The thrills and chills of Halloween are all around us this October! We can’t wait to get our costumes on, attend Halloween parties, and decorate our homes with macabre touches. This post covers ways to bring senior loved ones into the spirit of the spooky season, too.
Watch Classic Spooky Movies: Your senior citizen loved one may have his or her own suggestions of what to watch, but we recommend the horror movie classics, such as The Bride of Frankenstein, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing From Another World, Psycho, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and the Creature From the Black Lagoon. If you can’t find these on Netflix or Hulu, Walmart and Target have inexpensive collections of these on DVD. Encourage your loved one to recall when he or she first saw a favorite spine-tingling flick!
Spooky Tales on Radio: Your elderly loved ones may appreciate hearing spooky tales on the radio rather than the television. Public Radio’s SnapJudgement offers up Spooked, Episode #117. These stories scared the heck out of us! Find even more when you go to the site and search “Spooked.” Consider gathering other family members, neighbors and friends for an evening around the radio.
Prompt Your Senior Loved One to Share Any Scary Story from His or Her Past: Our elderly relatives have seen and heard quite a bit in their decades of experience. Consider asking, “Ever hear of a ghost story you almost believed?” or “Are there any ghost stories from our family I could pass down to my children?” or “What were the ghost stories from the town you grew up in?”
Cook Up Some Ghoulish Treats: Even a basic cupcake can look scary if you add candy corn “fangs” and black and orange sprinkles! The internet is chock-full of fun recipes that add a clever Halloween spin the basic hum-drum meals. Our favorite: the tried and true “mummified” pigs in a blanket, in which the dough is thinly cut and spread around a hot dog to make it look like a mummy! Encourage your senior loved one to participate by saying the grandchildren will love the special treats.
Visit Local Halloween Happenings: There are many Halloween events to choose from, from fall festivals, to pumpkin patches, to senior center Halloween parties, and even haunted houses, if your loved one is up for it. Churches sometimes have trick or treating alternatives, so make sure your loved one knows what’s going on at her temple or chapel towards the end of October. On Halloween night, the mall is also a nice option for your senior companion to witness the little ones in costume trick-or-treating from store-to-store!
Pumpkin Carving: What better way to get into the spirit than by carving a pumpkin? This is another activity to involve grandchildren in. If your senior loved one isn’t quite up to the task, he or she can help scoop out the goop, and help decide the best spots to place the jack on-lanterns around the house. And don’t forget to roast up those pumpkin seeds!
Have a Halloween Home-Decorating Day: It can be as easy as cutting out some basic Halloween-themed shapes from black and orange construction paper (black cats, pumpkins, witches, etc.), or even raiding the local dollar store for some decorative basics. Black and orange streamers will do wonders to spice up a dull room, and spider webbing can be spread out to make a senior’s living quarters extra exciting.
Make Sure Seniors Are Prepared for Halloween Night
When that doorbell rings and the cute costumed kids start asking for treats, make sure your elderly friend or relation is prepared with enough candy to hand out. If you are worried about his or her safety, and are concerned that he or she won’t make it to the door in time to enjoy the holiday, you can always contact Love 2 Live Care Services at 619-291-4663. Our caregivers can shop for candy, help decorate the home, answer the door, and make the season extra spine-tingling fun!
