It will be mum's first Christmas in a care home. The last 8 months have been very emotional and it's been hard to accept that this is now the new reality for mum. I have to say that the care home has been - and is - truly magnificent. Their care for mum, as well as the family, has been incredible. They have understood our wobbles, supported us and given us advice and I cannot find a single negative thing to say about their love, care and compassion for my mum. I want to get something for them for Christmas but I'm stuck for ideas- all I can think of is chocolates or biscuits. Is anyone else getting a gift for the care home/carers? I'd value your thoughts and any ideas. Thank you
Gifts for care home staff
- Thread starter brightsideoflife
- Start date
Hi
Im in similar position to you @brightsideoflife as this is mums first Christmas in care home and I am mainly very happy and appreciative of their care and support.
Filling one of those gift basket things with Galaxy hot chocolate, squirty cream and marshmallows, a festive handwash / hand lotion set and couple of big bags of wrapped chocolates. There are so many carers I wouldnt know where to start with individual gifts.
Im in similar position to you @brightsideoflife as this is mums first Christmas in care home and I am mainly very happy and appreciative of their care and support.
Filling one of those gift basket things with Galaxy hot chocolate, squirty cream and marshmallows, a festive handwash / hand lotion set and couple of big bags of wrapped chocolates. There are so many carers I wouldnt know where to start with individual gifts.
I received an email from the manager of my loved ones care home last week. They have asked if anybody would like to buy staff a gift(and it is not expected) to leave it with the manager and they will do a tombola of some sort to ensure that all staff get a gift. I have bought a couple of smelly gift sets for the ladies, along with a couple of beer gift sets for the men.
When father was in his Care Home, we brought on his behalf, 36 small boxs of chocolates, labeled up "Happy Christmas, Thanks Jim"
36 because there were that number of staff, including the back-room staff, gardeners/cooks/accounts etc.
I felt that a large tin, in the lounge, would be missed by the night staff, back-room staff, etc.
Each member of staff, could munch at work or take home to share with family.
Bod.
36 because there were that number of staff, including the back-room staff, gardeners/cooks/accounts etc.
I felt that a large tin, in the lounge, would be missed by the night staff, back-room staff, etc.
Each member of staff, could munch at work or take home to share with family.
Bod.
It depends how much money you want to spend. MIL who is very well off and my mum are in the same home. I ended up buying a selection of small items and wrapped them in cellophane with a bow ( from amazon).Things like mini bottle of spirit, mini flavoured coffee, mini rubber duck, hand cream etc. We bought for all 68 of the staff which included the kitchen, cleaners etc and it cost about £170. We decided £100 from his mum, and £35 each from us and my mum.
Last year at Christmas, when my mum had only been in the care home a couple of months, I asked the manageress what would be suitable Christmas thank you gifts for the staff. She said, right away, that if we gave some sort of donation to the staff Christmas night out this would be much appreciated by all.
Last year we gave a modest donation but this year we were able to give a bit more because I had a conversation with my mother and she agreed, as she is self funding, to give half of the donation.We are earning considerably less at the moment so this was helpful for us....I had to explain the donation carefully to mum so that I could be certain I wasn't coercing her into doing something she didn't want to do.So, she agreed that the carers were kind to her and we talked about how they don't earn very much and have some difficult working hours and duties...and she was in agreement and even was able to write "Thank you" and her name on the card. We made sure they were aware, in the card, that half was from mum too.
It is such an underpaid job which needs more value status in every way and I think that, besides the words you could express in a card or cards about your gratefulness for the service they provide, the best gift is money. I trust the manageress at my mother's home to make sure this is used wisely. It is, otherwise, so hard to buy gifts, small gifts, which suit a group of people you don't know well and yet individual gifts can still amount to a big expense. It is possible that other family members of the care home residents do a similar thing, which makes the gift part of something bigger.
Last year we gave a modest donation but this year we were able to give a bit more because I had a conversation with my mother and she agreed, as she is self funding, to give half of the donation.We are earning considerably less at the moment so this was helpful for us....I had to explain the donation carefully to mum so that I could be certain I wasn't coercing her into doing something she didn't want to do.So, she agreed that the carers were kind to her and we talked about how they don't earn very much and have some difficult working hours and duties...and she was in agreement and even was able to write "Thank you" and her name on the card. We made sure they were aware, in the card, that half was from mum too.
It is such an underpaid job which needs more value status in every way and I think that, besides the words you could express in a card or cards about your gratefulness for the service they provide, the best gift is money. I trust the manageress at my mother's home to make sure this is used wisely. It is, otherwise, so hard to buy gifts, small gifts, which suit a group of people you don't know well and yet individual gifts can still amount to a big expense. It is possible that other family members of the care home residents do a similar thing, which makes the gift part of something bigger.
I would not know where to start with individual gifts for the staff in my wife's care home. This will be her 5th Christmas there. I have usually bought things that are edible and shareable by staff and other residents. These always seem to go down well and there's always sufficient for staff whatever shift pattern they are on. Just the fact that a (small) effort has been made seems enough. There are plenty of other opportunities throughout the year for sharing goodies with staff as part of my normal visiting pattern. Making a big thing about Christmas (when there's often a surplus) doesn't seem that important.
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