Your Comprehensive Checklist on Hosting the Holidays

Group of friends gathered at home to celebrate Christmas or New Year. Bringing fir tree and presents. Hugging. Day time.

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Holiday guests are expected during this holiday season. Many people are preparing their homes to welcome family and friends. Whether you are hosting family for a long weekend or everyone is coming over for dinner on the holiday itself, you want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable when they come into your home.

As the holiday hospitality season arrives and you open your home to family and friends, then make sure that you are brushed up on your holiday hostess skills. The following are some great tips to help you brush up and get ready to serve your holiday guests:

Tips for Before Your Holiday Guests Arrive

Deep-Cleaning Starts Your Holiday Off Right

While we have all heard of “spring cleaning,” giving your home a deep clean before the holidays can help you start off your holiday season right. It gives you a clean home and a clear mind before you begin to decorate for special occasions. It also allows you to know that your guests won’t find surprise dust bunnies under the tree or long-lost crumbs under the centerpiece at the family holiday dinner!

Declutter Your Home

Remove the clutter from the areas of your home where your guests will be spending most of their home. Your holiday guests do not need to see the last month’s worth of your mail piled up on the counters or your kid’s latest art project left across the kitchen table. Cleaning up and opening up the space where your guests will be staying will help their stay be much more enjoyable and comfortable. Your guests will appreciate it.

Decorate for the Holidays Early

If you are hosting the holidays this season, then leave yourself plenty of time ahead of time in order to pull out your decorations, fix what is broken, and get the house decorated in time for your guests to arrive. This gives you time to make any adjustments that you need to make in order to ensure that your decorations are ready for guests well before they arrive.

Choose Decorations Strategically

You might want to decorate every single square inch of your home to make it look festive and cheery, but in reality, sometimes less is more. When you go to decorate, focus on the big picture and on getting the main areas of your home decorated where the guests will spend most of their time. Choosing which areas to focus on can give your home a better, more well-balanced look in order to give a well-put-together appearance to your guests.

Sometimes minimal decorations can look more well-put-together than filling every little nook and cranny of space with something festive.

Tips for After Your Guests Arrive

Discuss Pets with Your Guests

Many guests may have allergies to certain pet dander or hair. Be sure to inform guests of any/all pets that live in your home before they arrive. If they have allergies, this will give them a chance to speak up before they even arrive so that arrangements can be made for everyone to have a comfortable and pleasant visit during the holidays.

Break Out Good China

If you are having guests over for a holiday meal, then you will want to use your good china in order to serve your holiday meal. Holidays are a special occasion and using your special china dishes symbolizes the importance of the holiday. Ensuring that your china dishes are clean and ready to use will help make serving the holiday dinner a breeze. All everyone has to do is grab a plate and fill it up!

Set Up a Coffee/Tea Station

If you have a Keurig to set up a coffee/tea station with a variety of flavors of coffee, or a regular coffee pot to provide coffee and other hot drinks then all guests have to do is help themselves to a beverage of their choice. It’s a nice touch to please both coffee and tea drinkers alike. You also don’t have to worry about making a cup of coffee every time someone wants something to drink, which can become cumbersome. The “help yourself” method will make guests feel more at home.

Provide Space for Guests

Guests will likely come with luggage and other belongings that they need to store throughout their trip. Providing an area for your guests to store luggage and other personal belongings will make them feel more welcome and at home rather than making them “live out of a suitcase” for the holidays.

Leave Extra Pillows/Blankets/Towels/Washcloths/etc.

Leaving your guests with “extras” is a nice way to make them feel more comfortable by not having to ask, “Do you have an extra ________ I can borrow?” every time they need something. Guests will appreciate extra pillows to sleep on or blankets to keep warm if your home is at a different temperature than they are used to. Providing extra supplies will allow guests to be comfortable without asking you as a host to please provide them with whatever they need.

Stock the Bathroom with Toiletries That May Be Forgotten

Providing basic toiletries to guests makes it so that they don’t have to weigh their suitcases down with extra weight when they come to visit for the holidays. Soap and shampoo and other liquids get quite heavy and can take up a lot of room if your guests are flying with weight restrictions on their luggage. It will also help to have extras of these basics on hand in case a guest forgets to pack something for their trip. Knowing that they will have basic necessities when they get to their destination can take a lot of stress off of the process of traveling for the holidays.

Conclusion

Put yourself in their shoes and think about what you would want someone to do if you were a guest in their home. That usually will give you the answer as to how to treat guests and maintain your home while they are visiting. Being kind and caring towards your guests and respectful of their privacy will help make a great holiday season with great memories for everyone!

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