If you’re anything like me, you find the holidays approaching faster every year. Whether it be a formal dinner, cocktail party, or casual gathering, it’s important that you start preparing for your home for hosting now.
Here are a few tips to prepare your home for hosting during the holidays:
Declutter
No matter the size of your home, decluttering before you have visitors will be well worth it in the long run. Start with your fridge, especially if you’re having dinner or o’dourvours. If you end up having leftovers, you want to make sure you have plenty of room to store them. The same goes for your pantry. It’s a perfect excuse to sort through and organize all the things you’ve been putting off. It’s also important to get rid of unnecessary items that you haven’t used in a while and prepare to replenish your collection with gifts from your loved ones.
Deep Clean
I love a clean house, but the effort to do so… not so much. While cleaning doesn’t sound so festive, it really does help get your home ready for hosting during the holidays. You want to make sure to place emphasis on the areas that everyone will be sharing, such as the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. To maximize your productiveness, tag team this with when you declutter. Deep cleaning your home is quite the task, so don’t be afraid to spread it out over a couple of days or hire help! Doing so will help you feel better prepared for guests to spend time in your home.
Stock Up Your Supply
The last thing you want during the holidays is to run out of any essentials, so doing a haul of toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, coffee, paper plates, and napkins will be such a relief. Don’t forget to add some holiday-scented candles in there! There’s nothing better than being greeted with a warm and welcoming aroma.
Move Furniture
Don’t be afraid to move some things around to accommodate for the holiday festivities. You want to make sure your guests feel comfortable to mix and mingle instead of being crowded and uneasy. Consider making the layout more open by removing unnecessary tables and decorative pieces in order to create a more practical flow. This would be a good time to create a plan of optimizing every area of your home. Pieces and places of your home can have multiple purposes, either for setting drinks and food or storing purses and coats. Ultimately, looking at your home through a creative eye will be the best way to go about hosting all your friends and family.
Child And Pet Proof Your Home
If you have a pet that isn’t used to having lots of guests around, you want to make sure you have a dedicated space for them to hang out while you are hosting. Set boundaries with your guests of where you would prefer them to be and label other areas as “off limits.” Likewise, while you may not have small children or pets of your own, you should plan to have accommodations for them, just in case your guests bring them along. Make sure your decorations are safe and unbreakable for children to be around, especially your valuable items. If you're looking for additional tips on how to decorate for the holidays, specifically Christmas, check out one of my previous blog posts here..
Next Steps
Use these tips to make your experience hosting during the holidays stress-free and fun. If you’re looking for other house tips or want to chat about buying and selling during the holiday season, I’d love to talk. Reach out anytime at traceyrice@kw.com or 405-226-3770.