Round off Care Home Open Week with a Thank You Day singalong
Thank You Day takes place on Sunday 2 July at the end of Care Home Open Week.
Care homes across the country are invited to get involved by rounding off their Open Week activities with a musical Thank You Day celebration for residents, relatives and the wider community.
Here are some ideas of things you might want to try for your musical event, plus activities residents might like to do in advance to get ready. And don’t forget to sign up for your free partner pack (as well as our printable resources)
Bring in a choir
Thank You Day is partnering with several organisations who run choirs. Contact your local Womens Institute, Young Voices or your local Girl Guides to see if they would come along and sing a few numbers for your residents.
Take part in the Thank You Day singalong
Think about tracks your residents enjoy singing along to. Put the lyrics on a projector or print them out in advance in large print.
Thank You For Being A Friend is the Thank You Day anthem. You can print off the lyrics now and a backing track and sheet music will be available free from 1 June.
Film yourselves singing Thank You For Being A Friend and post on social media on 2 July with the hashtag #thankyouday
Host a musical
Get everyone together and invite relatives to join you for a screening of a classic musical – The Wizard of Oz? The Sound of Music? Guys and Dolls? Get your residents to vote on which it should be.
A reminiscence hour
We all have a soundtrack to our lives and finding the tunes that bring back memories for your residents can be a brilliant activity. At the start of the week ask residents to think of a tune they would like played for someone special and why. On Thank You Day, bring residents together and read out the requests, playing the tunes on Spotify or Youtube.
Get out the instruments
If someone on the team plays an instrument or you know someone who does, invite them round on Thank You Day and have some live music together. If no-one is very musical, get out the shakers and shake along to some of these drumming favourites:
Kool and the Gang – Celebration
The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
Queen – We Will Rock You
ACDC – Back in Black
The Beatles – Here Comes The Sun
The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Take Five
Activities you can do in advance to get ready
Choose songs for the Reminiscence Hour. Download decades from the 100 Years Book: A Century of Song, (free from Playlist for Life) and browse through them.
Listen to the award winning m4dradio.com
Print out ‘Thank You Cards’ for everyone at the home to complete and distribute to someone special on the day.
Make macaroni shakers to use on the day - all you need is macaroni, yogurt pots and sellotape.
Get your decorations ready. You can download printable flags and selfie props to make Thank You Day a real celebration
Send out a social post to your feed or local groups & invite local choirs to your care home
Example:
'Help us bring joy to our residents on Sunday 2nd July.
Our doors are open this #ThankYouDay we're looking for a choir to come in and sing to our residents’
Post along side this Thank You Day Asset
