The 'A' List

People get excited when visitors come!  It is always nice to see a new face, or new interactions during the day.  So why not host an event that will attract people to the facility?  This event can be as simple  or involved as you would like, but either way it will be one that will be a memorable for everyone. 

Host an egg hunt for a local preschool or elementary school.  All it takes is a few dozen eggs and a few bags of candy. 

After you pick a date and time, your next step should be to contact a school.  Ask them if you could pair up with them and host an Easter egg hunt for their children.  A local school that is affiliated with a Church would be a good place to start.  After you find one that agrees, you can print up a flier advertising your hunt.  On the flier make sure to include a date and time, and anything else you plan on doing while the children are there.  If you are lucky enough, the school might just print it for you, or put it in their newsletter, so you don't have to do a flier.

Then you can schedule some egg decorating time for the residents.  Have several dozen hard boiled eggs, and let residents dye them in bright colors.  This time will lead to some great discussions.  Talk about their past Easters, or how fun it will be when the children come to visit.

You can take this visit a step further and have the residents help with set up for the event.  Helping make decorations, or hiding the eggs are good activities.  Anything you can do to help them have excitement for the future will be beneficial!

Other things you can do in conjunction with the egg hunt are; games for the children, photo opportunities, egg races, crafts, etc.  All of these other activities will only enhance your egg hunt, they are certainly not necessary.  If you have higher functioning residents, they can be in charge of certain activities with the children.

Once the children come and hunt for the eggs, you will know that all the work was truly worth it by looking at the smile on residents' faces!  Enjoy!