HOME CHRONICLES: Prepare The Best Guest Room (And An Extra DIY Candy Bag Tutorial)

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Prepare The Best Guest Room (And An Extra DIY Candy Bag Tutorial)


It's holiday season and that means lots of family coming to see you. Family time is my favorite time! Having guests come to visit me always makes me so excited! It always makes me feel so loved t know that they want to travel to see me, and my family. You know it is always nice to see a familiar face when you have just moved to a new area. About a month ago we had some of our friends from Haviland come and visit us and we had such a fun time, I just wish I was a little bit more prepared to host them. We had just moved into our home and still had boxes out so you can only imagine how under prepared I was. Well, thankfully I was able to learn a few things and upgrade my hosting ability. 

 My in-laws just came for a week, and the next day my parents came to visit us. It was a really fun time and I think these things that I have learned really helped make everything go smoothly, maybe they will help you when you are frantically trying to get ready for your company. My hope for you is that after you read and do these steps you will feel prepared and ready to invite someone into your home, then you will be free to just love on them and have a great time since you will already have everything set up and ready to go!
 (And at the end I want to share a diy) 

1. Make sure that everything is clean. Pretend like your in-laws are coming and you want everything spotless. ; ) Dust, vacuum, sweep, make sure there is nothing in the corners, nothing extra on the night stand, just make sure there isn't any clutter anywhere, that will really help make your home look nice and inviting. I added some good reading material to the night stand, too! Some magazines and a Bible.  

2. If you have a guest room then make sure that you wash the sheets and blankets even if they aren't "dirty". Washing them makes them look more fluffy and smell good. Your guests will appreciate it. If you don't have a guest room make sure whatever sheets and blankets or pillows are cleaned, washed, and ready to go. 

3. Make sure that you have towels cleaned and ready to go. I put their towels in a basket in their room just so they would be available for their use at anytime. Make sure that your company has somewhere to put their towels to dry. We only have one bathroom so I made a key holder available to them so they could hang their towels on it since we didn't have enough room in the bathroom.  And staying in the bathroom make sure there's enough hand soap, and extra toilet paper in plain sight in the bathroom they will be using.

4. You never want to have company over and not offer them anything to eat or drink. So find out what they like to drink and what snacks they like to eat and and buy some for them. And then make sure they know they are available to them. Maybe even have them out in plain sight. (Or check out my diy below ; ) 

5. Make sure they have access to the internet password. I just wrote it on a chalk board and put it on the dresser in their room.


6. Do something special for your guests by adding a special scented candle, or maybe even some flowers! Just something that makes them feel super welcome and comfortable! I added a couple pumpkin candles, I laid out some Young Living oil samples, I also added a few little pumpkins. 

7. Give them somewhere to hang their clothes. I had to buy some extra hangers because we didn't have any extra and then I made a big section in my closet for their clothes. 



See the one empty outlet. We also had two empty ones on the other side of the bed.

I did just have on blanket, but I decided to add another one just in case. 


8. I made sure that the outlets by the bed were not being used so that they could plug their phone or laptop in to charge it. I also had some extra pillows and blankets available. Talking about pillows, it is a good idea to have a big basket or somewhere where your company can put your throw pillows so they don't end up on the floor. I used our accent chair that is in our room. 

9. Lastly, I made a goodie basket! I just thought of things that I have needed when I went to someone else's house; water, ibuprofen, a loofah, snacks, lotion, face wash towelettes, and toothpaste. Be prepared for your guest to take everything in the basket, they might really need it all. So don't put anything in there you don't want them to have. I made some cute little goodie bags for the basket and here is the diy on how to make them. I thought of this idea because I bought a big bag of trail mix, and m&m's and wanted a cute way to just put some of them from the big bag into the goodie basket.


Here's what you will need:
Parchment Paper
Thread (or wonder tape) 
scissors
and pins


Fold the paper over so that you have a nice straight line.

Cut the paper for however big you want your goodie bag to be.

Then pin it to keep it in place.

And sew it making sure you leave the top side open. Like the picture below.


I used a fun stitch to add a little interest.

Add your M&M's or whatever snack you are using.


Then fold over your opening, and sew it. Pictured below.

And voila you have some cute little goodie bags!
I think these would be cute as a little party favor, too! You 
can dress these up as much or as little as you would like.
I liked the simplicity of just the stitches. I did add a chalk sticker
I had to one of them and wrote enjoy on it!

I just put the basket on the accent chair in our room so that it wouldn't be
in the way, but I wanted to make sure they would see it and know that it
was their's to enjoy.



Happy hosting! 







No comments: