5 Tips to Head Off Sensory Overload During The Holiday Season

For many kids, the holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year, filled with twinkling lights, colorful decorations, festive music, brightly wrapped presents, parties and gatherings, an abundance of food and sweets, and maybe even some snow! But for some, especially children in foster care with special needs, the holidays can lead to sensory overload and a fight or flight response. Sensory overload is defined as the overstimulation of one or more of the body’s five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell). Signs of sensory overload can include a loss of focus and excess fidgeting, anxiety, irritability, heightened behaviors and hyperactivity, outbursts, covering the eyes or ears, withdrawing from activities, avoiding others, and crying to the point of exhaustion. Knowing how to calm and comfort your foster child is important, but truly, the best way to handle sensory overload is to head it off before it happens. Here are some helpful tips for foster parents.

#1. Deck the Halls Early and Thoughtfully: Holiday decorations are beautiful, but they can also be really busy. When decking the halls, do it early so everything becomes familiar before the festivities. Invite the kids to help, keep it simple, and try to stick to common areas like the family room. If your child startles easily, avoid decor that moves suddenly or makes noises. If they are sensitive to scents, be mindful of this as well. 

#2. Avoid Crowds Whenever Possible: Noisy, crowded events, bustling open houses, and holiday gift shopping at packed malls and big-box stores can be overwhelming, even for grown-ups. Play it safe and do your gift shopping online (or when you can hit the stores on your own), and skip the long lines for photos with Santa and other popular events in town. Any time you’re out and about, be sure to follow your child’s cues and leave if they start to feel uncomfortable. 

#3. Be Prepared: Before hosting or attending a holiday get-together, help your child understand what to expect while there. Depending on your child’s needs and triggers, keep noise canceling headphones on hand, allow children to wear nice yet comfortable clothing (i.e. tag-free tops, elastic waist bands), bring soothing toys and activities that offer a distraction, and prepare foods your child likes to eat. Also, make sure there is a designated quiet space to go to, if and when your child needs one. 

#4. Plan Ahead and Don’t Overschedule: Putting special dates on a family calendar can help children to mentally prepare and look forward to the fun that is to come. Instead of lumping everything together, back-to-back, try to spread out holiday celebrations and events. Downtime allows kids to decompress, rest, and recharge and provides a much-needed break from all that sensory stimulation and the flurry of excitement that comes this time of year. Also, try to adhere to your normal routines and bedtimes! 

#5. Nix the Chaos and Commotion: Whenever gifts are exchanged, try to create a calm and chaos-free environment. That means keeping the holiday music set to a low volume, going at a leisurely pace instead of warp speed, taking turns unwrapping if there is more than one child, and having a bin at the ready to corral the frenzy of flying wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows. But first, check out these strategies that can make choosing and giving gifts a simple and more joyful experience for the whole family, from Understood.

Camelot Care Centers wishes you and yours a happy holiday season! We invite you to visit our website, blog, and additional resources for more tips, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If you live in the state of Illinois and are ready to become a foster parent in the New Year, click here.

Every child needs and deserves to grow up safe and protected from abuse and neglect, and caring foster parents offer children support and stability when they need it most. At Camelot Care Centers, we specialize in higher-level foster care for children and adolescents that need extra support. We partner with our foster parents/homes to provide trauma informed care and additional services, including in-home counseling, parent support and training, tele-psychiatry, and therapeutic mentoring, to maintain children at the least restrictive, yet most appropriate level of care. Camelot Care Centers (“Camelot”) is a Child Welfare Agency.