Intergenerational events bring young and old together to celebrate the value of all generations

Grandparents Day is an officially-recognized national holiday that falls each year on the first Sunday after Labor Day. But increasingly, schools and community groups are also organizing Grandparents Day (or Intergenerational Day) events at any time during the year as a way to bring together families and build community. Children have an opportunity to show their appreciation and love toward their grandparents (and other special older adult friends), and grandparents feel valued as their role is validated. These events can also be a steppingstone for creating long-term intergenerational programs.

A Grandparents Day event can involve both biological grandparents and "grandfriends" or other older adult mentors. It can be a celebration of the generations and the special relationships between them.

As you're planning your event, keep these goals and benefits in mind:

• Give children an opportunity to show their appreciation and love for their grandparents (or other significant older people in their lives).
  
  
• Give grandparents an opportunity to show their love and caring for their grandchildren.
  
  
• Create "a memory" – an enjoyable, memorable experience for children and their grandparents.
  
  
• Honor older adults and give them validation in their role of grandparent (or "grandfriend" or mentor). Grandparents need to know that they are making a difference in the lives of younger generations.
  
  
• Give older adults a chance to share some of their life experiences with their own grandchildren and other children, and expose children to the information and guidance older people can offer. Older people want to make a difference in the lives of those that follow. A sense of legacy is a basic human need.
  
  
• Make children and adults – especially parents and teachers – aware of the strengths of older people, and confront some of the stereotypes we often hold toward aging and older adulthood.
  
  
• Encourage and support long-term, mutually-supportive, caring intergenerational relationships. Grandparents will appreciate any concrete ideas and resources you provide to help them build and maintain a connection with the young.
  
  
• Give grandparents an opportunity to see firsthand what children are doing in today's schools and meet the teachers. The education system has to be made real and relevant to older adults.
  
  
• Foster community relations and boost family involvement in schools. Children whose families – parents and grandparents – are involved in their education learn better. Schools get much needed additional support.
  
  
• Encourage older adults to fulfill a social role and responsibility by volunteering in schools and acting as mentors, which benefits children and can transform a beleaguered education system.
  
  
• By doing activities leading up to and then after the event, expose children to new ideas from a historical, multigenerational, and life course perspective.
  
  
• Create a community that remembers its history as it builds its future. Young and old can find wisdom and inspiration in each other to deal with complex problems.

The Legacy Project offers a complete Grandparents Day Activity Kit with information and activity ideas. Here are some links to the event planning guide that's part of the kit (the links temporarily go to our old website):

Introduction
Planning Overview
Pick a Model
    Event Date
    Name of the Day
    Format
    Participation
    Frequency
    Expense Coverage
Logistics (aka "The Nitty Gritty")
    Coordinator and Committee
    Mailing List
    Invitations
    RSVPs
    Day Schedule
    Food
    Decorations & Displays
    Fundraising
    Volunteer Outreach
    Publicity
    Registration
    After the Event
Comments, Stories, and Advice From Across The Country

Click here for dozens of activity ideas from the Grandparents Day Activity Kit.