Fun Holidays at Work

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During my years working at Wesley Towers as the medical driver and as the activity director my mission each and every day was to shock the residents to get them talking. I had 10 wigs all different colors and lengths so it kept them guessing what I would look like each morning. I also tried to come up with new and fun things for them to do to get them out of the building and out of town.

I loved to make Holidays around the Towers fun and always had activities and projects and sales for each holiday that came along.

Valentines Day we always sold candy, stuffed animals and home made treats (that the residents made as an activity). We also sold roses and carnations. It was always a big hit and we sold over 125 flowers and some of the residents loved to deliver them to the other recipients.

Easter was always fun; putting together Easter baskets to sell and rounding up the bunnies and chicks I had bought right after Easter the year before when they were on sale. Plus we sold little bags of Muddy Buddies with mini candy Easter eggs in the bag. We had the big sale to help fund the activity department.

The little observed holiday of St. Patrick’s Day has the misfortune of falling between Valentines and Easter. If St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Wednesday I would order green cookies or treats to be served in the Sidewalk café in the afternoon. I usually had a St Patrick’s shirt but always had shamrock glasses with pale green lenses for the holiday and wore them all day.

But my favorite part of the day was the hidden Leprechauns. The two of us in the activity department would hide little laminated leprechauns all over the main floor of the Towers. We tried to get creative where we hid them so they weren’t easy to find. When the residents found their limit they would turn them in to us and we would write down how many they found. I think we limited them to 10.

Once they handed them back to us we would hide them again. At the afternoon snack time in the Sidewalk Café, those that had found leprechauns would be paid in Wes shop gift certificates. They could buy things with the certificates in the little mini grocery and gift shop. They received so many points, or certificates, for each leprechaun.

One year I decided to wear my long pony tail to work on St. Patrick’s Day. It was fluffed up and curling over the top of my head and then curly all the way down past my shoulders. It looked pretty cute with the green shamrock glasses. Even the plastic lenses in the glasses were a light green. The residents loved them.

Early that morning we hid the leprechauns in spots where there was a little of it sticking out, so if they were looking close they would catch site of it and find it. But not to much of it showing that it was too easy. I wanted to make it more fun for them to have to really search.

During the time we were hiding the leprechauns around the main floor of the Towers I decided to hide one on me. I thought about where to put it while we were hiding the rest of the leprechauns and finally decided on the perfect spot.

I decided to nestle one them (it was only about 2 1/2 inches high and about 1 1/2 inches wide) in my pony tail. It was slid in behind one of the curls and positioned just a little to left of center on the top of my head with the curl wrapped around it to hold it in place.

It rode there all day and no one noticed it even though the green hat was showing above the curl. I revealed it at the party that afternoon. They couldn’t believe I had worn it all day, even with some of them in the car with me and they didn’t see it.

Halloween was always a fun holiday. I loved to dress up in a costume as did a lot of the employees and we had a good time all day. Sometimes we would have a carnival and invite kids from the schools and the resident’s grandchildren to come and play games. The residents handed out candy to the kids that came to trick or treat and play games.

Those are some of the fun holidays at work. Guess I am still a kid at heart and love to participate in all those fun games and dress up in costumes. To Contact Sandy: [email protected]

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