We’ve had the joy of hosting many friends and family overnight in our home, as well as, the pleasure of being hosted. By having company over we not only enjoy their company but we expand the worldview of our children, who get to view firsthand the differences and likes of others.
My biggest tip for you is to try to make things easy and not get overwhelmed with a grand presentation of your home. Prepare a meal that won’t keep you in the kitchen the whole time but instead go with something simple so you can spend that time with your guest. Our stress and rush can easily set the tone at your table and you don’t want that.
I want people to go away from my home feeling love and cared for without having to spend too much time prepping. I don’t want our family to miss the opportunity to bring a bit of happiness to our guest who may need some love and a warm meal so I prefer to keep things simple instead of not taking guests into our home because I feel overwhelmed by the thought of it.
These tips I’m sharing are from years of hosting and being hosted, it’s what has worked for us and made things easy.
10 Tips for Preparing for Overnight House Guests
1. Ask them ahead of time if they have any food allergies.
2. If they are visiting others in town while staying with you make sure to plan ahead and let them know that you’d love to cook them a meal, only if it works in their schedule. Ask them to let you know if and when they’re available. Make sure you ask this in a sensitive way, so they don’t feel obligated, just your sense of warm hospitality.
3. Write a note with wi-fi passwords, home phone number, tv instructions, gate or garage instructions and other security codes they’ll need while staying at your house.
4. Leave a basket in the bathroom with toiletries and other essentials they may need. We’ve had lots of people comment on how convenient it was to find the basket with a toothbrush and soap because they forgot their own.
5. Set out clean towels, bed linens and extra blankets.
6. Have a water bottle or two on the nightstand with a few snacks. I also love putting fresh flowers out if I remember.
7. Clear a space for their belongings in the dresser or closet. If you don’t have space just let them know believe me it’s not a big deal.
8. If you have children make sure you set up some guest rules like knocking before you come in or not waking your guest up at an ungodly time in the morning.
9. A fun thing we enjoy doing with our kids is we prep them by having them come up with 1 or 2 questions they would like to ask our guest. This helps them feel like we are a team when we host and it also helps them get to know our guest.
10. Set up an easy breakfast bar for your guest. Breakfast is one of those things that everyone enjoys at different times so a breakfast bar is a simple way to handle this, especially if they have kids who wake up at 5:30 in the morning ready to eat. Have coffee and tea out (even if you’re not a drinker of either of those beverages) along with mugs, sugar and cream and milk. Have some yogurt and fruit options out, just in case they want to have snack before you can get up to make something.
One simple but special way to serve your guest is to make easy cinnamon rolls. And it doesn’t get easier than Pillsbury™ Grand! Cinnamon Rolls. Seriously, they are yummy and there are so many creative ways to serve them, as seen below.
You can make cinnamon roll waffles using Pillsbury™ Cinnamon Rolls for an easy breakfast (recipe here). This is a fun tradition we enjoy on weekends as a family. Cinnamon Roll Waffles are easy because you don’t have to deal with making a mix. Your guest can even do this themselves. Just pop a roll from the can and place on the waffle griddle, that’s it. The waffles below have a homemade pumpkin glaze!
One of the things I enjoy doing is adding a homemade touch to my store bought “recipes”. So, whip up some kind of fun homemade glaze and pour over your Pillsbury™ Grands! Cinnamon Roll waffles and every one thinks it’s made from scratch.
Or you can serve them in a traditional fashion or this giant cinnamon roll pictured above (recipe here) that everyone can nibble on with their midmorning tea. Another fun twist to cinnamon rolls is making monkey bread, you can find the recipe here!
Make it ahead and have it ready to serve at breakfast.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by General Mills through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Pillsbury™ Grands! Cinnamon Rolls, all opinions are my own.”
Such wonderful ideas and reminder to keep things simple, yet thoughtful. Great stuff! Thank you!
Judy, Thanks! Yes, we like simple here. ~mari