Bingo

[rebactivities 0]

The residents at my facility love bingo. Of 76 residents we have about 6-18 that play. When the facility satisfaction survey's come back at least 1 or more residents request that we have more bingo and better prizes. I explain that we do have a limited budget but with donations we have quite a selection of items. We currently play bingo 4 times per week (1 evening, 2 weekend times). I have consulted other calendars from other facilities in my area and they play 2x per week at the most. What are guidelines that anyone else uses and what do you use for prizes. We have candy, fruit, snack items, quarters, and donated stuffed animals when we get them. :-o

[Guest Pat8231]

Hi Reba, I worked in an SNF and an ALF. The SNF residents loved anything that was offered as a prize. We got donations from lollipops, hand lotion, baby powder and after shave for the men it didn't matter what they won they were happy. We played Bingo 7 days a week. At the ALF, we also play Bingo 7 days a week but they loved their quarters and refuse anything else. It really depends on the residents themselves, take a poll and see which way it goes. As for prizes, we contacted a ladies knitting club that donates lap robes to local groups. They were nice enough to donate several lap robes to us. Maybe ask the winner which they prefer a prize or money. Hope this helps a little with your question. Pat 8-)

[Guest Guest_billie]

hi, my snf plays bingo 4xs a week, we also have prizes that range from candy to snacks to lotions powders to stuff animals to even mens items hats, belts colognes etc. there are times that they complain, but what can you do if your budget does not allow it to strtch that far, or if you do not have the donations all the time :roll: :roll:

[Guest Pat8231]

Hi Billie, Personally, I would contact the stores in your area. Tell them you are looking for donations for a SNF. Ask local groups listed in the yellow pages for your town. Check out thrift shops too for those items that seem to sit on the shelf forever and would fit your budget. That's about all I can think of. Pat 8-)

[Guest Guest_billie]

Thanks Pat, I will do that. 8-)

[phxville 0]

I work in SNF as well. Bingo is one of our favorite past times here too! We play 3-4x per week and never get bored of it (well at least the resident's don't). I think the important thig to do is make sure you play at all different times so that everyone who wants to can play no matter what their schedual. Anyway as far as the prizes go, my residents play for tickets. Then every month or so (sometimes it ends up being like 2 months) we have a thing we call country store. Where the resident can come and "buy" stuff with their tickets. I usually end up going to the dollar store and stocking up on things like snack food, cologne, lotion, picture frames, and some holiday stuff whichever fits the season. The resident's love stocking up their ticketsand getting to make choices about their prizes. I love it because I can plan ahead and save up some budget and don't have to provide prizes every week! Hope this helps...

[CharlieJo 0]

 

Hi Billie,

 

We have a 50 bed SNF and we play bingo 6 days a week. Our residents play for money and that money is kept in banks in my locked file cabinet. Each game is played with three winners, the pot being quarter, dime and nickel. We have daily volunteers who help with this and they will always throw a couple one dollar bills in for a "special game". Our residents love this method because they always have some spending money on hand. I have a very limited budget, only $25 a month so we do a lot of fundraising. One of the unique things we do is collect pop bottles. Staff and residents save their returnables and we take them back weekly. This usually gives us another 20-30 dollars a month.

 

Hope this helps!

[hcornell 0]

Hello,

 

I have 250 (SNF/Dementia/sub-acute) Residents and we play Bingo 3x/week. That is plenty. We play for quarters (sometimes prizes). I always get requests for more Bingo, and based on participation, I can't justify scheduling any more than that. As I look at how often some of you are playing it, I can't help but wonder if you have ever done a participation and interest audit. If you are only getting 6-18 residents out of 72 to play, that tells you that the others ( the majority of your residents, actually) would rather be doing something else. Although Bingo is an easy program, and takes minimal energy to run, make sure you aren't forgetting about the other residents who dislike Bingo, and need other programs. You don't want to get a deficiency because you were not providing for the individual needs of all your residents!

