Preparing for Overnight Guests – How to Be a Good Host

Preparing for Overnight Guests – How to Be a Good Host

Having guests staying over is lots of fun and something I enjoy especially as my guests are often friends or family members visiting from Sweden who I don’t see very often and of course miss a lot.

There are a few things that I think everyone who’s about to host guests should do before they come to stay or when the guests have arrived to make them feel welcome and make the stay comfortable for everyone.

Guest Bedroom

• Ensure the sheets are clean! I usually wash the sheets as soon as a guest leaves so that they’re ready for next time. We don’t have a bedroom that’s just for guests — we use our eldest daughter’s single bed for guests — so we just get the fresh sheets out of the cupboard on the day of arrival. If you have a guest bedroom set up all the time and you haven’t had guests for a long time, you might want to wash the sheets to ensure they’re not dusty and smell fresh. I keep a duvet cover set specifically for guests so that I know that the sheets are in good condition at all times.
• Make it easy to use the guest bedroom and explain anything that might be difficult or different from what your guest is used to. We have a nightlight installed on our normal light so you have to click it a couple of times to turn it on properly for example.
• Advise where your guests can charge their phones and tablets and provide a plug if you have a spare one.
• Put out a stack of fresh towels for your guests! I usually just place them on the bed ready to be used when my guests need them.
• If you store anything in the guest bedroom that you might need in the early mornings, remove it before your guests go to bed so that you don’t wake them in the morning. Our guest room is our eldest daughter’s bedroom so we keep her clothes in there. I remove an outfit for her before bedtime so that we don’t need to disturb our guests.
• If you have the space, it’s nice to be able to offer your guests somewhere to put their clothes for the duration of their stay — like a few hangers in a wardrobe or a few drawers. We don’t have the ability to do this in our house as we don’t have any extra room but this is something I plan to do in our new house when we move.
• It’s also a nice touch to provide some reading material for your guests like a few short books or magazines that you think they might be interested in. This depends on your relationship with your guests, of course.
• Keep a spare blanket and other pillow choices in the guest bedroom in case your guests get cold or have a different pillow preference.

Bathroom

• Keep toiletries like shampoo, conditioner and shower gel visible so your guests don’t have to search for them when they want to have a shower.
• Ensure your soap dispenser is full and that there are clean hand towels available!
• If you have the space, it’s nice to have a space for your guest to put their towels too — a hook or a designated space on the towel radiator.
• There should be plenty of toilet roll available and visible so that your guests don’t have to ask you where they are if the roll runs out.
• Not everybody has a bin in their bathroom but you should when you have guests in case they need to dispose of something. If you can’t fit one in your bathroom, put one in the guest bedroom.
• Keep a few extras of toiletries that your guests might have forgot to pack like toothbrushes, a razor etc. so that they’re available if needed. You can even make a nice basket of toiletries and place it in the guest bedroom so that your guests don’t even have to ask.

Kitchen

• Most of us like a coffee or a tea in the morning so either create a little caffeine station with coffee, tea and sugar and anything else that might be needed or tell your guests where everything is and to help themselves in the morning.
• It’s also nice to keep snacks and drinks available for when hunger strikes! Let your guests know where the things are or create a snack station somewhere in the kitchen.
• Make sure you have fresh hand towels and kitchen towels available for your guests to use and that it’s clear which towel is for hands and which one is for dishes.

General

Clean the house thoroughly and get rid of as much clutter as you can. Put away any shoes or coats that you’re not using to make room for the guests’ clothes too.

Enjoy your guests and their good company! If you’ve done the above things, I’m sure they’ll think that you’re a wonderful host and will want to come back again soon.