7 Tips for Worry-Free Hosting

Hosting friends or family for a dinner or weekend is always a treat. It’s a great way to make the most of staying home for your summer vacation, a long weekend or the holidays! However, the pressure of being the host with the most can easily get to you.

As with any life event, if you really want to enjoy stress-free quality time with your loved ones, preparation is key. Planning a menu, organizing and tidying your place—don’t let your worries ruin these special moments. Hosting can be simple and worry free!

7 tips for worry-free hosting, so you can enjoy your company

Your turn to host your family this Christmas? Planning a weekend getaway with friends for your better half’s birthday? Parents asked you to host brunch at the last minute? Planning a get-together doesn’t have to be stressful!

Here are a few tips to make your life easier when it’s your turn to host.

1. Plan

Making a list is the best way to avoid last-minute oversights and stress! What to buy, what to do, what to prepare—don’t wait for your guests to arrive to take action.

Besides your basic prep, here are some tips to help you host with style:

• Make ice cubes for your guests’ various libations (water, cocktails, iced coffee, etc.)
• Prepare playlists of different genres to make the evening fun for everyone
• Take out or prepare board games or outdoor activities
• Put everything that should be served chilled in the fridge (wine, water, entrees, dessert, etc.)
• If possible, prepare (slice bread, chop vegetables and fruit, etc.) and cook your meal in advance

Pro tip: So as not to forget anything, make lists and save them for your next gathering! That way, you’ll be less likely to forget something, and you’ll get that feeling of satisfaction every time you tick a box. Little by little, improve your lists of recipes, cleaning tasks and purchases for future events.

2. Accept help

Your friend wants to make dessert? Your significant other asks if they can set the table? Great! Even if they don’t deliver exactly how you would have liked, the load off is definitely worth it.

3. Learn to relativize

It’s better to focus on the joy of being together than your performance in the kitchen, the state of your home or the originality of your decorating! Aiming to impress your guests with perfection only adds unnecessary stress.

4. Organize your space

Here are a few things that only take a few minutes to make your life easier when your guests arrive:

• Make room in your closet for your guests’ coats and boots (you can also use a bed to pile the coats on)
• Put away all fragile, dangerous or valuable objects
• Add chairs to the dining and living rooms, and if you’re entertaining during the summer, add chairs outside or around the pool so your guests can make the most of the nice weather and watch the kids (if you need extra chairs, just ask your guests to bring some along!)
• Add a few leaves to the dining table, if necessary

5. Clean and tidy (but don’t overdo it!)

If you’re too stressed out over the meal, entertainment and cleaning, you can end up not enjoying yourself. Be sure to clean and tidy enough to ease your mind, but not so much that you’re spending all day preparing for your guests to arrive.

Here are a few tips:

• Empty the dishwasher before your guests arrive and use it as a temporary “dish-storer” throughout the day to keep your counters tidy and save time to spend with your guests
• Put out a fresh bar of soap, a new toilet paper roll and hand towels in the bathroom and be sure to keep any toxic cleaning products out of the reach of little ones
• Light a candle so your house smells nice when your guests arrive, unless you’re cooking, in which case the aroma of your meal will surely charm them on its own
• Set the table, add a few decorations, etc.

6. Think about kids and teenagers

As we all know, kids are always quick to excuse themselves from the table. Prepare some age-appropriate games or movies to keep them entertained. That way, they’ll also have memories of great times together—that is, if they’re able to tear their eyes from their smartphones for more than a minute!

If, on the other hand, there’s a newborn who needs a place to nap in the middle of the evening, arrange a quiet place for mommy, daddy or a loved one to hum their repertoire of lullabies.

7. Plan for the unexpected

Even the most well-prepared host can’t plan for everything! To avoid forgetting a dish in the oven, display the menu to your guests—with all your heads together, there’s less risk of missing something! Also, because we never know where a soiree will end up, prepare a guest room, even if nobody is planning to stay the night. Basically, try to think of everything before it happens!

Hosting with style, but simply!

Even with all the preparation in the world, it’s likely some things won’t go as planned. But no worries, it’s good to leave room for improvisation! No matter what, you and your loved ones will still make some wonderful memories to look back on.