If you're having overnight guests this holiday season, make a fuss over them so they know how much you love them. Here are a few tips to ensure your guests feel more at home and maybe even a bit like visiting royalty.
Be sure your guest quarters are decorated as beautifully as the rest of your home, so the room doesn't feel like an afterthought. Paint the walls a wonderful, warm color. Replace the standard light fixture with an interesting chandelier. Cover the windows in a treatment that adds interest and ensures privacy. Include a generous sized nightstand, a comfortable chair and a table or luggage stand.
You want visitors to feel at home, not like intruders. One way to do this is to anticipate their needs. For instance, one of my guest rooms has a small writing desk next to the bed that I stock with a crystal pitcher filled with fresh water, a roll of stamps for correspondence and a china cup holding pens. A friend of mine often puts together welcome baskets for her guests, filling them with an itinerary of activities, key phone numbers, services they might need, a street map and pamphlets from interesting sites such as art museums.
What do your guests like to do? Surprise them by spotlighting their interests and passions. If your guests are avid readers, stack some great books on a tray by the bed. If they love to shop for clothes or decorate their homes, get the latest editions of your favorite fashion and decorating magazines.
I firmly believe that everything is better with food. So I like to spoil my guests with yummy treats. When visitors arrive, revive them with a coffee bar. Dress up your dining room buffet, kitchen island or a foyer console table with silver pitchers of steaming coffee and tea. Set out some interesting confections, like peppermint sticks dipped in dark chocolate.
While your guests are resting after an exhausting day of touring, surprise them with a tempting spread of appetizers and drinks, set up in their room or on a table just outside its door.
Every Christmas, as a girl, my sister and I received pajamas from neighbors who had no children of their own. So giving pajamas has become a holiday tradition in our family.
I like to do the same thing with dear friends who come to visit. Once, I hit an incredible sale and stocked up on cute robes and slippers that I gave to friends. Even when I'm out of gift jammies, I stock my guest rooms with a few thick, white robes for guests to slip on before they go out to the bathroom, which is off the main hallway upstairs.
I stock my guest bathroom with toiletries. On a bookshelf next to the sink, guests will find an apothecary jar full of cotton balls. On a shelf below that, an old suitcase holds a hair dryer and hygiene products. Next to the suitcase stands a stack of fluffy white towels. On a shelf above the toilet I have Q-tips in a silver-lidded jar and disposable razors in a silver cream pitcher.
Celebrate the season by adding bits of holiday cheer to the decor. How about placing a small, live evergreen in an elegant cachepot? It will delight your guests, and in the spring you can plant the tree in your garden.
The column has been adapted from Mary Carol Garrity's blog at www.nellhills.com. She can be reached at marycarol@nellhills.com.