In My Girl's World

I contemplated not even doing this link up, because at this point in our lives, we aren't doing a lot of traditional entertaining... We are still apartment living, and our space is quite small. Plus, with a one year old on our hands, and trying to keep her on schedule, we are usually all 'done' for the day by 7 pm. Not exactly a great situation for throwing too many holiday parties. I look forward to the days when we own our own home and can entertain our friends and families.



While we aren't hosting any holiday fun at our place this year, we do have a visitor coming to stay with us for 2 weeks...

 My Dad! He is coming to visit us in just a couple of weeks, so we do have some minor 'entertaining' to do. Here's how I get prepared whenever we plan to have overnight guests...

-Put together a basket for toiletries. I do this every time my family comes to stay. It's a pain for them to travel with these things, so I buy it before they come. It's always an appreciated gesture. The last 3 years we have been re-using what we already had, but we have finally run out. I will grab some more little things in the travel sections of our favorite stores.

-Wash and prepare the sheets, blankets and pillows our guests will be using. I usually get them all clean and smelling fresh, and store them in a space bag until they arrive. Space bags are amazing if you are tight on storage like us. You can check them out here.

-Designate an area for your guest to store their things. Because we do not have a guest space, my Dad is staying in our living room on the fold out couch. We have a dresser in our living room for storage of toys, shoes etc. I cleaned out two drawers for my Dad to use to store his clothes while he is here... that way we limit the amount of "stuff" that is out!

-Buy your guests favorite snacks and beverages. I always grab some munchies for my Dad when he comes. He will always tell me not to buy anything special, but I just try to picture the things he always has in his fridge or pantry and go for it. 

-Plan some fun day-trips. We live so close to so many fun places. Laguna Beach, LA, San Diego, Palm Springs etc. I always try to plan a day or two of fun day trips before my guests arrive.

-Keep a small walking map handy. Our community is very easy to figure out, with the streets running perpendicular to the beach all being number streets. I still want my guests to feel comfortable getting up and walking around the town without us having to show them. Most of the time when I have family visiting, I still have to work a day or two. My Dad isn't comfortable driving in Southern California yet... he is used to the Maine roads and has never used a GPS. I like him to at least feel comfortable walking around Seal while I am gone at work.

-Make copies of house keys and leave them in an obvious place. I made a set of keys for guests before my Dad visited the first time, and now everytime he comes, I give him the keychain and make sure he knows where it is, and where to keep it while he's here.

And on this particular occasion, because he is coming for Thanksgiving, I am planning on preparing a small dinner for us to enjoy together. We already have some festive things around the house that I can use...