Don’t Go Crazy. What You Actually Need to Clean Before Hosting for the Holidays

I genuinely love hosting and holiday hosting is by far my favorite. Bringing our friends and family together as we give thanks or celebrate the season of Christmas is something I truly look forward to each year.

But hosting can be a lot of work.

There are ways to make it easier such as asking each guest to bring something. That alone will save a ton of time and money. My husband got a wild idea last year that we would host the entire day meaning not asking guests to bring anything. It set up for a lot more work but honestly, we had a really fun time doing it. We each took the day before Thanksgiving off work and spent it in the kitchen. But it was hours and hours together and somehow it worked out to be so much fun.

There is one thing that I think gets overthought when it comes to hosting.

Cleaning.

When it comes to cleaning before hosting, you honestly don’t have to go crazy touching every single surface.

I consider myself a somewhat seasoned hostess from the dozens of birthdays and holidays we have held over the past several years. I recall a couple of years ago, talking to a friend last year who was hosting Thanksgiving for the very first time. I was giving her some ideas, but she remained really stressed about the whole thing. I finally just asked her specifically what was stressing her out the most.

Her response made me laugh but that might have been insensitive because she was stone cold serious.

“Well, I have to paint the ceiling.”

This was probably the last thing I was expecting her to say hence my initial reaction of laughter as I gave a confused, “what?!”

She then started rattling off things around her house that they had never quite gotten around to but now she wanted to rush to get it done before Thanksgiving. Besides painting the ceiling, her list also included tasks like baseboards and new carpet on their stairs.

My response was a very direct and honest one. “None of that matters whatsoever.”

I then counseled her a bit on the fact that truly nobody is going to even notice if the ceiling paint is aging or if the baseboards could use a new coat of paint. We then made a very short list of the things she should pay some attention to prior to guests arriving.

I will preface this by saying that I do keep our house pretty tidy on a regular basis. Not immaculate but I clean regularly. I do not mop my floors to prepare for guests, but they are mopped every two weeks, so I know they are never too horrific.

Here are things you may want to pay attention to:

Toilets. But really only the guest toilet. I will give our master one a scrub down only if we are hosting a large group because then it is possible that it could be used.
Bathroom sink, counter, mirrors. A very quick wipe down.
Clean towels and full soap. Ok, this is not something to clean but I always ensure I have a few clean hand towels in the bathroom and that the soap isn’t empty.
Kitchen counters. I give a quick wipe down more just so they are clean as I start preparing food. Obviously clean if there is any raw meat that sits on an area. But after the initial clean, just recognize that it’s going to keep getting messy and there is no point in continuing to wipe it down.
Vacuum. Honestly, I only vacuum prior because we have two dogs, so I like to try to get some of the shedding off the rugs and floors prior to guests arriving.
Kids rooms/playroom. I don’t request that my kids clean their rooms top to bottom, because I believe in picking my battles as a parent. But I do remind them to hide any toys that they don’t want younger cousins getting into.

Be sure to have your kids help too. I have a tween and teen, so they are capable of any of the pre-hosting chores.

Frazao Studio Latino

Equally important to this conversation were the things I encouraged her to not worry about:

Showers. Why would anyone look or care about if your shower is clean? Unless you have overnight guests, skip this entirely.
Mopping the floors. They are going to immediately get a little dirty once people arrive, food starts being eaten. Nobody will notice and if anything, they will assume the dirt is new dirt from all the people.
Organizing. I love organizing but with hosting, all bets are off. My pantry becomes the landing zone for anything I want out of the way. Same with our office usually. Shut the door and don’t worry about what’s in there.
Painting. Before talking to this friend, I would never have thought to add this to my list but absolutely under no circumstances would I advise painting in order to prepare for company. Add it to your summer to-do list.
House repairs. Unless it is something dangerous, take it off your list to take care of immediately.
Windows. Nobody will notice or care.
Dusting. This one might be controversial, but I don’t usually have dusting on my priority list. If I think of doing it a few days prior, I will. But otherwise, I am not going to worry about it.
Laundry. Don’t stress if you have piles of dirty laundry. Close the door. When we used to not have a laundry room, I would typically just put baskets of dirty laundry in the garage. Out of sight and out of mind for the day.
Any room or area that guests won’t be in. Close the door and don’t stress about it.

Remember, you are opening your home to friends and family and being the hub where celebrations will be had and memories made. I guarantee you they are grateful for you for that alone. Nobody is coming with any ulterior motives. If you have one of “those” mother in laws who does come with the white glove mentality, my advice is to just kill it with kindness.

Cheers to a wonderful season of hosting!

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