Care Home Christmas Guide

However, with all of these extra pressures and prospects within the care sector, care homes and their teams can feel more stressed than usual and even more overstretched when trying to meet expectations and ensure everyone is feeling comfortable, happy and well-cared for during this hectic time of year. This can be even harder when you take staff shortages, viruses and other illnesses and lack of funding into account.

We have put together this care home Christmas guide so you can make your care home festive during the holiday season without putting too much pressure on the care service and their teams, and to help you deal with other winter pressures in care.

Care Home Christmas Activities

While some people love Christmas, not everyone will have positive or fond memories of the occasion, or may not want to partake in festivities for a variety of reasons, so getting to know your residents, their likes and dislikes, their traditions and how they would prefer celebrating the occasion is essential when planning Christmas activities. When planning festive events within your care service, there aren’t any limits on the number of events you can plan. However, remember to keep people’s holiday schedules and the home’s budget in mind. Here are some care home Christmas activities to consider:

1.      Arts and Crafts

Encouraging creativity around Christmas is a great way to get people into the spirit. Hosting an arts and crafts session can cover so many areas and keep people busy for long periods. There are so many areas you can touch, from making Christmas cards for loved ones and decorations to put around the home, to designing Christmas hats and jumpers to wear during the season, arts and crafts can provide hours of creative and mentally stimulating fun.

2.      Carol Singing

Singing has been proven to improve both the mental and physical health of older people, making it the perfect Christmas activity. Listening to songs people have heard in their younger days has been shown to be especially, and remarkably beneficial for many people with Alzheimer’s or dementia.  

During the festive season, schools tend to visit care homes and churches to sing along to carols and hymns. If you can find out what songs will be sung in advance, you can provide a booklet full of lyrics for your service users so they can get involved.

Alternatively, you could carry out a sing-along involving the residents only and allow them to sing their favourite carols, songs and hymns. This will make their opinions feel valued and will make everyone feel even more excited about the event. The best thing about getting people to sing is that it doesn’t come with a price tag and the benefits and joy this activity brings to people are priceless.

3.      Christmas Jumper Day

Getting everyone to put on their Christmas jumpers is a great way to spread festive cheer throughout the care service. If people don’t have a jumper, you could host an arts and crafts session that allows them to create their own, or you can provide optional jumpers that can be worn by those who don’t have one at hand. Encouraging people to get creative and decorate their own jumpers with fabric pens and paints can be a fun activity. You could even reward prizes for the best design.

4.      Festive Baking

Food is a big part of Christmas, so why not throw some festive baking sessions? Like all creative pursuits, baking is a form of self-expression which can relieve stress and make people feel good. It appeals to all five senses and the joy of indulging in some homemade treats at the end of the session makes it even more appealing. Some of the food you can make during festive baking activities include mince pies, gingerbread men, Christmas cookies, cakes, yule logs, and more!

5.      Christmas Lights Tour

When gazing at Christmas lights, the ‘feel good’ chemical dopamine is released, which is why people feel happy after looking at them. If your care service has access to a bus or van, then you should consider taking your service users on a Christmas lights tour. This could be to local towns or villages that have put up a display in the streets, to other care homes or decorated public spaces such as town halls, shopping centres or Christmas markets.

6.      Festive Quiz

A festive-themed quiz is a great way to entertain your residents, especially the competitive ones. People can work in teams to answer questions for prizes, allowing them to bond and practice team-building skills while putting on their thinking caps and testing their knowledge.

Tips for writing the best quiz questions is to make them short and simple and if you decide to ask multiple choice questions, you shouldn’t make the answers too obvious. Make sure you take people’s feelings and experiences into consideration when creating your quiz, so everyone has a chance to answer. And try to aim for a decent number of questions overall. Ideally, you should aim for 4-8 rounds consisting of approximately 10 questions each.

7.      Secret Santa

Everyone deserves a gift at Christmas and nothing beats a surprise. Hosting Secret Santa can be a great way to encourage everyone to think about one another and get excited about receiving a unique gift from someone special. All you need to do is put participants' names into a hat and get them to pick a name at random. They will then need to buy that person a gift, which can be budgeted to a set amount or homemade. Another alternative could be sending recipients a Christmas card or encouraging words. Whatever you go with, you should make this very clear before the gift exchange.

