It’s now less than a month until Christmas and preparations are full steam ahead for a lot of people across the UK. Many of us enjoy putting up the decorations, turning our usual surroundings into a twinkling, beautiful winter wonderland. If you are looking for a craft activity to share with your care home residents, making Christmas decorations is great fun, easy and inexpensive to arrange and can take as little or as much time as you wish.
Here are some simple decoration craft ideas for care home residents to enjoy.
Gift tags
An easy way to make pretty gift tags – and reduce the amount of cardboard you send to landfill – is to hand out piles of old Christmas or greetings cards, some scissors, glue and ribbon and invite people to get crafty. Residents can enjoy cutting round pictures that feature on the cards, punching a hole in the corner and threading some ribbon through. Just make sure there is no writing on the other side. There you have it – a beautiful, free and recycled gift tag, ready to go onto a Christmas present of your choice.
Wrapping paper
Make receiving a Christmas present extra special this year by helping your residents decorate their own wrapping paper. You can buy rolls of brown parcel paper quite cheaply. Then, invite your residents to use paint, colouring pencils, ink stamps or even potato stamps to add their own decorations. This activity means that you end up with yards of unique wrapping paper with a truly personal touch. You could even cut any spare lengths into short strips and make paper chains to decorate the care home.
Paper snowflakes
Many residents will remember making paper snowflakes at school or when they were younger. This is a simple, yet satisfying activity that makes use of folded paper and scissors. Take a square or round sheet of paper – you may like to pre-cut the sheets before the craft session begins to make it easier for everyone to join in.
Fold the paper in half diagonally, then into quarters and eighths so it is tightly folded. Take the scissors and cut off the top of the tip at an angle. Then cut a series of triangular holes at the sides, making sure to cut through all layers and not chop the paper in half by mistake. Open the sheet of paper back up and you will have a pretty snowflake to thread and hang up.
Homemade cards
Receiving a Christmas card is made even more special when the giver has gone to the effort of hand-making one for you. Supply a pile of blank cards and envelopes, some stickers, magazine or Christmas card pictures, pens and paints and let your residents’ imaginations run wild. You could use any finished cards that people are not going to write out and send as decorations too, stringing them up above the fireplace for a charming, traditional look. Other card decoration ideas include pressed flowers, photographs and cross stitch or embroidery.
Painted rocks
Look out for smooth, small pebbles, rocks and stones that could be painted with joyful Christmas scenes and given as gifts. This is another Christmas craft activity that unleashes the imagination for very little cost and effort on the part of staff and managers.
Finished rocks can be wrapped up (in the home-made wrapping paper mentioned above, perhaps?) and given as gifts. Or they can be put in the garden, dotted along the path to cheer visitors as they come in from the cold. They could also be gathered up and sold to friends and family to raise money for charity or to out towards a festive treat for the whole care home community.
Christmas bulbs
Finally, green-fingered residents might enjoy potting up some spring-flowering bulbs now, ready to give as Christmas gifts or to brighten the care home in the new year. You will need a container with good drainage, such as a flower pot or bowl or wide-necked vase with small stones or grit in the bottom. You will also need peat-free potting compost and some spring-flowering bulbs. Some good examples include amaryllis, narcissus or hyacinths.
Add a layer of stones or grit, then place the compost on top, pressing it down, but not too firmly. Plant the bulb(s) with the pointed end facing upwards. Cover with more compost or sphagnum moss to prevent losing too much moisture. Water evenly, then keep container in the dark until the first green shoots appear. Then move to a well-lit spot, rotating the container to ensure even growth.