How to Prep Your House for Holiday Guests

9 Easy Steps to Boost Your Hosting Bliss

The tickets are booked.

The calendars are marked.

The holidays are coming! And so are your house guests.

They’ll be packing their bags to show up at your house in just a matter of weeks. The gift deliveries are coming even sooner.

‘Tis true . . .the Holiday Season is COMING.

Many of us will be opening our homes to friends and family, wanting it to be the best year ever.

You want to enjoy your company, just without the stress of having your house seen messy.

How can you make everyone feel comfortable?

Here are 9 organizing tips to hosting a relaxing holiday retreat!

FIRST STOP:
Entry Way Organization

You want to make a good first impression! What tends to look cluttered in this space?
Let’s create some quick organizing systems so you can quickly tidy up.

1. Store your shoes.
   This can be a basket or shoe rack – anything that could hold all of your shoes. Put them into bins, baskets, or shoe racks. If it has a place, it looks intentional and tidy. Most importantly, you’re keeping this area from being a tripping hazard!
   
   
2. Make space for jackets.
   Do you have enough hangers or hooks for the jackets in this space? If not, either add more storage space or store less-frequently-used jackets in another closet that your guests won’t see. Make your guests feel like there’s space for them.
   
   
3. Give loose items a home.
   A bowl for keys and sunglasses, a magazine file for mail, and a basket for items that need to be put away is a great start. Give an intentional holder for all the stuff that tends to linger around this area. Not only do you want to prevent any lost keys, you also want to allow space for setting down deliveries, etc.

NEXT STOP:
Kitchen Decluttering

The kitchen is often the heart of the home – where we gather to share stories, eat, drink, and be merry. Because you will have more people and food than usual, it is a good idea to clear your space as much as possible.

Plus, the more obvious it is where things go, the more likely it is that you’ll get help cleaning up!

1. Store unnecessary appliances in a lower cupboard or basement shelf. 
   If you have similar appliances in other cabinets, it helps to move them to this same space to make it obvious for anyone helping you clean up. Group like items together when possible.
   
   
2. Clear expired items out of the fridge.
   Salad dressing bottles, that special sauce you only used for one recipe . . . dump it all. Even us professional organizers have to do this regularly! How will you have space for all the pumpkin pies that need to cool overnight if your fridge is already full?
   
   
3. File any loose papers.
   Random papers always seem to end up in the kitchen. It’s an easy way to lose something important. If you don’t have a great place for it to go already, put it in a folder in a place that you know you won’t lose it so that you can come back to it once everyone’s gone home.
   
   

LAST STOP:
Guest Room Set Up

Clutter stresses guests out. The less cluttered these spaces are, the more peaceful they will feel.

Poor guest rooms – they often end up being quick storage space when we don’t have anyone coming to stay, don’t they? This is the time to clear out what’s been hiding in there since summer.

1. Relocate items that belong elsewhere.
   This part alone will make this organization process feel like a huge success! You might even find something that you thought you’d lost. Happens all the time.
   
   
2. Declutter and donate.
   Donate clothes you honestly don’t wear, or home decor you don’t use. While an end-of-the-year purge is great, don’t go too overboard or get overwhelmed. Focus on just this area.
   
   
3. Give guests storage space.
   Your guests will probably have more stuff with them for the holidays than on other visits. Give them some space on this trip. If you’re able to clear space in the closet or drawers, that’s nice. But it’s also ok to just add a stool or luggage rack to stack their stuff up off the floor.
   
   

The best part?
You win no matter what.

This is a BUSY time of year!
It’s good to keep your own peace and give yourself a much-needed break too.

Even if you tackle just ONE of our organizing tips above, pat yourself on the back!
Your home is already improved. It’ll make cleaning up after the party easier too.

A little bit of prep can make a big impact in creating a warm, welcoming environment for any guest you might have this holiday season. Either way, we hope it helps bring you joy.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season!