 

Heide

[AggieTiff 0]

We have BINGO scheduled only 3 times a week. We probably play more than that in an average week. We have to have so many other things on our schedule that BINGO more than this will not fit. Our corporation has guidelines set that have to be followed, we have the room to be creative but we have to have so many cooking activities, cultural, outings, religious, and so on. We try to go beyond bingo but the residents love it so much that we do sneak in an extra game or two if we have nothing else going on....but they have to agree that we might be just playing for fun and just a few games, as time permits. For our scheduled bingo games the prizes include snacks, candy, dollar bin items, donated items such as lotions and powders. I think we all seem t have the same items for prizes and for the most part the residents like this. I ask at the activity committee and residents council meetings for suggestions and I rarely get them. I am in an ALF now but when I was in a IL/Retirement community we had BINGO only 2 times a month and it was always a big deal with as many as 30 or more showing up....the prizes were really good. Each game won a set that cost about 5 dollars that included the makings of a spegetti dinner (dried pasta, sauce, canned veggies, etc), paper goods (kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels), cleaning supplies or laundry supplies....things that were needed. They did not like knick knacks and brick bracks. The grand prize was always wine, if I did not get wine I would hear about it until the next game. We had a great time playing and everyone really got into it...but that was a retirement community and they were VERY independant with thier own apts w/ kitchens.

 

Tiff

[Guest Guest_billie]

Hi Charlie jo, As for my residents they do not like change, they enjoy playing the old fassion way, I have a rolling bingo cart that they get to choose what they want I have tried the country store like you have, but it became a big problem, because when it was time to turn the what we called bingo bucks in, alot of my residents would have already lost them or they would forget to bring them with them to the store. I only had about 30 min. for them to shop, I only have one asst. and alot of the time i am out shopping myself and there is no one to help out so that is why i did away with it, anyway they really enjoy the bingo cart, as far as my budget goes i am really blessed with what i get, sorry to hear about yours although at times i also do fundraising to get me through the month, or to pay for residents field trips that do not have money. later billie :-) :-)

[Guest Guest_Rhonda]

Hi I work in a ICF facility and an ALF unit. I only run the ICF but during Resident council the residents asked for more bingo. Our residents are aged from 100 to 70 and only have about 10 residents come to resident council. I need to try and entertain about 40. My residents want to do only 2 things thats bingo and trivia. When I do special events or something different the magoraty of my residents that attend activities are the ones that want more bingo. They used to get prizes before I started but now all they want is candy. I tried the bingo bucks, the country store, special prizes but they just get mad about not getting candy. They dont want me to change that. We cant play anything except regular bingo no black out or anything diffrent. I even tried morning bingo thinking they would like that right! NOPE all I herd was why in the morning. I cant win for losing. These are residents that have been living here for along time. Anyway we play bingo Sun, Mon,Wed, Sat. And they would have more if I let them. Also 2 hours they say is not long enough. Well anyway its Tue, no bingo today. Hope everyone has a good day, I know I will.

[Guest Guest_KateAA]

We use Instant Lottery Tickets for our "Hidden Bingo". "Hidden Bingo" takes place during randomly selected group activities. We could be having a Coffee and Current Events program and half way through the program we have a "Hidden Bingo" game. This is a HUGE deal! Attendance has increased at all activities "Hidden Bingo" during a Cooking Class or during a Trivia Game. Even a "Hidden Bingo" at lunchtime has encouraged residents to eat in the dining area. Only Instant Scratch Off tickets for prizes, but WOW has it cut down on the need for Bingo 4 days a week as it could happen daily or hourly!

[Guest Guest_rebactivities]

Thanks so much for all of your advice. I went back at did an audit of the overall group participation. And have rescheduled bingo in a variety of time slots. But have decided that 4x/wk with a Hidden Bingo 1x/month is sufficient to meet the needs of my residents.

Thanks again for all of your help and time in this matter. This web site is really helpful.

[Pennie 26]

Just a quick note about having "Bingo" on your calendar to often. Years ago I was given a deficiency fo rthis by State. But my residents refused to have it cut down & in fact wanted to see more on the calendar. So here is I solved that problem: During Resident Council this was discussed & because they wanted more bingo & it was in the mins. State could not do anything about it!!

