Lady-Links: Christmas Party Fun With a Purpose

At our Lady-Links Christmas Party, we knew how to have fun!  There was plenty of love and laughter shared with our dear friends who are in various stages of cognitive decline.  Engaging our dear friends in an enjoyable time was easy to do because we had delicious refreshments and delightful activities available.

In addition to enjoying themselves, we wanted another purpose for our dear friends.   We wanted them (as well as ourselves) to feel a part of the Spirit of Giving.  To do that, we planned activities that were meaningful and easy to manage.  We chose to make simple Christmas crafts to give away to residents who live in our community’s memory care and assisted living housing.

These “peel and stick” ornaments were easy to make.  Our Lady-Links craft coordinator placed a completed craft as an example on each table, along with packets of the craft ornaments that needed assembly.

That made it easy for our dear friends, surrounded by Lady-Links and their guests, to assemble the ornaments as a team.  We all felt like we were contributing to an effort of giving that would benefit someone else.  There’s a good feeling when we give to others of our time and talent, and our dear friends were able to make that positive connection as we talked about how the recipients of our handiwork would enjoy getting these cute crafts.

Our party included singing  familiar Christmas carols and songs, accompanied by a pianist who gave of her time to play for us.

We kept our party to an hour so our dear friends would not get tired or lose interest.  We had a delightful time and felt that our two-fold purposes were met.