With the holidays upon us, it’s important to take advantage of the opportunities you have to bring your community together. The team at Model55 put our head’s together to come up with a list of things that you can do this year for a New Year’s celebration that will rock your residents’ socks off. Here are a few of our ideas – we hope you enjoy!

We love the idea of hosting a New Year’s Eve scavenger hunt for community members to participate in. This type of activity not only brings people together socially, but it’s also easy to keep local and is something that can be amended so everyone can participate. We like the idea of the classic scavenger hunt. This is where you create a list of things throughout the community for participants to track down. Make your hunt competitive by offering prizes, and interactive by including things that other residents can provide. For example, your list might look something like this:

Making your list with random, yet attainable items, is an excellent way to keep your gathering fun and light hearted while stimulating social interactions amongst your community members.

Who doesn’t love happy hour? If you have someone who can bartend, or you are able to hire a bartender for a few hours on New Year’s Eve this year, this is a great idea that is a sure way to bring residents together. We recommend combining happy hour with an activity such as cards, board games, or trivia to keep residents socializing throughout the evening.

Our team thought a themed party would be a fun and interesting way to bring your residents together this New Year’s Eve. We brainstormed a few ideas for themes that your residents might love, and here’s what we came up with:

Encourage your residents to dress up, and be sure to deck your common area out: Transform it to the perfect setting for the theme of your choice. Being in costume is always a fun way to release social anxiety and create worthwhile memories that will bring a positive light to your community’s gathering.

If you have access to a projector, consider playing your movies on a big screen. Provide popcorn and other movie snacks to make it feel like a night out, or transform your common area into an outdoor scene like the drive-in movies. If you’re stuck on movie ideas you can always send out a flyer a few days before polling residents on their favorite movies, or offer a marathon that moves through generations. Start with a classic 40’s film, like “Casablanca”, and work your way up to the 70’s. We particularly liked this idea because it gives residents choices, and will keep your gathering moving throughout the evening until the ball drops. Also, who doesn’t love being a little nostalgic on New Year’s Eve? And what better way to do that than with classic movies.

You don’t have to come dressed up if you don’t want to, but if you’re in the mood to put on your finest attire, what better occasion than New Year’s Eve? Offer a dance area, drink table, music, and some kind of live entertainment that’s popular amongst your residents, and what’s not to love about a fancy party?

So there you have it, Model55’s 2015 New Year’s Eve party ideas. For more ideas on fun community activities you could pitch, feel free to email our team of professional senior living designers at marketing@model55.com.
 
We’re always happy to help you boost the moral of your residents by offering fun and creative ideas you can use.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!