hosting and entertaining

10 Can’t-Miss Places to Clean Before Guests Arrive

- Mama Leave a comment

Yikes! Thanksgiving guests are coming. Think you've cleaned everywhere? Guess again-- here's 10 unconventional places you might have missed when cleaning house.

 

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and I’m going to guess that more than a few of you are hosting this year. I know how it is– you clean, and you clean, and you clean in places you think you’ve never cleaned before. But just when you think you’ve cleaned it all, sure enough, your Great Aunt Martha comes in and peeks in that one place you didn’t clean… yikes. Never fear– I’m listing out ten places you need to clean before guests arrive (but may have forgotten).

Front Closet

It’s November. Unless you live in Florida or Hawaii, you’re probably going to be taking a few coats. Beyond just cleaning it up a bit and making sure you have room for coats, now is a great time to purge any old, ill-fitting coats, make sure you have plenty of hangers for your guests, vacuum the floor inside in case any coats fall on the floor, and consider investing in a floormat for the closet if you live in an area where you may get some mucky, snowy, wintery boots.

Likewise, when you clean before guests arrive, you’ll want to consider cleaning a spare bedroom if you plan on keeping your coats in there instead of a hall closet. Wash the bedding both before and after you place coats on your bed (you never know what someone’s carrying on their clothing!) or consider just hanging the coats in a bedroom closet to keep them off of your bedding altogether.

Medicine Cabinet

Why the medicine cabinet, you might be asking? Because think about it… you know there’s going to be that one guest who snoops to see what you’ve got in there out of sheer curiosity. Go ahead and pack away any prescriptions, just for the day, and move anything you don’t want someone seeing out of sight. Better yet, stock your medicine cabinet with some extras just in case, like extra soap, mints, or feminine hygiene products, to help your snooping guests find what they may be looking for. Are you a family that likes having fun with each other? Stick a funny image that says you KNOW they’re snooping– like “Ha! Caught You!”

Refrigerator

Before your guests arrive, make sure you clean out your refrigerator. If you’re serving pot-luck style, there’s likely something that needs to be chilled until you sit down to the table, and how often does a guest end up helping themselves to something, even if you’ve set it all out where they need it? At the very minimum, cleaning it out allows you plenty of space for leftovers after the meal, so being proactive and getting it cleaned before guests come is a good way to have it done whether guests see it or not.

Couch Cusions

This is a MUST if you have pets or kids. For one, allergies are everywhere these days, so the last thing you want is a guest hacking and coughing because you missed some pet dander. You’ll remember to vacuum and sweep, but don’t overlook couch cushions. Further, make sure to check for any stray toys, and if you haven’t done it in awhile, pull the couch all the way out to sweep or vacuum underneath. You might be surprised!

Trash Can

On Thanksgiving, you’re bound to have a lot of trash getting tossed, from turkey carcasses to dinnerware (particularly if you go dish-free and serve on paper, because hey, we aren’t all Martha Stewart). The last thing you need is a smelly trashcan when guests go to toss something (even if it’s gum before the meal). Trust me, if you’re hosting, at least one person will use your trash– and that goes for the main trash and bathroom trash! Give your trash can a good rinse, air dry it, then either place a sachet under the liner, use a scented trashbag, or sprinkle in some baking soda to absorb the odor. Make sure your trash is empty (or close to it) when guests arrive and you shouldn’t have any issues!

Front Porch

It’s fall, and during the fall, you’re going to get some fall leaves. At a minimum, when you clean before guests arrive, you’ll want to sweep the porch free of debris. Not only does it make your house look prettier at a glance (because trust me, we all have that relative who will judge), it cuts down on what guests are tracking into your house, helping you beat some of that post-holiday cleanup before it starts.

Keurig or Coffeemaker

Is anything better than some coffee or cider after dinner? Well, coffee or cider from a clean Keurig, for one. When you use a Keurig, even if you follow the manufacturer’s instructions and brew an empty cup after each cup of coffee or cocoa. Check the coffeemaker section for special cleaners for your Keurig or Coffeemaker to keep them nice and cared for, or follow the manufacturer’s instructions (google your machine if you don’t know how to properly clean it) and get it spruced up so every cup on Thanksgiving tastes like the first cup.

Tupperware Cabinet

This is more for your own sanity and less for your guests seeing anything… but if you’re having leftovers, or think you might have some, check your tupperware cabinet in advance. Try pairing lids with containers and make sure you have matches in a variety of sizes. If yours are worn, broken, or missing, toss the old and get some new ones before the holiday– it’ll be a wise investment through Christmas and beyond. Planning on sending some leftovers home with your guests? Investing in some take-and-toss style tupperware is a nice touch. This way, if you get it back, great, but if you don’t, you didn’t send them home with your good stuff.

