Help me get my house ready for entertaining!

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First guests staying over in my new home. What are everyone's go to tasks for getting the house ready, clean and welcoming?

I have to get up and get my washing done but instead I'm procrastinating! Send help (or a recommendation for good hotels to send them to) 😉

Firstly, they're coming to see you. Not your house.

Secondly, watch TikTok videos about cleaning to get motivated. I promise it works.

our guest bedroom is in our attic, and the temperature can vary quite a lot. I put an extra blanket or a throw at the foot of the bed so that they can snuggle up if they are cold. In summer we make sure there is a fan up there, in winter we change it out for a heater. Nothing worse than being too hot or cold.

Other things we like to do:

• hand over the wifi password
• make sure they know where the tea/coffee/mugs etc are so they can help themselves to drinks. I also put snacky or picky bits somewhere prominent in the kitchen so they can grab something to eat if they are peckish.
• we have a set of spare keys cut for the front doors in case our gests need to be able to come and go. We use a plastic key cover colour coded to the outside door so it is obvious which key is which. *make sure that there is easy access to a plug in the bedroom for charging phones etc
• top up the loo rolls and toiletries - our guests know they can help themselves to anything they need.

If you will be feeding people, check whether they have any allergies / dislikes before planning your meals. If people are staying for a few days, I try and get ahead with some food prep so I don't feel quite so tied to the kitchen playing hostess with the mostess.

I’m probably stating the obvious but make sure that the kitchen and bathroom are sparkling.

In the guest room, I provide:
Nicely made bed with a selection of pillows of different types.
Extra blankets.
Bedside lamp
Extension lead for extra sockets for chargers
Fresh towels
Space in drawers and wardrobes for their clothes
Bottled water and glasses.
Basket of extra toiletries

I air out the guest room, and if they’re arriving later I would turn the bed down and leave a bedside light on.

Then, I’d focus on the areas of the house that they’ll be in the most - check that the hallway is clean and tidy as that’s the first impression. Make sure that there’s a key for the bathroom. In our house I have to remember to brush off the doorbell as we have a spider who likes to build webs there and it’s a bit more Addam’s family than I’d like.

We usually have family and friends stay a lot. Most things are as mentioned above, basically things they might want overnight and not ask for ie spare blanket incase cold, plug adapters.

We always make sure we have enough basics in like tea/ coffee/ snacks so we can just show them cupboards and no problem if someone wants to get up super early or have midnight snacks