5 easy ways to prepare your home for Christmas guests

Have you started your Christmas planning yet?  Whether you’re a super-organised type who has everything worked out by now, or prefer to do it all last-minute, there’s no denying that the festive season often requires more planning and prep than any other time of year.  I’ve started thinking about the present shopping, but so far that’s about it!

Shopping aside, I think preparing our homes for all those extra guests can be one of the biggest jobs on the to do list in the run-up to Christmas.  I love to make our home all festive and welcoming for visitors, but we don’t have lots of unused space just waiting to be filled, and I suspect most people are the same.

Preparing your home for Christmas guests doesn’t have to be really complicated though.  Here are some easy ways to create a really warm welcome without giving yourself too much extra work.

Be realistic

I’m putting this one first for a reason.  It’s so easy to get carried away with an image of Christmas perfection, then stress yourself out trying to achieve it.  Remember that your guests are coming to enjoy your company, not to inspect and judge a spotless house.  Yes, it’s nice to have things looking tidy and welcoming, and of course you’ll want people to be greeted by a clean bathroom, but you really don’t need to deep clean every room!

Focus on communal areas

De-clutter the rooms where your guests will spend most of their time; as well as freeing up space for those extra bodies, it will make them feel less of an intrusion.  Our bedroom always ends up a bit of a storage zone when we have guests, but nobody has to put up with that apart from us!  In living areas you might also want to re-think the layout of the furniture temporarily, or add in seating from another room.

Stock up on the basics

As well as the obvious food essentials, it’s a great idea to stock up on things like loo roll, tissues, batteries, painkillers, and as it’s winter, cold remedies.  Having some travel sized toiletries on hand for overnight guests is a nice touch too.

Clever guest beds without the spare room

Multi-function guest beds are a brilliant way to provide a comfortable extra bed without the need for a dedicated spare room.  Pull-out trundle beds, sofa beds and day beds are all great options, and because you can fold everything away during the daytime they don’t impact on your living area.  If your guests are sleeping in a living area, it’s a nice idea to provide them with something to pop their overnight things in once you’ve put the bed away; storage baskets that can be stashed under a sofa are a great option.

Provide the home comforts

Little things make such a difference to how comfortable you feel when you’re staying away from home.  Think about the things you’d like to have if you were the guest; perhaps that’s a bedside clock, somewhere to put your case out of the way, hanging space in the wardrobe, or the wi-fi password.  It could be as simple as just telling your guests to help themselves to drinks and snacks whenever they need to.  The home comforts really don’t take much time or effort to provide, and if you have a think about them in advance you’ll also free up more time to enjoy your visitors’ company.

And there you have it: 5 easy ways to prepare your home for Christmas guests.  Do you have any tried and tested tips to add?

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