As many of you know, I am getting ready to host some lovely women in my home next weekend. My goal is for these ladies to feel at home from the moment they drive up. A recent FB post in our THGP- Playing Skillfully in Action group got me thinking about genuine hospitality. What makes a good hostess? I thought I would share some of the things I do to make our home a welcoming place to others.

1. Know your guests. Do they have any food/environmental allergies? Do they feel anxious about traveling? Do they have trouble climbing stairs?
2. Prepare the space (fresh sheets, water by the bed, flowers, and travel-size toiletries).
3. Have snacks easily accessible. Most people don’t feel comfortable asking for a snack
   

   **Funny story about my snack basket pictured above. Recently, a friend’s son asked his mom why I was so mean. When asked for an explanation, he said only a mean mom would make their kids pay for snacks. I guess he didn’t get my joke. ☺

4. Have a fan/diffuser in the room.
5. If your guests stay in a kid’s room, make sure the bed/nightstand is cleared of the stuff that can be collected in those places (stuffed animals, treasures, etc.).
6. Most importantly, have a welcoming attitude. You can have all the right things and have guests not feel comfortable or you can have a house that is a wreck, an empty fridge, and have guests that can’t wait to come back. So much of genuine hospitality is the attitude of the hostess.

I think this post sums it up! Thanks, Erica for allowing me to share!

Can I say an encouraging word about hospitality here?
I’m unsure if this would be considered an inappropriate post, as it is not really curriculum-related, so feel free to delete it.

But I just wanted to share a recent experience I had because let’s be honest, we’re all moms, and we all struggle with thinking our homes/ourselves are not “good enough” at times. Especially when we have preschoolers and are trying to “say yes” more!

My husband’s father remarried a woman from Mexico. This weekend we spent time at her brother and sister in laws house. The house was small, crowded, and cluttered. Don’t get me wrong, it was clean, but nothing like what most of us would consider nice or ready to entertain. There was nothing fancy about the food, just rice, and beans in mismatched pots on the stove, random plates of veggies on the very crowded table (which was in the small kitchen with mismatched chairs all around), a grill full of food and mismatched plates and silverware that everyone had to search the cupboards for. The host herself spoke broken English and was slightly awkward and very shy. She didn’t serve us and didn’t bustle around, making sure everything was perfect while we were there. She just sat, ate, tried her best to understand what we were saying, and quietly washed dishes afterward.

But I say all this to say I have never felt so at ease, so welcome, so like family in a strange place. All of my mother in laws family from Mexico has a way of just treating you like family. They don’t prepare the house (other than bringing out all the chairs from every room). They don’t cook anything special. They don’t even set out plates or forks, usually! But they are genuinely glad you are there, warm and friendly, and truly see everyone they invite into their home as a family and welcome.

I wanted to share this because I often want to reach out but don’t feel my home (or my own social skills!) are good enough. I worry about my kid’s attitudes and messes. But maybe, we try too hard and treat guests too differently to make them feel at home. Maybe if we could leave out the kid’s toys and let them be themselves (and let ourselves be ourselves!), and just welcome guests in as a family, our homes would feel even more hospitable!

Who can you invite over this week? 

Say YES, and have a great week!!!

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Also, to thank you for listening, you can receive a 10% discount on any purchase at

The Homegrown Preschooler by using the code, THEREALKATHYLEE.

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