We also play Pokeno which is like poker but played like bingo. The resident who don't care for bingo (& those who do) love this game. So you will find Pokeno in the am & bingo in the pm. Alternating them on 1 weekend day. As for the prizes I put in my newsletter: asking for any unwanted items they had at home be donated. I recieved money to buy prizes with, usually hit the dollar store, families that had own business would donate items, ladies who sell avon would bring in samples. The ambulance companies (2 of them) donated 2 roll of quartes a month. I also ordered chips, candy, etc. from dietary supplier as this came off of a different budget than my activity one, pretty smart anyway hope this helps. DON"T MESS WITH YOU"RE RESIDENT"S BINGO! words to live by (lol)

[callie 0]

Hi Guys,

One thing that I was lucky enough to stumble across concerning bingo was Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart previously held bingo for all of our town's senior citizens on Tuesday of each week up until last year in January. I took all of my residents religously. They made an announcement that they were going to stop this because someone had filed a lawsuit against a sister store (something about gambling). I went straight to the manger and asked if he would sponsor the bingo if my facility held the event for all local seniors, and much to my surprise he said yes. He could only sponsor $100.00 a month so we hold Wal-Mart Sponsored Bingo one time a month. My residents love it and look forward to visiting with players from our local community. There are many opportunities out there that you may not realize; and will reap generous rewards if only you ask...they can only say no and I've found that most never do.

[Guest Guest_Debbie]

Hi I am an Activity Director in a small facility in Ohio. We have bingo 3 X's Week (2 evenings & 1 Saturday game) Our residents love playing bingo and would have it every evening if they could. We offer all types of gifts: candy, puzzles, books, lotions, toothbrushes, snacks, money, etc. Our residents are still not happy. They will not tell me what kind of prizes they want but will complain when they see the above items on the bingo cart and will come back the next morning to my office and want to exchange their prize for something else. We are usually very fortunate to have prizes donated from local churches, people in the community, and our local VFW, & Eagles AUX. We usually have about 7-10 people attend bingo and we have several families that also attend to assist with the cards. If anyone has any other suggestions for prizes please let me know. Thanks!!

[Guest Tinki]

I always had problems with the bingo prizes - I did the Bingo bucks with an auction! This stressed me out so bad and the resident complained so much I broke down in tears during the auction once!!!

 

I have found that candy, change, snack or cokes work the best. Most of the residents don't really want any of the dollar store stuff. My Mom comes home every week with some dollar store junk that my Grandma gives her from Bingo!

 

I agree with one of the post above - you really need to make sure that you are offering various activity within your program! You can sneak Bingo in as much as you want but it is important to get those other residents not attending Bingo out of there rooms.

 

Go look at the calendar evaluation info I posted - take the time to make sure you are offering enough!

 

Someone mentioned the Walmart Bingo - I used to take my residents to a Church Bingo- so there you have an outing and community intergration. She if some of your Churches are doing this, if not try to get them to start a program!

 

Invite another facility over for Bingo - try to team up, trade off facilities and go in on prizes! If there is a problem with Marketing (competition) go to another type of facility to team up with!

 

Karen

[Guest Heather,AD]

The residents in our SNf also enjoy playing bingo often. We play 6x a week but have alternative activities going on for those who do not wish to play. As a relatively new activity director (one year), I have been challenged to find a variety of prizes for bingo. We are privately owned and have a seperate budget for bingo so we generally offer money. However, we also play for stuffed animals and mystery auction tickets. Residents receive mystery auction points for winning bingo and for attending activities. This is a great motivator for those who aren't convinced they should attend activities. We keep a chart to record the number of points a resident earns at each event. This way we have a record and the residents don't get upset because they misplaced their tickets. We hold a mystery auction every two months or so during a normal bingo time. We have also discovered that the more elaborately we decorate the bags the auction items are hidden in, the highter they bid. We never spend more that $25.00 on an auction and this gives us at least 20 auction bags. Another way to gather prizes, is to ask the family members of those residents who attend bingo to contribute special prizes. We have found that they love to contribute to their loved one's favorite game. Also, to keep our bingo games lively, we play a variety of bingo games including holiday bingo and picture or word bingo. There are a variety of websites where you can create your own bingo cards that are theme-oriented or holiday-related. The most important thing is to remember to be creative. Look at what you do have, instead of what you don't, and use it to its maximum potential.

[Guest peggy.holliday]

Hello! I do a Family Night Bingo. Families bring in snacks & prizes. This is a chance for children to play with Grandma. Everyone pays a quarter for each card. I always have a good turn out. We play the 3rd wed. of each month so the families and residents remenber. The other BINGO we play is Apratment Bingo. Each day a new number is posted. The residents keep track on copied cards. Then they can play every day. Prizes vary. It takes about two to three weeks to get a winner. The winner is posted and a new game starts! They love it!!!!!

