I have two wonderful elderly people coming into town from April 2 - 6th. They are delightful and I love them, but need some guidance on what to do. Here are some things I'm thinking of doing in preparation:
1) getting cable.
2) getting lots of food in.
3) cleaning up the clutter.
4) making magic bags.
But still, what to do when they get here besides eating and sitting around watching TV? Dischevelled man has suggested the War Museum and crafting shows/events. They are not big walkers and get tired. They've done the Parliament thing. They don't do board games. I'm open to suggestions here.
11 comments:
well, do you need to stay in ottawa? if you don't perhaps to montreal for a bus tour, there are two really nice tea rooms in almonte, bingo, cards, a pub...i will come back if i think of anything else.
music! I think I know the people in question, and I'm sure they would enjoy a little musical evening or afternoon.
Ottawa Valley Tours?
Queensway Tours?
Mud Oven
Take them out for a beer, somewhere where there is good people watching
Disney on ice
I suggest having a look at Marcie's List on my blog.
Also, it involves a fair bit of walking, but many old people love getting outraged by going to the National Gallery and seeing Voice of Fire. Was it $5.4 million?
If they play cards, shoot pool or want to do just about any "crafty" type of thing with people their age (Bridge, for example), check out the schedule at your local community centre. They have drop-in seniors afternoons with all these activities.
Also, theatre tickets! The GCTC has good matinee runs, as well as evenings, for example.
Thank you, all of you! Great ideas! Beautiful spring weather would make the experience so much more pleasant.
You're going to get cable just because some old people are visiting for a while? They fall asleep after 5 minutes in front of the TV anyway. In my experience, old people much prefer to see DVDs of old TV shows - from back when TV was good. Also they like sitting around and eating. And they like to eat really early. And don't feed them anything too exotic. It will give them heartburn. Also, they don't like running around looking at stuff. They'll do it if you arrange it, but then they'll go home and complain about it for years.
Tell me more, XUP. I think you get this old people stuff more than anyone. BRILLIANT idea to watch old TV shows!!!
And you are RIGHT ON about the exotic food. Bland meat and potatoes is the way to go!!
I know a lot of old people and have played hostess to them. Also I am almost an old person myself. Old people like sweet stuff. As you age your sense of taste fades, except your taste for sweet. So unless they're diabetic, have some cakes on hand. Also, old people like a bit of tipple in the evening. Again, sweet is preferred, unless you have an old time scotch drinker in the group. Sherry, Bailey's, a not-too-dry wine (rose?? Dubonnet? Old people love Dubonnet). They also like being driven around to look and point at stuff. Once in a while they don't mind getting out to stretch their legs or go to a cafe for cake and coffee.
Keep it coming, XUP. I can't tell you how helpful this is!
Do old people like teaching younger people traditional crafts like quilting?
Boy, that’s a tough one. None of my old people would waste what precious little time they had left on earth fiddling around with crafts, let alone teaching someone else crafts. BUT, I suppose if you have an avid quilter in the group he/she might be happy to pass on a skill. For sure they’d love to talk about it, so maybe you can pick stuff up that way. Old people love telling stories. It’s best when there is more than one in the group who are familiar with the topic; then it gets into a right jolly rum do. Other than that, the care and feeding of old people isn’t too complicated. They like to adhere pretty strictly to their schedule (getting up/going to bed times, eating times, walking times, nap times) and they like to eat things they’re familiar with. Travelling often causes them gastric upset so you might want to keep a remedy handy, though they’ll likely bring their own. I don’t know your old people – they might be totally different than mine. They might be up for all sorts of adventures. I hope you’ll blog about them??
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