The Guests Are Coming! The Guests Are Coming!
We are Southern and for us that means it’s that time of year, y’all! Time for turkey, hunting, football, cranberry sauce and Southern hospitality! While it’s sometimes fun to have family and friends in town, it can be stressful unless you plan it right! Let us give you 7 great organizing tips to make your guests feel as pampered as a Southern Belle and you feel relaxed about them being there!
We are Southern and for us that means it’s that time of year, y’all! Time for turkey, hunting, football, cranberry sauce and Southern hospitality! While it’s sometimes fun to have family and friends in town, it can be stressful unless you plan it right! Let us give you 7 great organizing tips to make your guests feel as pampered as a Southern Belle and you feel relaxed about them being there!
1. Clean, Comfortable Bedding
You will need clean and comfortable bedding for the guest bedroom. Clean being the more important of the two! Make sure all bedding is washed and the bed is made neatly. Yes, they might mind the Catahoula hound hair on the pillow! Make sure to have enough pillows and an extra blanket if needed. Here is a link to “How to Make a Bed,” in case you need some help
2. Clutter Free Space
Of course they want to see the 72 photos of you and your kids at the Saints game displayed on the nightstand, but they’d also like a space to rest their own personal items. They will need space for their luggage, phones, iPads, laptops, and other personal items. Make sure the bedside table is clear enough for them to have that space. Maybe just 1 photo of Drew Brees hanging on the wall will suffice? Having a little hanging space in the closet is considerate too. Move the debutante dresses to the other closet!
3. A Touch of Home
Help entertain your guests that have different sleeping habits than your family by providing soft lighting, water, snacks and entertainment. Lamps, books, Southern Living, Garden and Gun magazines, local brochures for nearby attractions as well as a Wi-Fi password provided for late night or early morning reading are a just few nice touches. Water and snacks like pralines, Satsuma’s or Zapp’s chips help a guest feel cozy and may make them forget that it’s 90% humidity outside on Thanksgiving Day. Did I mention they might need hair ties?
4. Guest Towels
In my house, I like to designate certain towels as guest towels so that my children don’t use them to wash the dog or clean up the mud on the floor. (Oh, who am I kidding. They wouldn’t do either of those things!) My guest towels don’t look like the others. They are actually white, for one. (Not dingy white and well loved) I place a clean bath towel, face towel and washcloth on the guest’s bed so they don’t have to go searching for what they can use. I have put these in baskets, tied them with a ribbon or just stacked them nicely. Any of those options makes the guest feel welcome.
5. The Often Forgotten Essentials
A nice basket or container of travel size toiletries is helpful if your guest forgot an important item such as a toothbrush or razor. This basket can include but is not limited to shampoo, body wash, conditioner, toothbrush, razor, mouthwash, toothpaste, dental floss, comb, hair ties or bug spray (Mosquito’s are like hawks, y’all). If your guests have small children, include toiletries geared for children as well.
6. A Clean Bathroom
Make sure that the bathroom is clean. This is especially important if your guests share the bathroom with my children. Uhm, I mean children. Any children.
7. Considerations of Accommodations
Extra special welcoming touches are felt in the small details. These might include simply a small vase of flowers or their very own trial size Tabasco sauce. It may also mean being aware of their food likes and dislikes, allergies and special needs. (Not everyone can tolerate our seafood.) Do they need space for a C-Pap machine, or a place to make bottles or drink milk-bourbon in the middle of the night? What are their favorite beverages or snacks?
All of these tips can help your guests feel relaxed and pass a good time while staying in your home. They let your guests feel that they are as wanted and welcome as Coach O after an LSU win! But be careful, if you are too kind, they might not leave. And as my mother-in-law likes to say, company and fish stink after about 3 days!
If you want to learn more about the 6 things that make up Southern hospitality, here’s a link!
Most importantly, y’all have a good time, cher! Laisses Bon Temps Rouler!
Love this blog?
Sign up to get an email with our latest posts!
4 Tips for Organizing Your Refrigerator
Yes, our refrigerators are no different than any other cabinet in our homes! We should put the same amount of consideration, if not more, into organizing this space so that it works for not against us. Here are some of our favorite tips to keep your refrigerator in tip-top shape this holiday season:
What is living back there? Have you ever had this thought? Many of us will be doing a whole lot more cooking than we normally do from now through the end of the year. That means our refrigerators will be working overtime. Things might get lost in there if we don’t put some thought into this space.
Yes, our refrigerators are no different than any other cabinet in our homes! We should put the same amount of consideration, if not more, into organizing this space so that it works for not against us. Here are some of our favorite tips to keep your refrigerator in tip-top shape this holiday season:
1. Dividers
I have found dividing my refrigerator space into categories helps tremendously. When I put items in the same location, I can easily see what needs to be replaced. I can also easily tell guests wanting to help in the kitchen where to find things.
Containers like these spotlighted below work extremely well.
I use this one to store my dairy products such as butter, sour cream, and cream cheese.
2. Lazy Susan Turntables
Using lazy-susans, also known as turntables, in my refrigerator allow me to easily grab items without having to move things around. Turntables are also wonderful for cutting cleaning time down in your refrigerator.
3. Shop Around
There are so many new organizational products for organizing your refrigerator. Oftentimes I use my house as a test kitchen trying out many of these products, so I am confident when recommending products for my clients.
4. Use What Works For You
Pro Tip: A refrigerator item not worthy (in my humble opinion) of my hard earned money or yours: Egg containers! Because knowing the expiration date of an egg seems to be a good idea, and I like seeing that date on the original egg carton! Just saying!!
Today’s challenge: Clean out your fridge in honor of “Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day,” and make a list of the items you need to purchase to prepare your holiday meals. Being prepared will help you take advantage of the holiday specials.
We want to hear from you!
Comment below to share your family’s favorite holiday side dish. We are always looking for fresh ideas!
Do you love organization as much as we do?
Get new organization tips and inspiration to your inbox!