Entertaining guests in your home is not something to be taken lightly. Your home is an extension of you and you’re allowing people an inside look into your world. This can be especially daunting for those of us who aren’t seasoned veterans when it comes to entertaining. If this is you, don’t worry, we’ll go over some important elements you should consider before opening your doors to guests.
Safety
While safety isn’t usually a major concern when entertaining adults, it should be the primary concern if small children will be present. Take baby showers for example, the odds are fairly high that your friends are at similar life stages as you and there’s a chance infants and toddlers will be running around your place. Seems like as good a time as any to baby-proof your place. Knowing your place is baby-friendly will also set the people you invite at ease and increase the likelihood they will attend.
For events like children’s birthday parties, it’s just as important to mark off areas where children shouldn’t be allowed and place expensive, breakable or dangerous items out of reach and locked away. If you’re not throwing a pool party, be sure to have a gate up around the pool.
Cleaning
Cleaning your home for guests and cleaning your home for daily living are two completely different things. Not that you have lower standards for yourself, but there are areas in your home that you don’t use every day and therefore may not be cleaned as thoroughly or as often as the more commonly used areas in your home.
Besides, guests have a knack for accessing areas of your home that you never anticipated. Some best practices for cleaning a home before entertaining include: cleaning all bathrooms from top to bottom, thoroughly dusting rooms (don’t forget the chair rails and floor boards) and wiping down surfaces that are prone to collecting fingerprints.
Determining the Flow
Figuring out how you want your guests to move about your home (as well as when to do so) can go a long way toward preventing chaos. Subtle ways to do this include closing and locking doors to rooms you don’t want people in as well as placing baby gates in hallways.
A more direct way, which works better with more structured events, is to simply tell guest the schedule for the evening and how you would like them to move throughout your home for when they need to do certain things. This all depends upon the type of gathering you’re having.
Consider Their Comfort
If you would like your guests to enjoy themselves (and ever return to your home again), it is important to make sure they are as comfortable as possible. comfort ultimately depends upon how many people your home can accommodate, what type of party it is and how long you plan for your guests to be there.
For informal gatherings with close friends, sofas, love seats and upholstered chairs are usually enough. For more formal gatherings with those you aren’t as familiar with, consider renting comfortable chairs from party stores. Hard, metal folding chairs are a guaranteed way to get less people to attend your next party.
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There is a bit more that goes into the decision to entertain, whether it be family and friends or those you may only be familiar with as acquaintances. Hopefully, this guide will get you started in the right direction so entertaining in your home will be a success.