Prepping for guests during the holidays isn’t something most people look forward to. Most of us are scrambling to not only get presents wrapped and food served, but to clean the house, make sure the dog doesn’t eat the ornaments and loudly remind the kids if they don’t clean their rooms, they are stuck with Aunt Edna.
Happiest Time of the Year.
There has got to be an easier way, and I think I have begun to tackle it.
I wrote down a little list of things that we do daily and weekly for Simple Ways To Be Guest Ready For The Holidays.
1. Have your place smelling good. It’s one of the first things someone will notice upon arrival, how your house smells.
I will head out before hand and stock up of a few of my favorite, large candles, that give off a good strong smell and will last for a long period of time. I will light it far in advance to have the entire area smelling good.
Another option that I have had running pretty much day and night, is essential oils in the diffuser. Not only to they smell amazing, but they are a fabulous option for those who are allergic to perfumes in candles and they actually kill odors, not just mask. We have a teenage, a preteen, one who thinks she is 21 and a dog floating around. I know a thing or two about smells, and the oils knock them out.
2. Make time for decorating.
I used to be able to put up our Christmas Decor in a day. Now I don’t know how I ever did that!
In between games, carpooling, dance, drivers ed and working, we are lucky to get one tree assembled, let alone four.
So plan ahead and make time to put up your decorations and don’t try to cram it in while you are mashing potatoes.
And keep it simple!
The more you set out, the more you have to clean 😉
3. Wrap presents as you bring them home.
I have, on more than one occasion, stuffed the presents in the closet and tried to tackle them in one setting. It was not a pretty sight.
Now I wrap them either at night when I bring them in, or every weekend till Christmas. I wrapped these up quickly and talked yesterday about my simple gift wrapping.
4. Have snacks on hand.
We don’t normally keep candy and sweets around the house, except during the holidays. Not only do we have guests that we plan for, and it’s nice to have bite size items people can grab, we also have neighbors and out of town friends that drop by unplanned. It’s a nice little housewarming gesture to those who swing by 🙂
5. Have a drink recipe in place that anyone and everyone can drink.
Everyone has different preferences on what the like and don’t like to drink, and it’s nice to have one option that anyone can have.
We are die hard hot chocolate lovers around here and this peppermint hot chocolate recipe is one of our favorites, and it’s super easy to make!
If you decide to serve alcohol, consider setting out a bar cart and letting guests serve themselves. This will free up your time to talk among guests and feel like you weren’t serving everyone the entire time.
6. Tidy up every day or night for 15-20 minutes.
Set a timer and go.
Assign everyone a task and it’s amazing what all can be accomplished in that amount of time. And it will save you a full weekend of just picking up before everyone arrives.
I am all about using items that are more efficient and saves us time, when we are already needing more and more of it each day. We have almost 3000sqft of hardwood floors and that could take a super long time to mop and dry. But right after we moved in, I asked around and researched the heck out of cleaners and we ended up buying Bona Hard Wood Floor Cleaner. For almost two years we have used it and I am absolutely in love.
Bona is non-toxic and GREENGUARD certified, which is awesome since the kids and dog are always on the floor.
But my favorite is that it leaves no residue, at all. I have heard horror stories about build up and products ruining floors, but this doesn’t do that. It simply cleans away the dirt and grime, leaving the floors beautiful, and dries insanely fast. Which makes it better, because odds are there are feet right behind me that will plow through.
And it’s so easy to use that the 12 year old, who is basically a vampire and never comes out of his room, will reveal himself to tackle his chores in no time flat.
And this might be my favorite part of all.
If you guys have been over here any amour of time, you know that I have glitter running through my veins. Literally.
Well, at Christmas it quadruples and is basically coming out of our air vents. Last year you couldn’t walk without a poof of glitter flying up. I tried everything and could NOT get it all cleaned up.
But not this year.
I used the Bona Cleaner and the fabulous blue pad, and guess what?
Heck to the yes.
It picked up the glitter.
I think my husband slept better than he has in a long time because there was not glitter stuck in his nose.
I would have paid a bajillion dollars last year for someone to clean up the glitter. But not anymore, and you don’t have to either. In fact, you can have all of your glitter worries cleaned up in a snap (and maybe by your 12 year old) and get $3 off of your Bona Cleaner when you click here.
Now that your house is all prepped, sit down, enjoy a hot cup of hot chocolate and breathe in you glitter free air before your guests arrive!
Thanks to Bona for sponsoring today’s discussion!