Whether it’s for a holiday, the evening, a weekend, or an entire month’s stay, making sure your houseguests feel comfortable and right at home should be your top priority! While you might be the type of person that prefers all guests leave no later than 9 PM, you certainly don’t want them to feel that; in fact, the goal is that they’ll want to come back. (Someday, not like, next week.) We’ve put together a few tips that will ensure you are in fact the hostess with the mostess.
Set a start and end date
Okay, this may seem like a no-brainer, but the last thing you want is someone saying they’ll only be staying with you “a few days” then you find out their definition of “a few” is more like seven or eight. Hell hath no fury like someone who just wants to be able to enjoy their home without guests in it after multiple days of guests. Okay, that’s not the saying, but you get it.
Focus on your guests, not just what they’ll think of your house
It’s really easy to get caught up in cleaning the baseboards with toothbrushes and making sure your bed sheets are as tight as they can be so no one thinks you’re sloppy, but your guests are going to remember how it felt staying at your place, and not necessarily how it looked. So say for instance you know the person staying with you is an avid reader and they’ll be staying a few days with you during the work-week while they attend meetings during the day; our advice is to provide them with adequate lighting for reading, ample coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and maybe even a way to make it in their room such as providing them with a small Keurig, snacks that can be left on a plate on their nightstand, and extra comfy bedding. We promise you that after a long day of meetings, this guest would just want to relax and curl up with a good book.
Ask about any food allergies
You wouldn’t want to offer peanut butter brookies to someone with a nut allergy, or only have whole milk in the fridge if your guest can only consume almond milk. Be sure to ask guests if they have any allergies just so you can be extra prepared for their arrival!
Stick with what you know
It may be tempting to try a bunch of brand new recipes for dinner while you have guests over, but this is not the time to preface dinner with the “if this sucks, we’ll order pizza” speech. If you’re planning on whipping up some home-cooked meals, just stick with what you know.
Make guests feel at home in your space
This is a big one. Most of us have probably stayed with someone, hopped in to take a shower only to realize you didn’t get a degree in rocket science, so you have no idea how to turn their show on; if you’re expecting guests give them the grand tour of your house and show them where the extra toilet paper is, how to use the shower, let them know what the wifi password is, pull all the stops so your guests feel less like guests and more as they belong there.
Keep a plunger in every bathroom
Trust us on this one, just do it.