So you're about to have a dozen or so people over to your house. We know you've done all the usual things -- your refrigerator's full, your signature cookies are cooling -- but let's clue you in on a couple of things you may want to take care of before the doorbell rings.
- Strip the bathroom: I don't mean clean, I mean strip. Pack away all those medicines and the cream for the strange rash you had last summer in a box and bury it in the back of your closet. People will look through your medicine cabinet. Things you might want to stock it with instead: Advil, cough medicine, a thermometer, band aids, extra rolls of toilet paper that are easy to locate, disposable toothbrushes (someone will have forgotten to bring theirs), a stack of guest towels, tissues, female products. And if you haven't made the switch already, try a pump soap. A stool is handy if you have a lot of small children coming.
- Extra dishtowels: Hopefully you have a dishwasher. Not everything will fit into it. You will say yes when guests offer to help you with the dishes. Dishtowels can dry pots, they can serve as makeshift dishracks for the extra large platter, sopping up the water so your wooden credenza isn't ruined, they sub for potholders or trivets in a pinch.
- A clear place to put trash and recyclables: Don't be afraid to label what goes where otherwise you'll have food in your recyclables.
- A place for coats and bags: For us, it's usually the bedroom, which means that room gets a extra clean sweep, with all surfaces cleared. Put away any knickknacks you're worried about. If you don't have a mirror in your bedroom, it might be nice to stick one in there so guests can take a last glance at their hair or check their lipstick without having to duck into the already popular bathroom.
- Label your platters: If you know that Aunt Beth is bringing her famous biscuits, have a platter already set up, with a card labeled so you're not searching for platters and figuring out a place to put the food just at the moment when everyone arrives, which they invariably all do.
- Matches or a lighter: locate them now because when you need them to light the candles, they will have disappeared from the junk drawer.
- Extra spoons or forks: If your family's like mine, everyone always ends up in the kitchen, picking at the food. Keep fingers out of the food by offering spoons or forks so that everyone's fingers are not in the food. Even better: set aside a little bit of the food just for people to pick on.
- Throws and pillows: Often it's chilly in the house, with people banging in and out, or someone curls up for a nap after dinner. Make it comfy by keeping throws and pillows in easy reach.
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Comments (20)
I would add: one more coat of scotchguard.... makes messes much less dramatic.
If you store things in the oven, MOVE them - someone will inevitably be trying to help out by preheating the oven and won't realize you store your tupperware or extra dishes there.
I can honestly say that I have never, NEVER looked through someone else's medicine cabinet. How pathetic can a human being get?
All the other tips are good except the food-picking one. If you want to eat, get a plate. Don't stick your dirty fingers into the food! Gross!!
This is a well thought out, helpful post. Thanks!
The extra pillows and throws is a great idea.
another one here who has no interest in other people's medicine cabinet
Okay I can't resist. A few days ago I made a comment about medicine cabinet snoopers on another how to be a good host post. I don't know if there is a connection here but I can't resist elaborating. Back when my sister and I were roommates we discovered we had such a person in our midst. We were horrified. Anytime we invited her back (because we had to) we emptied the medicine cabinet and filled it with something completely crazy. Campbells soup and Barbies were favorites. We then discovered had more than one snooper. We unfortunately never figured out how to rig it so marbles flooded out when opened.
ChrisGal, I cannot tell you how often I have melted things in my OWN oven...especially brownies or other baked goods that I am storing there to keep them from my nosy dogs.
um... two things... 1) I clear MY coats away from the coat rack outside my door and throw my coats on my bed. This way, my guests can use the coat rack and I can eat and sleep later than night without fear of bed bugs my friends may or may not be unknowingly carrying. 2) I had a friend who was not only rude enough to go through my medicide cabinet, but she actually took a personal item out to show to my other guests! I am a meticulous cleaner before company arrives and I KNOW that medicine cabinet was closed. She swore up and down that the door was copen and she couldn't help but notice so the next time she was over... I filled a box with Cheerios and closed the cabinet door against the box. Sure enough... the next time she visited, I found the cheerios on the floor and she had no choice but to come clean. I can honestly say I would never peek into anyone's medicine cabinet but I do have a habit of secretly correcting others' toilet paper rolls to flow over like a waterfall if they have the paper coming from under the roll. That's not wrong, is it?
I just had an open house this past sunday & had a guest tell me that she liked my shower gel. Seems she always checks out what kind of shower gel people have...in case she's missing out...yup.
