5 Assisted Living Events That Residents Love

As a caregiver at an assisted living facility, you know that part of delivering great care is making residents feel loved, and planning events does that. It lets residents know that you care about helping them have fun. Below, we’ve compiled a list of five ideas for assisted living events that residents will love and that you can plan relatively easily.

1) Music & Microphone Hours

Set aside time where people can gather in the lobby to enjoy pleasant music and conversation, with an option to take to the stage if they wish. Make it more engaging by gathering song requests all week (such as via a jar at the nurse’s station).

All you need to plan this is a microphone, a speaker system, and a gathering area with plenty of seats.

2) Hands-On Pet Visits

Who doesn’t love the chance to puppy snuggles? You can partner with a shelter, breeder, or training center to bring in well-behaved dogs that your residents can meet.

Consider setting a theme to turn it into a true event, like these:

• Paws & Photos
• Puppy Prom
• Working Dogs Day

3) Staff Talent Show Night

Residents love seeing the people behind the scrubs, so plan a staff talent show night! Keep it fast and fun: 6–8 acts, two minutes each. The acts could be anything like singing a song, doing a magic trick, sharing a family recipe or life hack, telling a joke, or performing a dance.

Make it extra fun by letting residents vote at the end and during the show with reaction paddles.

4) Game Show Studio Day

Give your residents the chance to participate in a live game show. Run one game, and run it well. We suggest mimicking a classic game show that gets a lot of people involved, such as Family Feud.

One important tip is to use categories that residents actually care about, whether that’s desserts or TV shows from the 60s. Another piece of advice is to make the game accessible with large print, easy questions, and slow pacing. You can use either LED video walls or projectors to accurately display large text and help even the back-row viewers enjoy the show.

5) Culture & Cuisine Spotlight Lunch

Living in an assisted living facility can make a resident’s world feel smaller than it was before. But even though they can’t travel the world anymore, you can bring the world to them.

Pick a place or decade and make it sensory. Maybe you host a Spain night and serve tapas, paella, and flan alongside live flamenco entertainment and an optional viewing of a dubbed Spanish film. Whatever you do, immersing your residents in a sensory cultural experience is sure to be unforgettably fun.

Wrapping Up

Residents love these assisted living events because they’re engaging, easy, and thoughtful. In planning one of these, you go the extra mile in showing how much you care.