When it comes to finding fun baby shower games, keep your guest list in mind. If the guests do not know each other well, forcing them to interact a lot with each other in the games may make people uncomfortable. If you have a guest list that knows each other well, interactive games are ones that will help everyone have the most fun. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Name That Baby Task
This game play for this is similar to Pictionary. Before the shower begins, write down baby related tasks on index cards. Things like diapering, rocking, bathing, feeding, reading and playing are all good tasks that you can write down. Setup an easel with some big pieces of paper on it and markers before the shower. Divide the guest into two teams and have each member of the team take turns drawing the baby related tasks on the cards. Give them a time limit of 30 seconds to one minute to draw it and have their team guess the correct answer. Fun baby shower games like this can help get your guests interacting with each other while having a good time.
Diaper the Baby
Setup a diaper changing station with a baby doll and some disposable diapers. Have each guest take a turn trying to diaper the baby doll while blindfolded. Limit them to about one minute to try to get the diaper on. You may want to let the guests take a look at the changing area before starting just so they have an idea of where items are. For fun baby shower games like this, be sure to have a cute prize on hand for the person who diapers the baby the best in the time allotted.
Adding fun and fitness to one’s daily routine helps with overall health and sense of well being at any age. Balance, strength and endurance training all go a long way toward overall health but I want to dedicate this article to steps we can take toward social, intellectual and emotional well being.
Social Interaction
An evening at the movies
When was the last time you planned a movie night with one or two friends, or even with a group? Whether it’s a classic Clark Gable or Doris Day film from the early days of Hollywood or a suspense filled new release, a show with lively discussion after the movie around a café table with the same friends will do a great deal of good. You’ll be amazed at how the stresses of the day find their way to the back burner.
Take a class
Many seniors’ communities schedule monthly or weekly get-togethers to celebrate a member’s birthday, gather for board games, ceramics classes or a group outing. The social interaction will help to alleviate feelings of depression that can result from isolation. Whether you’re part of a seniors’ community or you’re spending retirement years in your home, check your town website for seniors’ activities, take a class, meet new people and treat yourself to monthly or even weekly gatherings with other seniors.
Intellectual
Stimulate the mind
Keeping your brain active will help ward off feelings of depression and what better place to start with brain exercises than at your local library. Many libraries today offer courses or seminars in a wide array of subjects.
Enroll in a class
If you’re feeling that this age of technology has left you in the dust, try catching up a step at a time. A great first step could be enrolling in a class and you’ll surprise yourself by how quickly you’ll catch on while getting the brain in gear at the same time!
Standard playing cards are… boring? Actually if you take the time to look at them, you might discover that they have properties that make them very versatile.
A playing card is easily recognized by the two symbols on the face of the card in the upper-left and lower-right corners — a ‘suit’ and an ‘identifier’.
A deck of 52 cards is divided evenly into four ‘suits’ — Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades. This allows you to have a flush, cards all of the same suit (Cribbage, Poker). This also allows trick-taking games that use a trump suit and that require playing a card ‘with the suit that was lead’ (Bridge, Euchre, Five-Hundred, Pinochle, Whist). This also allows games where you have to play a card with the suit that was last played (Crazy Eights).
Each of the four suits has 13 cards that are marked with the same 13 ‘identifiers’ or ids — 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. So for each id, there are exactly four cards, one for each suit. This allows you to have two cards that match (Concentration, Crazy Eights, Old Maid, War), two-or-more-of-a-kind (Cribbage, Go Fish, Poker), three-or-more-of-a-kind (Canasta, Gin Rummy, Rummy), and special combinations of matching cards such as a full-house, a pair plus three-of-a-kind (Poker).
Four of the ids are ‘letters’ which represent special cards — three face-cards (‘J’ = Jack, ‘Q’ = Queen, and ‘K’ = King) and an Ace (‘A’ = Ace). This allows you to have special scoring for these special cards (Hearts, Michigan, Pinochle, Tripoli). Each face-card has a double picture of the King, Queen, or Jack so that there is always a right-side-up picture on the upper half of the card. The Ace has a suit at the center.
It may be one of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ best kept secrets – and it helps veterans pay their senior living expenses! If you are a retired wartime veteran looking for ways to help pay for senior living care, the Veteran’s Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit (also called ‘A&A’) may be for you.
A&A is classified as a special pension benefit which is paid in addition to other VA benefits. It is available to wartime veterans and their spouses, and helps defray the cost of senior living care whether you live at home or in a nursing, assisted living or senior care facility. A&A is also available to the veteran’s spouse or widow, as well. Because it is considered financial assistance rather than VA compensation, it remains largely unknown and underutilized.
Not everyone qualifies for A&A, and the amounts provided to veterans vary according to financial need. Here are five common questions about the A&A benefit:
1. How Much Does A&A Contribute?
The Veteran’s Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit is a needs-based program that provides up to $1,703 each month for a veteran. A surviving spouse is eligible to receive up to $1,094 monthly, and a couple is eligible to receive $2,019 monthly.
2. What is a Wartime Veteran?
The A&A benefit is only available to wartime veterans. That means the veteran needs to have served at least one day of his service during a time of war (World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf wars all qualify). The veteran does not need to have seen combat or served overseas, but must have received an honorable discharge.
Chess can be taught in a variety of ways and it is each person’s choice how to find the best chess teacher for themselves.
Some people do well with live people, some do well with web links, videos, audios, and click by click prompts to explain each move and why it is the correct one.
Many people who have tried to learn by reading books have decided that chess is too complicated for them. The shorthand notation they use is too hard. But there are now books that the regular person who wants to learn about chess can do so. It probably wasn’t that chess was too hard for them, just the book.
Books that teach in laymen’s terms for beginners are the best. Books that explain the rich history of the game, the antique boards and pieces also enrich the experience. There are plenty of books with lots of pictures and diagrams of the way the board should look as the person steps through a game. We must first learn about the board, about the rows and columns and what they are called. How to correctly set the pieces, how the pieces move, what is the best way to start a game? What the correct ways to answer the opening movements are. Learn how to use the pieces as a group or army to protect the king instead of individual pieces acting on their own mission. Let the book teach you how to use more than one piece to set up the others and what to do after capturing or losing a major piece.