Senior Care Tips: Spreading the Joy of the Holidays with Your Elderly Loved Ones

Senior Care in Weston, MA

The holiday season is a joyful and wonderful time for you to be on a senior care journey with your elderly loved ones. This is the perfect time of year for you to come together with them to enjoy meaningful activities, get out into the community, and make a difference for those around you. By participating in activities such as volunteering, your aging parents can maintain high mental and emotional health, feel more relevant within their community and connected to the world around them, and have lower risk of negative emotions that are common during the holiday season such as depression, anxiety, stress, and isolation.

Use these ideas, and share them with your aging parents’ non-medical caregiver, for ways that you can spread the joy of the holidays with your elderly loved ones this year:

• Participate in food drives. Research food drives in your community to find out how you can help with everything from soliciting and collecting donations, to organizing food within the pantry or bank, to putting together food kits for the families. If you cannot find an organization that needs volunteers, make it a point to donate to the drives so that more people within your community can experience the joy of a filling, nourishing meal with their families this holiday.
• Shop for toys. Nothing is quite as much fun as watching children receive new toys during the holidays. Even if you do not have young children, you can help make sure this happens for little ones throughout your area by shopping for new toys that you can donate to gift drives. Contact a charitable organization that connects donors with specific families, or just head to the local toy store and have fun picking out toys together and then donate them to Toys for Tots or a similar organization.
• Decorate the home. Many people plan an excursion during the holiday season to go out in their community and see elaborate holiday lights displays. Even if you don’t want to go all out and be part of one of those tours, you can still accent your parents’ home with lights, lawn décor, and even large inflatables so that there is an extra pop of holiday spirit when your neighbors drive by.
• Give an anonymous gift. Ask your parents if they have noticed that any of their neighbors or friends are stressed or in need this holiday season. If they are, plan an anonymous gift, such as a gift card to a local grocery store, a food basket delivery, or even just a handmade item. Mail it or deliver it when they are not looking so that they can experience some holiday magic.