Since she likes word games and likes to be with her family, why not just have a family night at home playing scrabble? I bet she’d love that. Board games make it much easier for the hard of hearing to remain engaged in conversation, since they can “see” what’s going on, rather than having to follow conversations that can range all over the place. The biggest problem for the hard of hearing is usually keeping up with conversations where the subject of conversation switches rapidly…they can get completly lost. And for people who aren’t particularly “social” board games are also great, since there’s a ready-made topic of conversation and something that’s fun to do as well.
One other thing:
In social situations, the responsibility for making sure that the hard of hearing are following the conversation is up to the hearing. It’s YOUR responsibility to watch her face and see if she looks confused, or is withdrawing. If you see that happening, you need to interrupt the conversation by looking directly at her and asking, did you understand that? And if she says no, or not quite then summarize clearly and relatively loudly the exchange (you shouldn’t need to shout if you’re clear usually). This sounds awkward, but can be done quite gracefully if you don’t act embarrassed or patronizing - and eventually you’ll realize that it’s rude NOT to. This will also remind everyone involved to be considerate and not start mumbling or dropping their voice.
If you do want to go "out: "
Depending on where you live, some movie theaters have rear window captioning. I have a deaf family member - and this is a very simple system that works great for him. You can find a list of hteaters that have it herehere.
If she’s only hard of hearing and not completely deaf, most major movie theater chains and many independents offer assistive listening devices (essentially headphones or some other device that amplify the sound for you). A lot of “theatre” theatres and ballets/dance companies offer these too. If you’re in a major metropolitan area the big theaters will have these. If she doesn’t like technology though, she may not like them , since these are usually a bit like walkmans where you have to adjust the frequency and fiddle with them a little until you get the best sound.
Restaurants can be dreadful for people with hearing loss, so I’d stay away from them, unless you can get a private room or something like that. If you do want to go to a restaurant, try to check it out in advance - it should be as quiet as possible, should never never be crowded and rowdy, and be careful on the music, a restaurant can seem “quiet” to you because you don’t hear a lot of ruckus, but if the ambient music is noticable this can seriously interfere with a hearing impaired person’s ability to understand. When you get to the restaurant, tell whoever seats you that one of your party is hearing impaired and you need the quietest seating possible, so they don’t seat you next to a loud group. If they do that anyway just ask them to move you to somewhere quieter. If she has a “good ear” make sure you let her sit where that ear is pointed towards the conversation and not away. If the ambient music is loud (if you’re unlucky you get seated under the speaker) most good restaurants are very willing to turn it down if you ask the waiter.
Museums, zoos, parks, etc are all great ideas too. Zoos and aquariums can be loud too though, depending on the number of screaming children, so you’ll have to be proactive in making sure she follows the conversations (speak loudly, look at her). A scenic drive may be tricky if you have a loud car - some cars are absolutely the worst places for the hard of hearing. They can only hear people in the front seat if they’re in the front or the back if they’re in the back.
