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That is a really cute idea. I will try that with my residents this week for their pre-meal activity. One of my favorites is setting up tons of cones throughout the room and giving them a giant ball to knock them down. They love it...gets out a lot of aggression plus it is fun!

What I would recommend is going to the NCCAP website. It tells you exactly what you need to do to get certified and will even give you an Activity Representative for your state to find out what the exact state qualifications are. There are many tracks and options that they offer. The one that I am on is what they call a Track 4 for National Activity Director certification. What they require of me is: 12 college credits, 6000 hours activity experience in a long term care setting, 2 certification courses (Mepap1 and Mepap2), and 30 CEUS every two years. They also allow you to apply for a provisional license if you meet 3 of the 5 qualifications. Again, this is the track that I am on. You can and may be different and require a different option than myself! Good Luck!

I really like your wedding station idea. Sounds very original. I have something similar with a sports theme. A lot of my residents are sports nuts! I also have a pet station. I have a small indoor bird aviary, a betta fish, and a place that we have frequent pet visitations to take place (dogs, cats, and rabbits) We also have a small library near a window that overlooks a floral garden for the residents to read and relax.

One way to help is to make it a very welcoming activity to the women as well. For my Mother's Day Champagne Brunch, it had an even mix of both men and women. According to some of my residents who attended, they wouldn't have wanted it any other way. They were able to share a very emotional day with the friends they have come to respect and adore. They felt having their friends there with them, male or female, made their celebration more enjoyable. However, if the activity that you planned is based around "Male Bonding", which is perfectly okay...like Karen said, have open arms, however it is okay to tell the ladies that this is a "male oriented" activity. You can even label it on your calendar or bulletin board that way so everyone is aware of your honest intentions to honor the men in your facility.

Everyone has amazing ideas for Father's Day! We are doing a special events dinner for them. Our theme is a "Take me to the Ballgame" type theme. We have a full menu that they voted on at our resident council meeting! I am really excited about it. I hope they enjoy it!