This post is really a keeper. Very helpful and thoughtful suggestions!
hey there S.A. designs - i'm OK with you correcting my toilet roll, but if there are kids in the house leave it, your way incites their inevitable spinning and trails of paper, the other way means it just spins. ;)
Uh, regarding tp correction--don't do it. We have ours coming form under because otherwise the cats unwind the tp and take it throughout the house. So no, that's not ok.
Otherwise, a great list.
I'm horrified that there are people nosey enough to snoop inside ANY cabinet but not that surprised. In my last flatshare, I kept my room door locked, even if I was in it, simply because I had more than one nosey co-tenant who would routinely try to enter it whenever they thought that I had gone out. I even had to put up with their friends trying to do the same whenever they were around!!! Ridiculous!
Here are some ideas for exposing and thereafter putting off any snoopers...
Get hold of one of those musical mugs that plays music every time you lift it. Place inside and upside down so that light-sensitive base is exposed. If no mug can be found, look out for one of those tacky musical cards that do the same thing - even better if you can get a recordable one (I'm sure that they exist) so that you can record either a general 'alarm call' or, if you have already identified your snooper, you can record something more personal (name and shame!).
OR.... you know those little twists of paper that contain minute quantities of gunpowder, that explode on contact when you throw them on the ground? Well, if you have a gap between the side of your cabinet door where the hinges are situated, you could try sliding a couple into that gap so that when the door is opened, it crushes them, thus emitting an audible bang (they may be intended for outdoor use only but, well, I used them once for a practical joke without burning the house down. I placed a couple under the 'feet' on the underside of a toilet seat and waited...)
OR... if you are not too fussy about staining everything in sight, fill a water bomb balloon with food colouring. Glue one side to the back of your cabinet, ensuring that the inside of the door also makes contact with the balloon. Daub glue on inside of door so that it too becomes stuck to the balloon. All going to plan, if snooper opens door abruptly enough, it should cause the balloon to rupture and spray the culprit. Admittedly, I'm not that sure if this might work but you could always try it with a water-filled balloon first... if you feel that you have endured enough cabinet-prying and have been the victim of a serial-snooper long enough, you may wish to substitute a hand grenade for the water bomb, but I suspect that this might prove to be more troublesome to shop for...
Another puzzled by why you'd go through a medicine cabinet - bookshelves, sure, but why would you want to in a bathroom?
Also, why is pump soap a must? All that packaging & never as natural. Try good soap.
& not everyone has or wants a dishwasher, either.
Snark day today.
People snoop. It's human nature and SOME people cannot resist. So it's never a bad idea to expect it (when entertaining or when showing a house for sale...) and keep anything private out of sight for the duration. Also prescription drugs. Boobie traps are mean, though. Some "snooping" is innocent -- looking for a headache remedy, for instance.
But behave yourself as a guest. Don't "fix" anything that doesn't belong to you. (If you think there is a mistake or a problem, discreetly inform the host/ess, but don't interfere unless a flood is imminent or something...) Don't snoop. Don't do anything that would bother you if YOU were the host/ess.
Boobie traps, mean? Nah! Having some nosy git rifling through your belongings, now THAT is mean!
It's actually not wise to store any kind of medication that comes in pill, capsule, etc form in a bathroom - it's better off in a kitchen cabinet, in a nightstand drawer, a pantry, etc. So for those who want to set up a booby trap to keep a guest from rifling through their medicine cabinet should go ahead.
http://www.cvshealthresources.com/topic/medstorage
I've never gone through anyone's medicine cabinet, but I do read the spines on their bookshelves. And I do judge people by what they read and know I'm not the only one who does so. (You might want to rethink the bookshelf full of hardcover James Paterson books, prune the sex manual (TMI) that slipped in, etc. In my book it's okay to have some low-brow books mixed in there - even bookworms are susceptible to a trend or a beach read - "Twilight" surrounded by a collection of Dickens and books on seventeenth century Russian history doesn't convey the same message as when the only books in the house are hardcover versions of the Twilight series.)
To spare toothbrushes I would add spare disposable razors. With bag check fees lots of people aren't checking bags, and you can't put a razor in a carry-on.
I would also suggest hiding any jewelry, watches or other valuables that you don't want stolen. Even if you think you can fully trust your guests, it will make you relax a little more to know that such thefts won't happen.
I had someone steal the stylus from the pen tablet on my desk. It never occurred to me that someone would do that. That was an expensive lesson to learn.
Never judge a bookworm by their covers, Matilde!