Microwave

This is particularly important if you happen to host a pot-luck style dinner, but even if you’re hosting a dinner where you plan to cook it all, something is bound to need reheating. Even if you keep a clean microwave, it never hurts to give it a good wipe down before your guests arrive.

Master bathroom (or another secondary bathroom)

I know, in a perfect world, you clean one bathroom and everyone uses that one and you can tuck clutter safely away in the other one, but it isn’t a perfect world. Someone is guaranteed to need to use the bathroom while someone else is, and you’re going to end up sending someone to a secondary bathroom. Save the embarrassment and clean up a second bathroom for guests to use. Oh, and don’t forget to clean out that medicine cabinet, too!

 

Did I miss any places you should definitely clean before you have guests arrive? Let me know in the comments below!

5 Tips for Making Easter Entertaining Easier

- Mama Leave a comment

It is hard to host a holiday celebration, and to be honest, it’s a lot of stress that can be hard to handle, especially if you’re a perfectionist. But I’ve got five great tips to help you make your Easter celebration a little easier for everyone, especially you.

In advance of the dinner, you’re going to want to make some decisions. Rather than competing with trying to get in dinner, an egg hunt, or whatever else you need to do in the post-church lunch, why not consider switching your Easter dinner to Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday? Or, postpone it by a week and celebrate the following Saturday. This will allow you plenty of time to enjoy Easter dinner with your family, and will open Sunday open to put your focus on what Easter is really all about, beyond the bunny and the eggs. Plus, you’re not worrying about running home after church to cook before everyone gets there. Just one simple date switch can help change the entire mood of the celebration, and gives you more time to prepare.

Once you have your date figured out, it’s time to trim and polish your guest list. By only inviting as many guests as you personally can handle, you’ll make it easier on yourself. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t mind hosting a 40-guest feast, then open yourself up to a large party. But if a larger party stresses you out, trim the guest list until it’s more manageable for you. If you’re afraid of hurting feelings by not inviting someone, then just go with the “We just don’t have as much space as we’d like, so we’re going with a more intimate celebration this year.” When paring the guest list, if there’s anyone that causes a lot of stress for you that you can remove from the guest list tactfully, now is the time to make that cut, again, using the space excuse if you must. Sometimes, trimming a few negative nellies is a good way to make Easter a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

As you start planning your menu, consider how you want dinner to be served. Rather than building a whole sit down dinner, why not consider a buffet-style serving method? This will allow you less job serving everyone, and more time enjoying the meal with your family and friends. Plus, if you have multiple tables (like a kid’s table and an adult table, or a dining table and a kitchen table, to accommodate more guests), you’re not having to worry about doing things like providing rolls and food to every table. Instead, everyone can dip their food and come back for more if they need to.

Once you’ve figured out your Easter menu, you can start looking at what foods can be prepared early. The earlier you can prepare some of your foods, the less you need to do the day of the meal. For example, you can hardboil eggs up to 7 days in advance, and devil them later, to cut down on boiling needs the day of. Consider making as many foods ahead as possible. The Rustic Carrot Cookies I shared can keep for several days in an airtight container in the freezer. Plus, if you find a really good type of roll the day before, is anyone really going to miss the ones that take you all day to make? For dinner, some store-bought stuff can work just as well as the real-deal. The best part is that you can even decorate the day before– the night before your celebration, go ahead and decorate the table, set up the buffet centerpiece, and more so you can have it all ready in advance of the actual meal. Then, at meal time, you can just set the food out and everyone will be impressed with how hard you worked! Even better, if you know your kids are old enough to know not to touch it, or if you’re using a dining room that can be closed off, and you won’t be using it for a few days in advance of Easter, you can always set up even days in advance. It’s one less thing to do the day of the main event!

Finally, the day of, while you can control most factors, it seems that kids are the wild card. Consider providing activities or games for the kids to do that will entertain them. Aside from the traditional egg hunt, you could consider offering coloring pages, or a small craft. Alternately, you could see about asking/bribing/blackmailing one of the older kids/younger teens to do some fun egg dyeing techniques for them (but no, really, consider asking families with kids for a small donation to pay for the teen to play with and entertain the kiddos– the kids get fun and attention, the teen gets a little pocket money, and the adults get a stress-free dinner without worrying that it’s their kid who is going to leave sharpie on the dining room table). Both the Easy Marble Egg Dye (link) and Volcano Egg Dye (link) are popular at the moment, have a big wow factor, and can keep kids entertained and your life much less stressful. Looking for something even the younger set can really enjoy safely? Try the Edible Peeps PlayDough recipe that’s been floating around the web (link)!

 

 

What are your tips for keeping Easter entertaining stress-free? Share them in the comments below!