Keeping the Home
Preparing for House Guests
Houseguests 102: The Extras
1. A selection of snacks may be just the thing for a guest that arrives late or after a particularly long journey. A good rule is to offer something from each category: savory, sweet, crunchy, and chewy. Some individually wrapped mints and hard candies are a nice addition. Adding a couple bottles of water in the snack kit will be appreciated by any guest. The snack kit can be set on the bed itself or on top of the dresser next to the linens, if space allows, or another reachable surface. Be sure to let your guest know that the snacks are for them when you show them to their room.
2. For guests staying more than one night, you may want to provide an itinerary or schedule for the events that you’ll be attending or participating in together during their stay, if they don’t already have that information.
3. Bottles of water are inexpensive enough to keep on hand; keep a few in the fridge so that they’re cold and fresh for guests.
Multi-Use Spaces and Overnight Guests
Staging will be different for this space, for obvious reasons. You can help make it easier on yourself by keeping bed linens and pillows nearby, perhaps in a closet or cabinet, making for quick set up and tear down of sleeping quarters each night and morning. I believe that a basket or other pretty container with bath linens can be preset and stored in a closet or cabinet just for such a situation as an unexpected or short notice guest, and if you have it already made up and on hand it’s one less step in the preparations that you’ll have to do.
f your guest is sleeping in the main living area, be kind enough to let them know what time the household usually wakes up so that they can plan their morning routine accordingly. Assuming a shared bathroom in this situation, it would also be kind to let your guest know which bath will be available for her use, if there is a morning bathroom routine in your home among your family members.
Hosting house guests should be fun and not stressful. If you take the time to prepare ahead, even just the little things, it will be easier to act as hostess and focus on enjoying each other’s company, especially during this most wonderful time of the year.
RH
4. If you host overnight guests often, you may consider purchasing a single-serve coffee/ tea maker for your guestroom. While certainly not required, it is a gracious gesture, especially if you do not drink coffee, and are therefore not brewing any in the kitchen each morning.
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