However, even if the house is a mess because Baby J is strewing around the parts of his stackable rings, if I pop a tray of cookies into the oven I’m pretty sure all will be forgiven. 🙂 I’ve been trying to think of ways I can improve in this area, and I thought I’d share what I collected. Maybe one day one of you will get lucky and drop by my house on the rare moment when I’ve got all of these at once! (You may have to wait 2 or 20 more years…)
8 Tips for Staying Ready for Last-Minute Guests
Not sure where to start? You can always start out your drink basket with a pre-arranged gift basket like this one from Starbucks.
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Have a basket ready with a selection of teas and other hot drinks.
I learned this from AmyEllen, a friend in Houston. I tend to just get our basket out in colder months. Inside are packets of hot cocoa and quite a few teas. (Our basket is a little wire one I picked up at the flea market that looks a little like this one.) Even if guests don’t want tea or coffee, offering them some when they stop by is an invitation to stay for a while and talk. During summer months, I still offer the basket to guests who are just stopping by for a couple hours. If we’re going to have a full meal, I often slice a lemon (and sometimes also a clementine or lime) and drop the slices into a pretty pitcher of water.
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Keep a roll of cookie dough in the freezer.
During college, I used to make homemade chocolate chip cookie dough and roll it in a sort of thick sausage. Then I’d wrap it in aluminum foil and freeze it. Whenever girls stopped by, I’d chop off a few cookies with a butter knife and stick them in the oven. You can also just buy cookie dough at Walmart. (I didn’t know about that until one of my guests told me one day!) Now, sometimes I pre-make the balls of cookie dough and drop them in a freezer bag so all I have to do is take the doughballs out and put them on a cookie tray before cooking.
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If you know your family members will want to invite guests more often on a certain day (for us it’s Sunday), try to make your grocery shopping day a day or two before then.
I’m talking to myself here, because often at church when we see people who are new or who haven’t been to our house in a while, David will want to invite them to our house. If it’s been a week since I went to the grocery store, I give him The Blank Stare. I’m usually planning to feed him a plate full of random leftovers. “We can’t feed company that stuff, honey. I’d have to give one of them spaghetti and sauce and another a hot dog!” In those situations, we can always pick up sandwich meat and bread. But everyone’s hungry after the church service, and a delay for a shopping trip isn’t our favorite thing.
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Keep your pantry and refrigerator stocked with some easy supplies.
In the words of cookbook authors I’ve read recently, “keep fresh herbs and wine on hand for delicious sauces.” In the words of real life people like us, keep a box of macaroni and cheese in the pantry. More easy things to keep on hand: a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of canned salsa, the frozen cookie dough I mentioned earlier, canned pinto beans (for burritos or a taco salad), eggs (for breakfasts like scrambled eggs or French toast). Here’s the Food Network’s list of 5 easy pantry recipes for some more ideas for ingredients to keep on hand.
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Have a 10-minute cleaning routine.
The truth comes out here: my 10-minute cleaning routine drives my husband crazy because I hide all his wires and papers from everyone (including him). I quickly arrange the couch cushions (all ladies know that a perfectly placed couch cushion makes your house look about 10 times better, at least in your mind), sweep all junk off the table (including the cords), pick up random pieces of junk that Baby J has strategically placed in the living room, and do a quick peek at the bathroom. I hope that the bathroom peek turns up nothing too horrible. Otherwise, I’ll spray some Windex and give everything a quick wipe-down. If guests don’t give you even a ten-minute warning, just smile and remember that hospitality is more important than an unrealistically orderly house. (Now I’ll just go re-read my article on Showing Hospitality When You Don’t Have the Perfect Home.)
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Stock up on a few favorite games.
After hosting larger groups of people a few times, we realized we needed more things to do with friends! If you have a large house, you might try a pool table if you and your friends enjoy a leisurely game of pool. (Or Ping Pong for something faster-paced and if you don’t have to watch kids at the same time.) We have a smaller house, so we bought mostly board and card games. One of my favorite games when we just have a couple people over is Dominion, although it takes some time to learn. We also have Catchphrase for larger groups. You can usually find the cheapest price for both on Amazon.
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Light a candle that has a welcoming scent.
If you’re baking something, you have the best scents possible already filling the air. But I’ve noticed that when I walk into homes with a candle burning or some kind of wonderful scent in the air, I get an automatic sense of welcome hominess. (By the way, I just found out that hominess can also be spelled homeyness. Random fact for the day!) The most welcoming scents I’ve found (and of course this is just my opinion) tend to be variations of apple-and-spice. (Or some types of coffee scents. I’m not a coffee lover, but I love scents like these.) My absolute favorite for our wax warmer is Scentsy’s Welcome Home scent. Unfortunately, the fish tank we bought for Baby J has taken up what used to be my wax warmer’s real estate. So I need to find another home for it.
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Don’t forget to act happy to see your guests!
We are happy to see them, but sometimes we forget to show it when we’re focused on the pizza in the oven and the Windex still streaming down the bathroom mirror. (Or am I the only one who sometimes has this problem?) Greeting guests at the door when possible, giving hugs, smiling and explaining why you have to run back to the bathroom for just a second (the aforementioned Windex) will help our guests feel welcome and loved.
How about you? What are some ways you stay ready for the surprise guest?