What are your top tips for hosting guests?

[ButtercreamBaker]

I've never really hosted guests before. My parent's rarely had visitors and I wasn't allowed friends over. My DD has just started school, and I'd love for her to be able to invite her school friends over for play dates whenever she likes.

The house is really small and isn't set up for guests at all, I've kept it very glass and show home-y. I've just bought a dining table and gotten rid of the big glass coffee table in the living room that DD usually eats at so that I can replace the nice armchair with a comfy sofa, maybe even a sofa bed. I don't drink tea or coffee, so the only drink we tend to have in the house is sugar free cordial or sometimes a bit of fruit juice. I only tend to buy as much food and snacks as we need for ourselves, and I just wouldn't know where to start with anything else really.

What do you do when you have guests? How much spare food and drink do you keep on hand, do you put music on or leave the tv on for some background noise, do you ever leave them alone or sit chatting the whole time? Do you take their coats, walk them to the door or their car, offer them anything for the drive home?

If by guests you mean 4 year olds then you will need MANY MANY SNACKS. Generally for a play date I would have a couple of different types of fruit, and then something more carb-y like malt bread, breadsticks, biscuits (and try and scope out if any allergies beforehand). If they were there over a meal time I’d probably just directly ask the parents what meal their child will want to eat because there’s a high chance of getting it wrong otherwise.

If the parents are staying with their kids then it’s nice to be able to offer tea/coffee and a biscuit, but I wouldn’t get loads in.

Generally if it’s 4 year olds coming I will put out a couple of activities (colouring/dressing up/dolls house/etc) and let the kids choose, and I’d then chat to the mum/dad while we watch the kids/intervene as necessary…

Would you like to have your own friends round or your daughter’s? Or both?
Your home sounds lovely, and so do you. If it’s your DD’s pals, I’d maybe get some tea and coffee in to offer the parents. You can take their coat, and say please do sit down, would you like anything to drink?
Be yourself. You are good enough and so is your home.

that is such a lovely post. And I completely agree

What a lovely post!
For the kids:
Easy snacks that don't make a great deal of mess (as your home sounds v nice). So no beetroot houmous lol.
Blanket Fort? Create a little indoor picnic type thing.

For the grown ups. Tea or coffee, maybe get a mini bottle of soya milk just in case. Loads of people don't drink cows milk these days. Bottle of wine stashed away if you all fancy a drink. Some cheddar and crackers? If they don't stay or aren't hungry then you can have them at a later date. Or if you enjoy baking knock up some biscuits?
But what others said, just be yourself and keep their glasses topped up 😁

I wouldn’t expect much in the way of hosting if I took my DCs (when younger) to a play day. I may well take a pack of biscuits myself but I do love a cup of tea so it would be ideal to have some tea bags in the cupboard just in case!

If you’re not likely to use them often then maybe some individually packaged tea bags and single portions of instant coffee so they stay fresh?

I went round a guy’s house recently and he had those little milk sachets from McDonalds in his fridge to offer tea to guests!

For the children just buy some of those mini bags of cookies or Pom Bears or something. I would always check for allergies etc especially if they’re staying for dinner without their parent.

Most importantly try and be reciprocal with play dates. If you have a child over once or twice, wait for them to invite yours back, otherwise they’ll end up taking the piss!

Chatting wise, I would always worry about running out of things to say to someone I didn’t know well, but most people are happy to chat about themselves and their kids tbh so it’s never been an issue! If it goes quiet just offer more tea and biscuits or say “I’ll just go and check on what the kids are up to” or offer to join in with them if they’re in the same room playing!

OP you sound incredibly sweet

Could you get some Cornish crunchers in or those cheese straws in a box 😅 everyone always thinks people will want biscuits or cake at someone’s house but I love a savoury option.

You’ll be fine, be yourself, it’s enough! I’m a nanny and get invited for play dates with my charge- the parents invariably just leave me to supervise and feck off upstairs and don’t even offer me a drink sometimes, bloody rude.

To answer a question not yet answered I sometimes put radio 2 on or something similar if I am unsure of whether conversation will flow. Background noise takes the pressure off a bit.