[Mance 0]

Hi. How we "recycle" our BINGO money is that I have a little store with snacks, nick-nacks that are safe for the residents and when they when they go "Shopping"

I have thing's for 25 cents and just put that money back in Bingo. It seems to work and the residents actually enjoy the shopping. Maybe this will help.

Mance

[Guest NEW USER ZY]

HI KATEAA: I READ YOUR IDEA ON HIDDEN BINGO AND LIKED IT. COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW YOU DO THIS? MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT YOU ARE IN AN ACTIVITY AND YOU STOP THAT ACTIVITY AND AND DO THE HIDDEN BINGO? DO ANY OF THE RESIDENT GET UPSET WITH STOPPING THE CURRENT ACTIVITY?

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU TAKE FOR THIS? HOW MUCH DO YOU INVEST IN BUYING THE LOTTERY TICKETS AND HOW MANY DO YOU BUY? IS THERE ONE WINNER OR MORE? WHAT KIND OF BINGO DO YOU PLAY? THANKS FOR THE INPUT.

ZY.

[TIGGER 0]

I WORK AT A SNF WITH 165 BEDS. WE PLAY BINGO 4-7 DAYS A WEEK THAT IS WHAT THE RESIDENTS WANT. WE ALSO HAVE PRIZES FROM CANDY TO LOTIONS AND THINGS, BUT WE ALSO GET DONATIONS FROM FAST FOOD PLACES LIKE MCDONALDS THEY DONATE HAPPY MEAL , VALUE MEAL & DESSERT COUPONS AND WE USE THEM FOR A SPECIAL BINGO. THEN AT THE END OF A BINGO WEEK WE TAKE THE RES. COUPON AND GO GET THEM THEIR LUNCH AND THEY EAT TOGETHER THAT IS ANOTHER ACTIVITY TOO. WE ALSO GET ALOT OF DONATIONS FROM THE CHURCHES IN OUR AREA AND SOME OF THE STORE AROUND TOWN.........HOPE THIS HELPS

KIM

 

WE ALSO PLAY FOR BINGO BUCK (PLAY MONEY) IF THEY DONT WANT THE PRIZE WE GIVE THEM A BINGO BUCK AND AT THE END OF THE MONTH WHOM EVER HAS BINGO BUCKS CAN COME TO THE BINGO BUCK STORE AND BUY THING THEY WANT SOME OF THE ITEMS ARE THE SAME AS IN BINGO BUT THE RES. FEELS BETTER BEING ABLE TO BUY THEIR OWN THINGS

Edited February 22, 2006 by magictiger

[KateAA 0]

Hello XYZ!

We have done this for so long, that it just becomes part of the program. But when we started there were a lot of good and bad comments. You know how you might have a ladies tea or a men's club and then you have to think up something to do or find some entertainment? Well instead of spending all that money on entertainment we have a Bingo game or two. Sometimes we only have one and other times it might be 3. For the Ladies Tea the prize could be a tin of cookies or a box of tea. Men's club wuld be a can of N/A Beer or Slim Jims.

Of course during current events we either have the Bingo game before or after we read or show the news. While craft projects or cookies are baking during Cooking class we play a game. Because we have copied our regular Bingo cards we also enlarge them on the copier so that we cal also use them as placemats for a quick Bingo game at meal time or we also made one out of a table cloth using fabric markers and we use it (sometimes) during exercise class. We also got Bingo pads from e-bay to use while waiting for entertainment or during a movie for intermission. Residents can just X them off! We have the "Bingo Box" that we found from Avon that calls the numbers for us.

As for the Instant Lottery tickets, because we randomly have Bingo during regularly scheduled activities we buy $10.00 a week. (for 10 Bingo moments). We also have "themed" items that we sometimes remember to get. That always adds to the "drama".

We would suggest starting off during those group slow periods. Waiting for entertainment, cooking, crafts, mens group, playing cards, etc. Then work up to other programs. It's now just part of activities. And as it's Girl Scout Cookie time, they are clammering for Hidden Bingo!