have different things going on throughout it, it could be worth working out a time frame for the day.
Don’t forget to advertise
To ensure that plenty of people turn up to your event, it is vital that you remember to advertise it. Whether this is by sending out an email to everyone on your care home’s email list, contacting the relatives of every resident, putting signs up in the local area, or sharing the event on social media, it doesn’t matter.
If you want to ensure that your event is a roaring success, advertising it is a must. Don’t leave it until the last minute, ensure that you get your advertising sorted as soon as possible.
There you have it, everything that you need to know about planning the most incredible care home event.