8.      Christmas Shopping Day

Christmas is about giving as much as receiving. Planning an outing for your service users so they can participate in a spot of Christmas shopping can really get people into the spirit of the season and get them excited about seeing and giving to their loved ones. However, keep in mind that not everyone can leave the home, or have the money available to go shopping, which could make them feel upset. For those individuals or for those who don’t want to venture out in public, you can set up a holiday store on-site so they can purchase some items for giving to friends and family.

If you want a cashless alternative, you could even fairly share out tokens or tickets for your pop-up care home Christmas shop so that no one feels unable to participate through to lack of money. During the pandemic some care homes set up their own little stores in the residence “selling” craft items made by residents or their families.

9.      Movie Night

Hosting movie nights throughout the holiday season can be a great way to bring people together and spread festive cheer throughout the care service. Movies are magical which makes them effective at distracting people from what’s going on in the real world. You can host multiple optional movie nights with snacks and decorations. Asking residents what they would like to watch and trying to fulfil everyone’s wishes will make people feel appreciated and excited about the event.

Like music, films can also help people remember fond times and warm feelings and share their experiences and memories with each other.

10.  Christmas Lunch

Most people enjoy a comforting roast dinner. For those who won’t be leaving their home, most care services will serve a classic Christmas roast on the special day. However, hosting a Christmas lunch before the main event will allow everyone to enjoy the festivities together and get in the spirit with a spot of good food. You could make this event even more special by combining it with one of the above activities. For example, you could carry out an arts and crafts session in the morning to design a Christmas hat or jumper, and then select a winner for the best one.

Being Covid-Friendly

Unfortunately, many people catch and spread illnesses throughout the winter, this includes Covid-19 which still circulates the population, so you should keep this in mind when planning your Christmas activities. Just like the flu vaccine, people vaccinated against Covid-19 reduce the spread and severity of infection, but with more visits from families and friends throughout the festive period, strains out there can be picked up and passed on, which can affect everyone differently.

If you have noticed an increase in any kind of winter illness or there has been reports of rising cases in the area, then you should consider making your Christmas activities Covid-friendly to reduce the risk of it spreading throughout the home. Some activities you can consider include carol sing-alongs, quizzes, movies, crafts and baking, as residents can participate in the event together without having to be close to one another.

Making Loved Ones and Visitors Welcome

During the holiday period, there will be many visitors making their way in and out of the home. Making sure they feel comfortable and welcome is extremely important, as you want them to enjoy their experience during their visit and feel at home when reuniting with their loved ones. You can make visitors feel welcome during the festive season by:

• Being friendly and welcoming – You should put on a smile and make visitors feel welcome during their time at your care service. At the end of the day, they are not obliged to visit their loved ones and may be deterred to return if they don’t feel welcome, which can have a negative impact on your residents.
  
  
• Offering drinks and snacks – Having a range of festive drinks and snacks available (e.g. mince pies, chocolates, eggnog and hot chocolates) and offering them to visitors and residents during visiting times can be a great way to make people feel welcome and appreciated during their stopover. It also spreads festive cheer throughout the home.
  
  
• Encouraging festive attire – This is a simple yet effective way to make your home look and feel more festive during the Christmas period, especially during visits closer to Christmas and on the day. You can get your service users to dress up in their jumpers too or combine the visiting day with a Christmas jumper day. Make sure you dress up for the occasion too.
  
  
• Decorating the care home – Making sure the home is well-decorated during the Christmas period is highly recommended. However, some care homes have restrictions when it comes to decorations. If yours allow it, then you should make the most of the privilege. This will make your care service look the part, feel more welcoming to visitors and create a festive feeling.
  
  
• Providing the resident with their creations – If you have hosted creative workshops such as arts and crafts and baking, you should ensure that participants have their creations at hand to show to their visitors. This can be a great way to get the conversation flowing and make service users feel good about themselves.

