As much as we love the company of friends and relatives, most families dread inviting guests over to their house for fear of all the cooking, entertaining, planning and more to give their guests a good time. This is even more stressful for a family with kids as they juggle to attend to the needs of their kids while making their guests feel at home.
But there are a lot of ways so you won’t miss the opportunity of spending quality and bonding time with your friends and relatives at the comfort of your home by following these worry free tips for entertaining guests even if you have kids.
- Finish all your To-dos before your guests arrive. The key to a worry-free entertaining of houseguests is planning. If you have a lot of errands to do like groceries, helping your kids with their assignments, doing the laundry and the like, be sure to finish all of this before the scheduled arrival of your guests. By doing this, you were able to deal with the things you want to get out of your way before they arrive and you can just concentrate in giving your guests a good time.
- Plan the meals and if possible cook ahead. Make a meal plan so you can shop in advance for the ingredients that you will need for each meal. You can start preparing the food too while the guests hasn’t arrived yet and just re-heat when it is time for the food to be served. If your guests will be staying for a couple of days, you can also include dining out options and delivery so the host doesn’t have to tire herself too much from slaving over the stove so she still has energy left for entertaining the guests.
- Don’t do it all. Your guests might feel uncomfortable if all you do is clean, wash the dishes, and work just to keep everything organized and clean while you have guests. Stop working and just spend quality time with your guests and accept if they offer to help as this will make your guest will feel more at home and comfortable.
- Seek Help. If you can afford it, hire a nanny that you can pay by the hour during those periods that you have house-guests. Or if budget won’t permit, you can ask the help of your parents, siblings or other relatives to come by the house to help with the kids while you entertain your guests.
- Prepare activities for the kids. Make a list of activities that your kids can do to keep them busy as you entertain your guests. You can buy new DVDs so they will be busy watching it (this will give you at least 1.5 hours of free time to entertain your guests without worrying about your kids), get them new toys that they can explore and play, find arts and crafts ideas on the Internet, and a whole lot more. If your guests have kids too, you can put all the kids in one room and keep them busy so the grown ups will have plenty of time to chat and relax.
Having kids should not stop you from inviting guests over at your house. By following the tips listed above, you can still enjoy quality time with your friends or relatives while still being able to attend to the needs of your kids and family.
Author’s Bio: Abie is a freelance blogger and content writer for more than 5 years now. She writes about different topic including Parenting, Family, Health & Fitness, Technology, Travel and more. She currently works as an article writer for Personalisedtshirts.com, a brand new site that offers professional personalised t shirts.
