How to Host Overnight Guests With Minimum Stress

Having visitors is often part of the holiday season, and if your friends and family members live far away, you might be hosting company for a night or two, or maybe for a full week or even longer. Having overnight guests can cause stress in even the most meticulous housekeeper. Extra people in your home means that you will want your house to be extra clean, plus you’ll have extra laundry and cooking to contend with on top of an already busy schedule! If you are expecting overnight company this fall or winter, take a deep breath and relax! Here are some tips to help you prepare in order to keep things running smoothly before and during their visit:

You already know that you’ll need to run the washing machine more often when your guests are staying with you, so get ahead of the situation by making sure that your own laundry situation is completely caught up on. If you normally do your laundry on the weekends and they’re arriving on Saturday afternoon, for example, try to do a load each evening during the week so that you won’t have to worry about making sure there are enough clean towels come Sunday morning when you have extra people showering. Assume that your guests will need to do laundry every three or four days, and plan accordingly.

While you might be cooking a large holiday meal, remember that your guests, along with the rest of your family, will need to eat most of their other meals at your home as well. If breakfast is a help-yourself affair in your home, make sure that you have foods that are simple for your visitors to prepare, such as cold and hot cereal, eggs, fruit and yogurt. If you will be working or otherwise busy during the day, also ask them if they’d like to help themselves to sandwiches for lunch, and pick up an adequate amount of deli meat, bread or hard rolls and other sandwich items. The idea is to try to have foods that will require minimum cleanup and minimum stress.

One stressful part of traveling is trying to make sure that you haven’t forgotten anything. This is particularly important if your guests don’t have their own vehicle and are depending on you for transportation! Put together a basket of basic necessities such as shampoo, conditioner, lotion, disposable razors and body wash. Also include some bottles of water and maybe a bag of trail mix or a bowl of apples in order to make them feel more at home.

Most guests will offer to help you while they are staying in your home, and many hosts and hostesses are likely to say, “Thanks, but I’m all set.” Let your visitors pitch in! Rather than feel resentful of the extra work involved with hosting overnight company, go ahead and hand them the broom and let them sweep the kitchen after dinner, or put dinnertime helpers to work making a salad. Working together is a great way to visit and chat while not feeling guilty about piled-up chores. Also, if one of your guests is doing something that grates on your nerves, such as leaving the milk on the counter or tossing wet towels over the wooden door of your bathroom, politely speak up. Letting small irritations build up is one way to ensure that your experience will be stressful, whereas a simple, “Oh, could you please put the milk back?” corrects the problem before it can become a stress-filled situation.

Hosting company for a few days shouldn’t raise your blood pressure. Following these simple tips can help everyone to have a great time enjoying each others’ company with a minimum of frustration and hassle.