That time of year again.

[ala]

Hi all, sorry to use the C ( Christmas ) word but this year I am determined to do the necessary before 24 the Dec.
So dad is in a care home at the moment and I want to give staff gift ( s ) but not more chocs or biscuits as they get soooo many.
Any ideas gratefully received.
Thank you

 

[Kevinl]

Forget about Christmas, it's way too early
K

 

[Lawson58]

As long ago as last February, my daughter's SIL said to me at a family function that Christmas this year was going to be at their place (2 hours drive away) and we were very welcome to come.

I scraped my jaw off the floor and thanked her but said to my daughter in private later that it is not going to upset us if they we don't see us on Christmas Day as we will be staying home.

I still,can't believe that anyone in their right mind would be making Christmas plans so early.

 

[LadyA]

@ala If you can affford it, for the number of staff, small tubes of hand lotion etc, because they wash their hands so often. Or, a voucher for a coffee at a local coffee shop. Or, if you want to do something between them all, how about a fruit basket?

 

[Pear trees]

KevinL is right, way too early even if the shops are full of festive food, and ads on TV already! I will think of presents for my mum's carers in December. Mum won't know it's Christmas anyway.

 

[canary]

When mum was in a care home they used to collect all of the Christmas presents for the staff and hold a draw so that everyone got something for Christmas, so I didnt feel badly about giving chocolates. Whatever you give, please remember that there are male carers too.......

 

[marionq]

I remember writing in January that my SIL announced she would be coming to us Christmas 2017. I had to make it clear that was not going to happen and here we are already making plans.

 

[jugglingmum]

As a busy working mum I have always liked to have everything sorted for Christmas by the end of November, as December is(was) filled up with school Christmas plays, and lots of weekend Christmas activities. Anyone who says keep it in December hasn't got a clue as to how much there is to do for families with small children, and if things aren't sorted by late November then that leads to enormous stress of trying to fit it all in.

My husband always says keep Christmas in December and says all Christmas shopping should be done in December, think you can tell he only has one present to buy (which he often does on Christmas Eve) as opposed to stockings, tree presents for kids and presents for the rest of the family, neighbours kids (we go there on xmas eve) babysitters, teachers etc etc not to mention cards to write etc

As for family arrangements, when we were on talking terms with my brother I liked to try and sort this out in October/November, as I had other relatives to fit in as well, and he and his girlfriend just didn't see the problem, so we had OH's family and brother's girlfriend's family phoning to see what we were doing so everything could fit in, one advantage of not seeing my brother anymore.

When I had time to make one, I made the Christmas cake in October -so I could feed it.

 

[Amy in the US]

I'm always torn between wanting to sort things in advance (especially plans for where we might spend which part of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on) and not wanting to think about things too far in advance. Depending on the family/scheduling situation, sometimes it's unavoidable to do some advance planning. Weekends in December definitely get busy; we already have two booked.

For the OP: I agree with some small containers of things like hand cream, lotion, soap, and/or hand sanitizer. I sometimes will leave a larger container of hand sanitizer at the main desk/nurses' station at my mother's care home. A couple of times I've just taken in a selection of these items and then the staff can pick and choose what appeals to them.

I also think vouchers or gift cards for coffee or something similar would be quite nice.

If you could arrange it with the care home, something I've considered, but never been coordinated enough to do, is providing coffee and treats for a staff meeting.