How to Prep Your Home for Holiday Guests

June 21, 2018

There are several holidays throughout the year where you might have guests. When the weather is warm, you may just have some pool parties and barbeques instead of celebrating specific holidays. Either way, there are some things to do when you have guests coming to stay. Here’s how to prep your home for holiday guests:

1. General Cleaning and Organization

Whenever you have guests coming to stay, it’s usually a good idea to clean up, declutter, and organize your home. This also allows you to get rid of anything you don’t need as you’re cleaning and organizing.

A great way to avoid simply moving things you don’t need from place to place is to have a few boxes along with you – one for stuff to donate, one for stuff to keep, and one for stuff to just throw away. If you don’t have the time or energy to go into a deep clean, just straightening up should be fine.

At the very least, the bathrooms, kitchen, and guest rooms should get a deep clean. Other than that, clearing out the entryway ensures your guests feel welcome as they walk in and makes sure there is enough space for the extra shoes, coats, and hats.

There will be more people milling around, so having surfaces available for people to set their drinks will be important. Storing unnecessary items from coffee tables, ottomans, countertops, and side tables is a great way to make sure there is enough space and reduces the chance that something will be accidentally knocked over or broken.

2. Consider Guest Comfort

A great tip for how to prep your home for holiday guests is to consider guest comfort. In addition to sprucing up a guest bathroom or two, also think about what your guests might have trouble with during their stay.

Add Night Lights

You may know your home well and be able to navigate in the dark, but your guests likely will not. Adding motion-activated night lights in dark hallways, guest bedrooms, and bathrooms can help them find their way and avoid any stubbed toes or other accidents.

Create Charging Stations

More guests also mean more phones and other devices in your home, which means everyone needs a place to plug in and charge up. If you don’t have that many guests, you may have enough available outlets. If not, portable charging stations and docking stations can be a helpful addition to a guest room or living room.

Provide a Collection of Necessities

Make sure you have plenty of linens and towels available for your guests and place them in the guest rooms in an easy place for them to find. A basket or a drawer in the bathroom dedicated to extra bathroom supplies that people might run out of or forget can help guests feel welcome and have a smooth stay.

Things like extra toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and travel-size bottles of shampoo, soap, and toothpaste are great additions to these and can really help a guest have a more comfortable stay. You can also use a handy cart to display all of these items and leave them in the guest room.

This makes it easy for guests to easily see what’s there and find what they need, including extra towels or toilet paper. Adding small touches like these is one of the home ideas for dealing with cabin fever and can help you and your guests have more comfortable and peaceful holidays.

3. Add Extra Seating

When you have holiday guests, your home can become crowded and seating can become scarce. Think about how many people you have coming to stay and then consider the areas you will likely be sitting during your stay, like the dining room, living room, and deck or patio to see where you need to add seating.

Having extra seating available, even if it’s folding chairs that can be pulled out when needed and stored when they’re not, can help your home feel less crowded and ensure everyone has a place and feels welcome during their stay.

4. Decorate

When you have guests coming for the holidays, don’t forget to decorate! Start with the main rooms you’ll be spending the most time in and go from there. Adding special touches to the guest bedrooms and bathrooms can also bring a smile to your guests and enhance their stay. You don’t have to go all out unless you want to, but adding some holiday decorations here and there can help get everyone into a celebratory mood.

If your current home feels too cramped with holiday guests or leaves you feeling stressed, it may be time to consider upgrading to a custom home that fits your needs. Contact Custom Home Group at 717-284-4090 to get on the path to your dream home!