Preparing your home for the holidays and for houseguests can be a daunting task, lucky for you we’ve come up with a handy checklist to help you get your household in order. Click here for a printable PDF and here to watch Carpe Diem’s Wendy Clark share holiday tips with NBC-17’s My Carolina Today.
General
♦ Cover your bases! ♦
- Carpets: if carpets have obvious stains, have them cleaned before guests arrive. If carpets are in good shape, wait until after the holidays so you can start the new year with clean carpets (we can help – that’s right folks, we clean carpets too!)
- Nightlights: place nightlights in the rooms that guests will be using.
- Sidewalk Salt: have salt on hand for your driveway and sidewalks in case there’s some unexpected weather.
Hospitality
♦ Happy houseguests make for a happy holiday – make sure everyone is comfortable! ♦
- Sleep Areas: vacuum sofa beds and sofas, make sure all surfaces inside and out are clean. Put clean sheets and blankets on beds.
- Towels & Toilet Paper: make sure that items like bath towels and toilet paper are available and easy to find.
- Personal Care Kits: create care kits containing little soaps and toothpastes, pain reliever, and allergy pills if you have pets.
Kitchen
♦ Be prepared and let no guest go hungry! ♦
- Food: clean out your fridge and pantry, then stock up on some basic foods in addition to your holiday meal shopping. Show your house guests what foods are available if they get hungry. If you have a guest with food allergies, make sure your buy foods which are appropriate for them.
- Food Storage: buy some basic plastic containers or Ziploc bags so you can easily give out leftovers after parties and meals. These will also help for storing extra holiday food if you have a shortage of containers.
- Labeling: make sure you have a Sharpie (or multiple Sharpies) handy for labeling and dating leftovers.
Childproof
♦ A word from the wise: always childproof BEFORE visiting children arrive. ♦
- Electrical Outlets: make sure you have covers for all of your electrical outlets.
- No Tinsel: do not decorate with tinsel as it is a choking hazard both for children and for pets.
- Baby Gate: get your old baby gate out of the closet if there is an area that you would like to partition off from little people (or pets).