To keep on top of buffer times between visits and manage the number of visitors, you should consider implementing a visitor booking system for care. This will ensure the safety and comfort of both residents and staff, while keeping your service users connected to their loved ones. Some systems even include video calls, which are the perfect alternative to in-person visits for those who may be sick or far away.

Are Care Homes Allowed Christmas Decorations?

In 2020 and 2021, there were some restrictions on decorating care homes due to ‘infection control issues.’ This means that some services were banned from putting up Christmas trees and decorations by local authorities. While we have learned to live with Covid-19, it is still a threat, especially to older and vulnerable adults. If your care home allows decorations, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• Less is more – When decorating your care home, remember that being well-decorated doesn’t need to be decorations have to be put up on every corner. Simple additions to the home will be easier to manage and maintain and will require less time to put up and take down.
• Reuse your decorations – Most care homes will reuse their decorations anyway, but this is even more important during this time. Reusing decorations reduces the risk of bringing new infections into the home and it’s good for the environment.
• Disinfect new decorations – If you are bringing in any new decorations, make sure you go for options that can be disinfected. For example, if you need a new Christmas tree, go for an artificial one. These can also be reused in the future.
• Get residents to make their own – As mentioned previously, service users could create their own decorations during arts and crafts sessions. These decorations will be homemade in a controlled environment, making them a safer option to put up around the home.

Care Home Christmas Staffing

Staffing problems are common throughout care homes, and this can be even more of an issue during the festive season. Last year, staff shortages rose by 52% according which would put the care home under extreme pressure, especially during the holidays when people need more time off for personal commitments. Unfortunately, understaffing can lead to more neglect and abuse in care homes and carers are at higher risk of becoming physically and psychologically ill due to stress and pressure.

If you desperately need an extra pair of hands, you can always consider agency workers in social care. Care providers can turn to an agency if they are short-staffed or they’re struggling with recruitment. However, many care services struggle with staff during the festive period and there is no minimum or maximum duration for a temporary work assignment, so finding the staff you need through an agency is likely to be extremely competitive. This means you need to be prepared to work with what you’ve got. 

If you are struggling with staffing issues and you want to prepare for the challenges ahead, you should implement software such as Access PeoplePlanner for rostering and scheduling. This Care Rostering System enables you to look ahead and allocate carers to shifts fast, whilst being able to accommodate annual leave requests. You can input information months in advance, so you can fill in gaps, advertise unallocated shifts and meet everyone’s needs sooner rather than later. Being organised is essential when you’re understaffed.

What is Safe Staffing?

Safe staffing means you need to have the right amount of staff to deliver high-quality care and support and have the skills to do so. The areas you should cover involve: 

• Doing the right recruitment checks
• Ensuring staff are competent and safe to do their role
• Having safe staffing levels
• Putting contingency plans in place
• Recruiting the right people, with the right values
• Skills and experience to deliver safe care and support

Getting this right is essential. Not only does it mean your service users can receive safe and effective care and support that suits their needs, but it will also improve your inspection rating. On the other hand, getting this wrong can put the people you support and your staff at risk. For example, staff shortages can put a service under intense pressure and means staff can’t cover all basis each day.

Use Access EarlyPay to Give Back to Your Carers

While good planning and preparation take the pressure off your care team while ensuring service users feel happy and content, one of the best things you can do to reward their hard work is to give back to your carers using an early pay system.

Access EarlyPay gives your care providers the option to access their earned pay early whenever they need it, so they can feel comfortable knowing that they can fund their own Christmas celebrations. This is not an advance or a loan, it’s simply access to the money that they’ve already earned. Introducing this incentive gives staff the motivation they need to power through the winter pressures in care, as they feel in control over what they’ve earned and when they’ve earned it.

This system can be preloaded with hard-to-fill shifts, with the option for staff to receive payment as soon as they have completed it. Existing EarlyPay customers have said that they have seen productivity increase, improved recruitment and staff turnover since implementing the system.

To give your staff the flexibility they deserve, find more information on Access EarlyPay by visiting our website to book a demo or to download your free brochure.