How To Be The BEST Hostess EVER! ｜｜ Make your guests feel right at home 💙
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
212.52415
Summary
In this episode, I talk about how to be a great hostess and how to make your guests feel comfortable and at ease when they come to stay with you. I share some of my favourite ways to keep your house looking spick and span and keep your guests feeling at ease.
Transcript
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Hello beautiful ladies and welcome to today's video where we're going to be talking about
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My husband and I love hosting people and we actually host people to stay quite a bit and
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It's my favorite way to show how I'm a good homemaker, my feminine touch, and how much
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of a difference that makes when our guests come to stay.
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So I really wanted to share a few of my favorite ways to be a really good hostess and make people
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feel totally welcome when they come to stay with you.
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The first thing to do when you want to be a great hostess is keep your house clean.
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Make sure that whenever anyone comes to visit, everything is in its proper place.
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Maybe you've mopped or you've vacuumed and you've kept your house looking spick and span
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because I know that when I walk into someone's house and it's a little bit messy, I always
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worry that maybe I'm a bit early or they're just a little busy.
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Of course, I'm not offended by that, but I just want to make sure that they are totally
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The whole thing is set up and ready to go and I am at ease that they are coming to stay
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because I know that a lot of people feel like they can be a burden when they're staying
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So if I just clean my house, make sure everything is in its proper place, that I've dusted and
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made sure that it looks like it's ready for a guest, then my guests will know that I am
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ready and expecting them and everything is ready to go.
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Because when you're in somebody else's house, it can feel a little bit uncomfortable.
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But if they make it clear that they want you there because their house is ready for
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Now, my husband and I have a guest room and I love having a well-appointed guest room so
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that my guests know that they have their own space when they come to visit.
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So I love to have freshly washed sheets and a beautiful warm comforter ready for them.
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I have a set of drawers in there as well so that if they want to unpack, they can.
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I also have a couple of hangers ready for them so that if they want to hang up some things,
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And I like to keep a clock in there as well as a lamp so that if they want to read before
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I've also started putting a little sleep mask right next to the bed so that if they want
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And one of my favorite things is having a fresh robe and clean towels for them when
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they get here so that they don't have to ask for one.
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I think that having a clean robe is super nice because if they shower and maybe if you
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don't have a specific bathroom just for that guest room, if they need to share, then they
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don't feel uncomfortable coming out of the bathroom in just a towel.
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You can get really inexpensive robes at TJ Maxx.
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So it's not a huge splurge to have one for a guest and just having those clean towels
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And I'm not just talking about a full body towel because that's really nice too and of
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course very important, but I'm actually talking about a specific towel for their face and
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their hands because I know that when I go to someone's house, if they have a hand towel
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hanging, I'm not sure if I should use that after I wash my face or something, but if I
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give my guests just a specific hand towel that's just for them so that when they wash their
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face, when they go to bed or in the morning, they have their own so they don't have to
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I also use a white one so that if they get some makeup on it, they don't have to worry.
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I can just go ahead and bleach it so it's not a stress point.
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I know that I've also been to people's houses where they've had a beautiful set of towels,
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but I accidentally got mascara on something and I felt so bad about it.
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Of course, they didn't worry about it, but I did.
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And I don't want my guests to ever worry, so if I'm using a white hand towel, it'll
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I usually say, don't worry if you get makeup on here.
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I can easily bleach that, so it's not something you should stress about.
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I want them to feel like they're on a little mini vacation whenever they come to visit me.
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And that's true for our families, our parents, and just friends.
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Now, of course, before they ever even arrive, one of my absolute favorite things to do is
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So I actually will plan out a weekend or whatever days they're coming and kind of give them the
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lay of the land of what the plan will be so they know what to pack and they know what
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we're going to be doing before they even get here.
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So I'll usually ask them what they're interested in seeing while they're in town, if they're
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going to need any time to do work or whatever it is, and I'll ask them about food allergies.
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That's a huge one because when they come to visit, they're probably going to be eating
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So if they're a vegetarian or a vegan or gluten-free, I would know that in advance and I can prepare
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foods for them that would actually be okay for them to eat.
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So I will ask all those questions and then I will send them an itinerary a few days in
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advance with each day kind of lined up with saying, okay, we'll be doing this in the evening.
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Now that's a big one and that was actually a lesson I learned.
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When I had guests over for the first time, I thought I had to book every single minute
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of their day and that we had to be together the entire time.
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And after that, I realized it's kind of tiring and people just sometimes need a little bit
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So I started booking in an hour or two for each day or even more depending for them to
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just spend on their own, especially if it's a couple, they might just want to spend some
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And then the rest of the day, we're going to go out to eat or I'll prepare food or we'll
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see a movie or we'll see the zoo or something fun that they'll be excited to do and they'll
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And then of course, like I said, I'll ask them those allergies, make sure I have all
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the stuff that I need so that they won't be ill when they're here and they can eat
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Because that's a great thing to know just whenever you're hosting at all.
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Even if you're hosting people for a dinner, if you don't ask in advance, they may not remember
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And so they may show up and they won't have anything to eat.
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That happened to me once when I forgot to ask somebody what their allergies were and it
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turned out that they were vegetarian and I had made an entirely meat meal and that was
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I make sure that anyone who comes tells me that they have allergies or if they have allergies
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so I'm prepared and so everyone can eat whatever I make.
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And of course, another great thing to do when you have guests over is to provide them with
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So I love to have a glass of water on the nightstand so that if they want to drink something or
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a water bottle, they will have something there because it can be kind of awkward.
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You don't want to search through somebody's cabinets to find a cup or a glass.
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And if you are trying to be polite, then you might end up being thirsty, especially if you
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wake up before they do or something like that, you won't have access to a cup or any water.
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So it's always good to either tell them in advance that, hey, you're welcome to look
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in my cabinets and grab a cup whenever you need to, or you can just provide them with
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it right off the bat and make sure that they have everything they need.
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And then a couple of other things you can do is provide them with some snacks.
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So if they get hungry during the day, again, they don't have to search through your cabinets
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You can always put a few snacks right in their room or again, just direct them to the cabinet
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and say, you are welcome to grab whatever you need.
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I love the idea that they don't have to worry about it, especially if your cabinets are more
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Of course, my cabinets are not always that well organized depending on the time of month
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because sometimes I go through a whole organizing spree and everything is in its place.
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And other times it's been two weeks and my cabinets look like a mess.
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But when I have guests coming, I'll usually organize so that I can say, go ahead and grab
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And just in case your guests wake up before you do, make sure you show them how to use
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the coffee maker because a lot of people need coffee as soon as they wake up.
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And so they'll really appreciate knowing where everything is and how to use your coffee machine
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so that they can have coffee right as soon as they are awake.
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And I know that I've had many guests wake up and want coffee and they've gotten it by
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themselves because they haven't had to worry about waking me up.
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So that's a really nice thing too to provide for them so that they don't have to worry about
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Now, I absolutely love having guests over and I love to make them feel at home.
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I have a list of my favorite places when people come to visit so we can hit those spots and
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make sure that they get to see them when they're here and it just makes the whole trip seem
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so much smoother and feel so much more welcoming to them because they know that I had the time
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I love making people feel like they're in a bed and breakfast so they don't even have
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Let me know in the comments what you do to make your guests feel at home.
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I'd love to hear if you have any tips or tricks.
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