Enjoy planning for guests this season by making it easier to prep for their visit! Check out these 5 easy prep hacks for holiday guests, especially if you’re hosting people overnight. Be sure to snag the free pretty printable overnight guest checklist & planning printables at the bottom of the post! 🙂

‘Tis the season to be hosting! With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, as much fun as all the holiday events and obligations are, sometimes it’s nice to be able to take some shortcuts and use some hacks to quickly prepare for guests to arrive.

We can make people feel so welcomed and comfortable without having to bend over backward to prepare for their visit…I’ve got some tips for ya! 🙂 

We absolutely love having people stay with us, and I think one of the reasons we enjoy it so much is because we’ve made it so much easier on ourselves by figuring out some easy, quick prep hacks to follow as we get ready for their visit.

I’m going to let you in on 5 easy tips for things I do to quickly prepare for guests to come stay with us! If they seem ridiculously simple, it’s because they are! They’ve saved me so much time (and almost more importantly: my sanity!) in getting ready for company. I’m hoping these are helpful for you as you get ready to have people over to your home for the holidays! 

Prep Hack #1: Store cleaning wipes in guest bath

I didn’t start doing this until about a year ago, but WOW, what a difference it makes to store cleaning wipes underneath the sink (or in a linen closet) in the guest bath. I now keep disinfecting wipes on hand all the time, and they help tremendously with cleaning the guest bath in a jiffy. 

Here’s why they’re so helpful: 

• They work super fast to clean surfaces
• I don’t have to plan to clean the guest bathroom – since they’re already under the sink, I just run in there and do a quick wipe-down of the sink, mirror, floor, and toilet in the middle of doing other chores on any given day. 

If you don’t already do this, start keeping cleaning wipes under the counter in the guest bath. After a couple of times, you’ll find this is a huge time-saver when it comes to prepping for company. I’m all for anything that saves me some brain space – I’m thinking about a zillion different things each day (I have a feeling you’re the same way), so I love that this saves me time AND brain space! 

 

Prep Hack #2: Keep extra trash bags in guest bath

I know, this may seem like a no-brainer, too, but I promise, just like those cleaning wipes, storing extra trash bags in the guest bath makes a HUGE difference. We just use grocery bags in our mini trash can in the guest bath, and I leave a few extra bags at the bottom of the trash can (below the bag we’re actually using for trash).

This helps us to quickly change out the trash before guests come. Once again, I don’t have to go to a different room to get materials to clean up the bathroom – they’re just right there, so it makes it easier to do a quick trash clean-up before people arrive. 

 

Prep Hack #3: Have a BBQ lighter on hand

I’m a huge fan of candles, especially when we’re expecting company (they just make the house so cozy and smell so good!). I used to use matches to light my candles because I was too cheap to buy these BBQ/Multi-purpose lighters, but after I found out that 1) These aren’t that expensive, and 2) They make lighting candles SO FAST and easy, I almost exclusively use them now. 

Before guests arrive, I can run around the house with my lighter and knock out several candles in the span of like 30 seconds. Plus, I can light them one-handed using the lighter, so that means I can still easily light candles if my other hand is being used to hold one of my kids on my hip! (Anything to make a mom’s life easier, right?!)

Once again, one of the simplest things, but such a game-changer when it comes to saving time!

 

Prep Hack #4: Make it easy for guests to help themselves

When you set things out that guests will need but that they can easily get themselves, this will make your life AND their lives so much easier!

For one, they’ll really appreciate being able to get some things for themselves without having to ask (When we travel, I love being able to refill my coffee or grab a towel before I take a shower without having to ask), but two, it’ll free you up to take care of some other things.

Before guests arrive, set some things out to make it easy for them to help themselves to a drink – coffee, iced tea, or even just ice water and a snack, and set some things out that they might need for their visit – toothbrushes/toothpaste, towels, an extra blanket, etc. Not only will this make things easier on all of you, it’ll also make guests feel really special because they’ll know you were thinking about them before they even arrived! 🙂 

 

Prep Hack #5: Let them bring something

A lot of times when we have overnight guests, we often feel like we need to do absolutely everything for their stay before they arrive.

If your guests are arriving by plane, or if they’re making long travels (and especially long travels with kids), you may throw this tip out the window, but if their trek isn’t a long one, and especially if they offer, consider allowing them to bring some food for when they’re visiting. 

Just as I mentioned, I use this tip judiciously – sometimes I gladly let people bring things, and other times I don’t – but if I know they’d sincerely enjoy helping out, and if I know it wouldn’t be a burden, I’ll gladly let our guests bring some snacks or some easy food/drink items with them to pitch in for the weekend.

This takes a little load off of my plate, but it also makes them happy to be able to help, especially since you’re going to be doing a lot to take care of them during their visit. Guests often really like saying “thank you!!” by pitching in here and there with some essentials. 🙂 

If you want more tips for hosting overnight guests, I’ve got 10 more tips for hosting overnight guests over here! 

I hope these tips were so helpful for you! I hope they help you get excited to host guests, as well as help reduce any overwhelm you have in prepping for their visit! If you want more help in planning for overnight guests, be sure to snag a FREE pretty Christmas-themed printable checklist & planning sheet.

Just fill in the form below and you’ll find it them your inbox soon after! 🙂