Create a home-from-home Christmas
Christmas is a time for togetherness, and for care homes that means creating a warm, welcoming environment where residents and their families can celebrate and feel truly at home. Christmas is one of the biggest family occasions of the year. For people with relatives in care homes, getting into the festive spirit can feel difficult. Simon Lewis is Hospitality Manager (South) for Kingsley Healthcare Group and works at five care homes. He shares his tips on how to make families feel welcome when they visit their loved ones at Christmas.
At all times of the year, we have a big push around the social interaction between residents, families and our staff. We’ve seen first-hand that this is key to protect the mental and physical health of older individuals in our homes. This becomes even more important on the major holidays, which is why we champion a whole-home approach. From food to activities to the experience of the day, everyone is expected and empowered to be part of making families feel at home.
Restaurant-quality food
On Christmas Day, we always host a five-course meal. This starts at 11am with a drinks reception. Families mingle and interact with their loved ones, other residents and the staff over canapés and glasses of bubbly. The home manager is on-site dressed as Santa (or they nominate someone else to).
Any visiting children get very excited and the residents love seeing their joy. Everyone then sits down to a resident-friendly take on Salmon Royale. This makes them feel very special and isn’t a breakfast they’ll have every day.
The big event itself is all about family dining with a restaurant twist. The main dishes of meat and potatoes are served with beautiful presentation. Then the veg and other sides come out on sharing platters, so someone can ‘play mother’ and serve the others at the table.
Of course, there are always the extras, like pigs in blankets, to make everyone feel special.
Homely touches
We encourage families to visit for the whole of Christmas Day if they can. We want them to feel they’re celebrating with their mum or dad in their own home. For residents with high dementia needs, this means working closely with families to find out more about their Christmas traditions and history. We take this and tell chefs or the activities team to try and build them into the day.
We also try to set the homely mood by recreating the sights and smells of Christmas. We always have a bread-making machine in the dining room to create a fresh smell that enhances people’s appetite. When there’s a cooked breakfast, we send the smell of fresh bacon up the three floors of the home.
We do the same with roasted chestnuts to make residents feel like they’re walking through a Christmas market.
Get everyone involved
Our activities team are key to making the lead-up to Christmas feel special. The residents all get involved in decorating the home. They make decorations for all three floors, help set up the dining table and set up the Christmas tree. All this preparation starts on 5 December.
The chefs also have a Christmas cake competition across all Kingsley Homes, which they start preparing for in September. One year, we spoke to a family and they mentioned that their mum (who had dementia) had a good recipe. We used it for the competition – it came from a book that was around 100 years old. Around October time, chefs also start talking to residents about their likes or dislikes so we can build a menu they’d enjoy at home.
On the day itself, we have group present-opening in the morning. Colleagues, families and residents all exchange gifts. Visitors take part in all these activities, including watching the King’s speech in the afternoon, of course. Our team are very approachable and also feel like part of the family – it’s a really heartwarming time of the year.
