Run events

We are so grateful for all of the Silver Sunday event organisers and volunteers who find ways to bring people together to celebrate our older population – whether on the doorsteps, indoors, outdoors or virtually. Can you run a class or activity in a park or online? Can you host a party in your garden, place of worship, school playground or community hall? Can you celebrate Silver Sunday by post, phone or decorating your front door?

Here are some popular ideas that have been much enjoyed in the past for you to create your own unique twist for 2023:

Special events

Get creative and host a one-off spectacular:

• Hold an all-day bingo-a-thon
• Host a Strictly Come Dancing contest with a local dance group
• Ask a local school to make ‘Silver Sunday’ cards and send/deliver to local care homes
• Organise an outdoor silver film screening
• Host a Bake-Off with a ‘Silver Sunday Showstopper’ competition and invite a local celebrity to be a guest judge
• Hold a ‘Great British Sewing Bee’ competition with a ‘Make Do and Mend’ theme
• Host a competition – ask the local scouts or cadets to design a Silver Sunday card / poem / song and offer a prize for the winner
• Have a 60s themed disco

Wine and dine

Hold a themed lunch/brunch or cookery class:

• • Host a Mad Hatters Tea Party
  • Organise a Cheese and Wine event
  • Offer a cooking class such as ‘How to Make Pad Thai’ or ‘Basic Cooking Skills’
  • Hold a Sausage and Mash lunch
  • Have a special prosecco picnic
  • Ask a local pub to host a Silver Sunday Quiz and Sunday Roast lunch
  • Host a chocolate tasting party

Relaxation

Quieter activities could be followed with a free cup of tea to add a social element:

• • Ask a local beauty salon or hairdresser to offer mini treatments such as hand and arm massages, manicures or haircuts
  • Hold a meditation/prayer session
  • Offer Pilates or Yoga classes

Take a trip

Organise a trip to an interesting place or landmark, such as:

• • The seaside
  • A farm/zoo
  • Gardens
  • A castle or monument
  • National Trust sites
  • Ask a local theatre, cinema or museum if they can offer free tickets for senior citizens

Arts and crafts

Activities which offer a chance to be creative are always popular:

• Offer a life drawing class
• Hold a ‘pottery for beginners’ session
• Host a ‘Make a 1920s flapper headpiece’ workshop
• Learn how to screen-print a t-shirt
• Organise a ‘How to Make Bunting’ or ‘How to Make a Pom Pom’ class (Youtube has some great tutorials for beginners if you are not an expert)
• Hold a colouring-in session to make a group Silver Sunday artwork
• Run a ‘Calligraphy Basics’ class

Get sporty

Activities which encourage guests to get active can have a number of benefits:

• Hold a crazy golf tournament
• Organise a team distance challenge, e.g. ‘Row to Loch Ness’ on a rowing machine, or ‘Jog to Big Ben’ on a treadmill
• Host a game of walking football at a local football ground
• Go rambling
• Get some pom poms and choreograph a fun cheerleading routine
• Run swimming or bicycle lessons
• Have a team darts competition
• Offer a Tai Chi class
• Get active with a Wii bowling or tennis competition
• Learn to salsa lessons
• Have a croquet match
• Organise a cycle ride along a local river
• Offer a fitness class such as Zumba or Aqua Aerobics

• Circus
• Lipstick and Pearls
• Masquerade Ball
• Pearly Kings and Queens
• Mods and Rockers
• Beatles and Stones
• Cockney
• Bollywood

Learn a new skill

Practical training classes could include:

• Run an I.T session such as ‘Learn how to use Facebook’ or ‘Smartphones for Beginners’
• Offer basic literacy/numeracy classes
• Host an acting workshop
• Offer self-defence talk or workshop
• Organise an ‘Ask the Master’ session where older people can show younger people a key skill, such as sewing or bookbinding

Keep it simple

Something simple which shows your appreciation for an older person can also make a huge difference:

• Bake a Silver Sunday cake and deliver it an older neighbour
• Write them a card
• Pop in and see them for a cup of tea
• Invite them for lunch or dinner
• Have a coffee morning at a local café