Older Americans Month - Ohio Department of Aging

Older Americans Month and Senior Citizens Day

"Loving Life, Helping Others, Supporting Communities"

Sample Older Americans Month and Senior Citizens Day Events and Activities

Each year, Ohio's communities host a variety of celebrations to commemorate Older Americans Month and Senior Citizens Day. They range from health fairs to flea markets to picnics and more. Here are a few for your celebration.

Intergenerational Activities

Grandparents/Grandchild Day Camp - Host a daytime campout in your local park. Pitch tents, go fishing, have a cookout, arts & crafts lessons and more.
Nature Hike - Organize an intergenerational trip to a nearby State Park or nature area for a hike, horse ride or bike ride.
Read-A-Thon - Conduct a month-long Read-A-Thon in which your group challenges a school class or other group of kids to a reading contest.
Kite Flying Contest - Team kids and seniors together to see who can build the best kite, get a kite flying fastest, keep it flying longest and fly it highest.
Mothers/Daughters Dinner - Combine Older Americans Month with Mother's Day (May 11) and bring generations together.
Fathers/Sons Skins Game - Have a golf tournament that pits father and son teams against others with a prize for the winner of each hole.
Horseshoes or Cornhole Tournament - Pit intergenerational couples against each other in a throwing-for-accuracy contest with prizes.

Have a Unique Get-together

Pajama Party - Host an evening pajama party and dinner. Give prizes for interesting or unusual pajamas.
"Senior" Prom - Throw an old-fashioned ball with music, dancing, punch and refreshments. Crown a "King & Queen."
Golden Buckeye Scavenger Hunt - Create a list of local businesses that honor the Golden Buckeye card and have participants collect flyers, business cards or other promotional items from each merchant. Give prizes to those who collect the most.
"Small Step" Bingo - Create bingo cards using the list of Small Steps on SmallStep.gov. Have participants mark the things they do regularly. Give prizes for people who can complete horizontal, diagonal and vertical bingos, outside and inside diamonds, postage stamps, etc.
Odd Olympics - Create goofy athletic events, such as walker races, cane tosses, backwards races, etc.
Hawaiian Luau - Bring the islands to your facility with costumes and music, tropical drinks and a Polynesian feast.
Pick-A-Prize Auction/Raffle - Let participants buy tickets they can use to "bid" on donated and purchased items. They may buy as many tickets as they like, then put them in buckets for the items they want. At the end of the day, draw a winner for each item.

Food and Fellowship

Lunchtime World Tour - Plan a week of meals that take participants to different parts of the world each day (e.g., Mexican Monday, Italian Tuesday, etc.)
Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social - Re-create a bandstand-style social with homemade ice cream. See if your local high school band will play a concert.
The Everything Awards Dinner - Host an awards dinner with out-of-the-ordinary award categories, such as most grandchildren, most states/countries visited, most unusual vacation spot, most musical instruments played, most cars owned, etc.

Re-create a Popular TV Show

Deal or No Deal - Give guests a chance to win prizes donated by local businesses in a "Deal or No Deal" style case-choosing game.
Identity - Gather a group of seniors with unique talents, hobbies or interests and give prizes to individuals who can properly match the identity with the person.
Iron Chef - Host a cooking contest with a secret ingredient and offer prizes for the best tasting, best looking and most original dishes.
Dancing With The Stars - Have a dance contest that pairs seniors from your group with local celebrities, community leaders and others.
Your Area Idol - Conduct a singing/karaoke contest.
Victory Garden - Give the members of your group a chance to show off their spring garden goodies.
This Old House - Partner with Habitat For Humanity or a similar organization in your area to volunteer to build or renovate a home for a needy family. Seek out group members with talents and experience in construction, plumbing, electrical, wood working and more to donate their time and expertise.
Night at the Improv - Turn your facility into a comedy club for one night with a contest to find the funniest person in your group.

Share the Wealth

Swap Meet - Allow people to bring in things they don't need and trade them for things they do.
No-Sale Yard Sale - Get a list of things seniors in your group need, then hold a "reverse" yard sale in which people donate the needed items.
Charity drive - Partner with an area charity and organize a group to go door-to-door to collect donations. Or, have a bake sale, car wash or any other fund-raiser.

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Ohio Department of Aging