How to Prep Your Home for Guests with Kids
Last month, we wrote about preparing your home for holiday guests. In the blog, we briefly touched on preparations for guests with children but when it comes to kids, there’s no such thing as overly prepared so we thought we would a few more helpful tips for the pint-sized guests coming to your home this holiday season.
Baby-proof the guest rooms and all public areas of your home.
Rid the guest room and other areas of the home your guests will be spending time in of any items that are not kid-friendly and take safety precautions like storing dangerous chemicals, cleaning supplies and medications in areas little hands can’t reach; adding plug-in covers to wall outlets and installing door stoppers in cabinets and kid locks on entry doors and doors going into rooms that have not been kid-proofed. If you have pets, map out a “safe space” for Fido and Whiskers to go to if your smaller guests begin to stress them out. Also put pet food and pet supplies in an area that can’t be reached, unless you want to explain to your older sister and brother-in-law why their five-year-old is eating doggy biscuits.
Add night lights throughout the home.
We mentioned this in our last blog but having extra lighting at night is especially important when children are in the home because they are more likely to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or go in search of mom if they are sleeping in a separate room.
Pick up a kid-friendly activity while you’re out grocery shopping.
Sure, your nieces and nephews will most likely arrive armed with iPads and Nintendo 2DS’s but eventually, even their electronics will become old news and your young guests will grow restless. That will be the perfect time to pull out Junior Monopoly or a family-friendly Christmas movie and hot chocolate and it’s a great opportunity to bond and make new memories with your young guests.
Organize a kid’s space in your entryway.
If you’ve got a nice sized yard or live on a large property, it’s likely the kid guests in your home will want to spend time outside, especially if the weather’s nice as it often is in the South, even in December. That means they’ll have coats and other outdoor winter gear that could clutter your entryway if you don’t plan ahead. Add an extra canvas storage bin or Command hooks to make room for the extra clutter.
Clear the outdoors of any hazards.
Lock away all yard equipment and other home maintenance tools in a storage shed or garage that’s kept off-limits to kids. Make sure no other hazards are present like hanging tree limbs or large piles of leaves.
Find out if your young guests have any allergies.
The last thing you want is little Maggie being rushed to the ER because she has a nut allergy and got into your peanut butter cups. Find out any allergies your guests have and plan accordingly.
