Holiday Hosting: 3 Steps For Happy Houseguests

I love having my friends and family visit me. It’s exhausting and a bit stressful, but the benefits well outweigh the costs. Since I’ve been living at Redwood, I’ve had several out of town visitors, each with their own special set of circumstances, which made preparing to host them unique. 

My sister and her husband, a sorority sister, and my best friend from college and her two children (with my 8 year old sister added in for flavor), have all come and stayed with me. Having a two bedroom apartment has made hosting each of these guests a ton easier but, I also have a bit of a special circumstance because I use my second bedroom as an office. For me, this automatically means I’m giving up my bedroom for my guests (and sleeping on the couch in my office or the fold-out in my living room). Of course, this is a personal decision; if you’re using your second bedroom in a similar fashion, you shouldn’t feel obligated to give up your bed. I simply find it makes hosting that much easier. In hopes of keeping the guests happy and me sane, I’ve come up with three steps I always follow when guests are coming to visit. 

Step 1: As with airplane air masks, I will advise you to take care of yourself first. 

One of the hardest things about having visitors is that it can throw you off of your regular routine. I’m a very routine person, and tossing the routine out the window, even for a few days, can have lingering effects for weeks. In order to avoid this, I make sure that all of my basics are covered: I
have my morning tea (Earl Grey, every day), my toiletries are moved to the guest bathroom along with a set of undies for each day the guest is staying (saves me from having to raid my closet while they’re sleeping), and my earplugs and charging cables are all set up in the second bedroom. With each of those things taken care of, I can start thinking about my guests, which is of course, the fun part!

Step 2: Think about your guests’ individual needs. 

Every time I have a visitor, I put together a small custom care package. Although I make it suited for the needs of that guest, I always make sure it includes snacks. Most of the people who visit me are driving in from the Midwest and will be arriving at night. I include snacks on the not-so-off chance that they’ll be a little peckish when they arrive.  In addition to the snacks, I also include travel sized bottles of some standard toiletries. I’ve found that when people are visiting friends, they pack differently than when they’re visiting a hotel. This undoubtedly means they’re going to be missing a random, yet essential toiletry item. After the snacks and toiletries are taken care of, I focus on the fun (and variable) stuff: for my sorority sister I added a robe and slippers, for my best friend I added kid-friendly trinkets, and for my sister and brother-in-law I added extra snacks (and we still ended up inside of a store within a few hours of their arrival). I picked something that I thought they’d each enjoy, based on my knowing them all for decades (or forever, in the case of my sister). The care package doesn’t have to break the bank. It’s about making your guests feel welcome, not impressing them.

Step 3: Clean, clean, clean. 

Once the care package is complete, I move on to the pre-arrival apartment prep/cleaning. My dog, Louie, contributes a lot to my life, most of that contribution being dog hair. When I’m expecting guests, the cleaning routine includes three steps: Declutter, Replace, Clean. First, I declutter every surface (I’m a stacking/piling person, so this step takes time). Second, replace all of the towels and sheets with fresh linens (don’t forget to replace the toilet paper with a new roll). I also do this in the kitchen, putting out a clean table cloth and napkins, as well as clean dish towels. Finally I clean. I leave the cleaning for last because the other stuff can’t/shouldn’t be skipped (fresh towels and all that). Start by cleaning the spaces your guest’s bedroom (in this case, the master bedroom). Clean top-to-bottom, starting in the bathroom, ending with the vacuum. From there, clean the kitchen (including a dishwasher cycle). Lastly, hit the living room. If your guests arrive early or you run out of time, you can continue cleaning the living room while they’re putting their things away in the guest room. Plus, for most living rooms, the decluttering is the most important thing, that’ll make it feel clean, even if it isn’t.

If you follow these three steps, hopefully you’ll find hosting your family & friends as easy and delightful as I do. 

*Written by Lindsay S.