{"id":42297,"date":"2019-07-16T18:01:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T23:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=42297"},"modified":"2019-07-17T06:43:56","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T11:43:56","slug":"tips-for-hosting-overnight-guests-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=42297","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Hosting Overnight Guests – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while back we published a post with tips on hosting overnight guests.\u00a0 You can read it here<\/a>.\u00a0 We just finished having overnight guests here for two weeks, and I have some more and new tips for you.\u00a0 The first week there were nine of us living under one roof.\u00a0 That included three toddlers age four and under.\u00a0 The second week there were six of us including two toddlers.\u00a0 It was a wild time, but a great time.\u00a0 I loved having family here.\u00a0 It was a lot of work, but I would do it again and again.\u00a0 Based on our most recent experience, I have some more tips for hosting overnight guests for you to incorporate the next time you have guests.\u00a0 Here we go:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Keep an Ongoing Grocery List<\/h2>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

It’s a real pain to run out of an ingredient or learn that an ingredient that you need has been used by someone else.\u00a0 I told everyone to just tell Alexa (my Amazon Dot<\/a>) to add items to my shopping list if they used up something, wanted a food that I didn’t have, or saw that I was running low on something.\u00a0 That made the quick trips to the grocery store easier because I knew exactly what we needed was listed on my phone<\/p>\n

Have Baskets or Bins for Everyone<\/h2>\n

I did this trick at our last house, but I didn’t do it this time, and I should have.\u00a0 Have a large bin or basket for each family by the door or in a spot that is convenient.\u00a0 Then they can corral their belongings, and keep them in one spot.\u00a0 It’s easy for them to find what they need; things aren’t scattered everywhere; and it keeps the house neater.\u00a0 A basket or bin is a good place for shoes, purses, books, devices, toys, bags, etc.<\/p>\n

Cook Ahead<\/h2>\n

\"Townhouse<\/p>\n

With the exception of one meal, I prepared all of the desserts ahead of time and froze them.\u00a0 I made a berry pie, cookies, brownies, rice krispie treats, and a carrot cake trifle.\u00a0 For the trifle, I baked the carrot cake ahead of time, and assembled the trifle on the day I served it.\u00a0 I also served ice cream a few times for dessert, and on July 4th, we had patriot cupcakes that I made that morning.\u00a0 I also made two pans of lasagna that we had for an evening meal and lunch the next day.\u00a0 Having the desserts and some food planned and prepared ahead of time was a big help in making meal time less hectic.<\/p>\n

Give Instructions on the Laundry<\/h2>\n

\"Townhouse<\/p>\n

Make sure the adults know how your washer and dryer work so they can do their laundry when necessary. Also, I told everyone to put their dirty towels and wash cloths in the laundry room so I could launder them as needed.\u00a0\u00a0 Then I didn’t have to go to their rooms or bathrooms and gather up dirty towels, etc.<\/p>\n

Buy Beach Towels<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We live near the city park, and their pool is wonderful.\u00a0 My family really enjoys going there when they visit in the summertime.\u00a0 I bought eight beach towels last summer when they went on sale so I could have them here<\/a>.\u00a0 The colorful towels that I bought (not the ones in the photo) are on major sale here<\/a>. The family didn’t have to pack bulky beach towels in their luggage.\u00a0 So, if your visitors visit the pool or club when they visit you, having beach towels for their use is a nice gesture.<\/p>\n

Have a Pizza Night<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(image source<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Hosting a lot of people doesn’t mean that you have to work your fingers to the bones.\u00a0 Take a night off, and order pizza.\u00a0 On the two Friday nights they were here, we ordered pizzas.\u00a0 We ordered different toppings on each one so that every person had their favorite, and there was enough so that the children could have leftovers the next day.\u00a0 Win, win.<\/p>\n

Do Separate Activities<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Since the first week we were together was the week of July 4th, we did a lot of activities together.\u00a0 Lexington does a good job on the fourth, and we did as many of the city’s events together as possible.\u00a0 However, we also did some things separately.\u00a0 For instance, Jordan, Josie and I went to afternoon tea one day, and we went to a Broadway show in the park one night.\u00a0 The guys did their own thing when we were out, and Grandpa had fun babysitting.<\/p>\n

Have a Breakfast Bar<\/h2>\n

\"Joanna<\/p>\n

I didn’t actually have a breakfast bar set up, but I always had the Keurig\u00a0 (available here<\/a>) full of water and ready to go each morning.\u00a0\u00a0 I made granola<\/a> ahead of time and biked to the bakery to get fresh bagels.\u00a0 Cream cheese, homemade jam<\/a>, and butter were ready to top the bagels.\u00a0 I also had hard boiled eggs in the fridge and avocados to put on the bagels or toast.\u00a0 Homemade biscuits<\/a> were in the freezer, too.\u00a0 I served brunch two mornings, but mostly everyone fixed their own breakfasts.<\/p>\n

Get Up Early<\/h2>\n

\"Townhouse<\/p>\n

I am an early riser so getting up early is the way I roll.\u00a0 By doing so, I was able to go to the Y and take an exercise class, empty the dishwasher, make a quick grocery run, and shower and dress before most of the household was awake.\u00a0 Baby Girl and Google were usually up by the time I was dressed, and that was a nice treat.<\/p>\n

Those are just some of the tips for hosting overnight guests that are fresh in my mind.\u00a0 If you have any suggestions to add to the list, please mention them in the comments.<\/p>\n

Take care.<\/p>\n

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A while back we published a post with tips on hosting overnight guests.\u00a0 You can read it here.\u00a0 We just finished having overnight guests here for two weeks, and I have some more and new tips for you.\u00a0 The first week there were nine of us living under one roof.\u00a0 That included three toddlers age […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[26,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42297"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42297"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42322,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42297\/revisions\/42322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}