After hosting a bunch of dinners, casual get togethers, and meetings at my house I felt like I would put together a list that makes it a little bit less stressful to host. These are just the basics of how I like to prep my house. I would love to know what you like to do to prep for visitors. I do love hosting! I think it's just awesome when you can welcome anyone into your home and feel good about it. So here's my little list.

1. CLEAN

Not ground breaking stuff here, I know. But you have to clean. For me this is sweeping our hardwoods and carpet free of puppy hair, wiping down all surfaces especially the bathrooms and rooms our guests will be in. And dusting all surfaces with a dust cloth to make it all feel clean and complete. I recommend walking your home like your guest would. So, you can totally see what they will see. Then you can make sure everything looks as good as you want it too!

2. STOCK

Time to get that fridge stocked with all the food and drinks you will need for your hosting needs. I tend to grab wine (red and white), italian soda, meat and cheese platter, and humus for little get togethers. For weekend stays I always go way over board on food. I usually grab a ridiculous amount of breakfast items, like cinnamon rolls, muffins, cereal, and stuff for waffles (including chocolate chips). I then like having the staples of eggs, milk, bread and coffee. Oh and then decaf when my dad comes to town. I usually don't grab to many main dish items as I feel like we always eat out in KC. There's just too many awesome places to eat, I feel like we always gotta go out. What do you like to stock?

3. MERCHANDISE

Yep, this is a weird one. But I always seem to spring into action when I have people coming over. You know those little home improvements like rearranging pictures, candles, and stuff on the walls. I seem to like to do that a lot. It just makes everything feel a lot more put together and fresh when everything feels new. PS - these are usually things I have in the back of my head, but just waiting on the right time to do it. I would just recommend making your home feel as fresh and inviting as possible. So, if there's been a picture frame or vase you've been dreaming about, this is where I give you complete permission to just get it. It will make you feel better and that's all that matters. Oh and light candles all over the place.

4. FLOWERS

You don't have to spend a fortune, but I do recommend having at least a little vase of some flowers in living room or guest room, or both. Trader Joe's and Target are my favorite places to pic up flowers for an event. I like to pick up white blooms, they just feel the freshest and clean. But, if peonies are available (late May I believe is when they start to bloom). But feel free to pick up any flowers that you love.

5. DRESS

You know I had to bring up clothes, right!? Well, this is the ultimate control freak in me coming out. I just like to have a couple of looks ready to roll. So make sure you have at least some idea of what you want to wear for the event or weekend. Whether is just making sure you know where your favorite pair of jeans are. (I feel like they always go missing when I have no time to look for them, you know what I mean?). Or pick out the whole look for your event and put it on about 20 minutes before your guests are set to arrive, for two reasons. Someone usually shows up about 15 minutes early, so you aren't changing when they arrive, and you don't have it on all day and look great when everyone arrives.

I hope you enjoyed this little list. Now tell me what your favorite things are that you do when you've got people coming over!

xo,

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