How to Make Your Thanksgiving Guests Comfortable

Having guests over for Thanksgiving is one of the best parts about the holiday. Getting to enjoy a lovely meal while spending time with people you care about is what makes it so special. However, it can also be stressful if you’re putting together a complete stranger’s first visit at your house. There’s always that small possibility they might hate you forever after their first experience with you as their host! So, how do you make sure that doesn’t happen? By making them comfortable and ensuring they feel like they are in their own home thanks to some clever tricks. Here are just a few things to keep in mind when hosting someone for the first time.

Prepare Your Home for Thanksgiving Guests

There are a few essential things you should do before your guests arrive. First, you need to dust and vacuum. This might seem obvious but it’s very important. You want your guests to feel comfortable and not ashamed to sit on your furniture. Also, you want their allergies to not flare up from your dust bunny infested rugs. You should also make sure your kitchen is as clean as possible. You don’t want guests to have to worry about handling a dirty kitchen or being embarrassed if they touch a dirty surface. If you have pets, make sure you either keep them out of the house or keep them away from the guests. The last thing you want is for your furry friends to get scared and scratch or pee on your guests’ stuff!

Make your home look inviting

In addition to making your home clean and tidy, you also want to make sure it looks inviting. You can do this by including some seasonal decorations like pumpkins or fall leaves. You can also put up some nice holiday themed lights! If you’re going to have guests over for more than just dinner, you might want to change up your decorations throughout the day. This is a great way to show guests you’ve put a lot of thought into their visit. You can also put up some nice scents. Candles or incense burners for example can help set the mood and make your guests feel at home. You don’t want to go overboard with the decorations or scents though. You don’t want to overwhelm your guests with stuff they don’t care about. You also want them to be able to enjoy the decorations and scents!

Have a comfy place for everyone to sit

This one is super important! You want to make sure that your guests have a comfortable place to sit. Whether that be a couch, a chair, or a sofa, you want to have a place for everyone to sit. If you have a large group, you may need to put a few extra chairs around the room. If you don’t have enough room for everyone to sit comfortably, they may feel a bit squished or anxious. You don’t want that. You want your guests to feel at home and relaxed during their visit. You can also add a few pillows or blankets to give the room a little more personality and make it a bit more homey. This is especially important if you have a larger group of people who need to sit on the floor! You can also have a few blankets on hand in case anyone gets cold during the visit.

Don’t have too many dishes that are unfamiliar

It’s as simple as this - don’t make people eat a meal they’ve never had before. If you serve a dish your guests have never eaten before, they may not like it and feel extremely uncomfortable. Do yourself a favor and just stick to the standard dishes you’re used to eating at Thanksgiving. There are a few exceptions to this though. For example, if your guests are gluten-free, you’ll want to make sure you have some gluten-free dishes available. Or if you have guests who are vegetarians or vegans, you’ll want to make sure you have dishes that will be able to accommodate their dietary needs. This doesn’t mean you have to completely change up your menu. You can keep the standard dishes and just add in a few gluten-free or vegan dishes for those who need it. You just don’t want to serve something that someone might not like or is unfamiliar with.

Don’t force conversation – give them space and time

As the host, you may have a lot of questions you may be curious about or things you want to talk to your guests about. However, you don’t want to force conversation on your guests. Let them take their time getting to know each other and feel comfortable in the situation. It can take them a few hours before they feel like they are able to talk freely with the group. You can give everyone some time to talk and get to know each other a bit before you start bombarding them with questions and making them talk. You may even want to give yourself some time to get to know your guests as well! After all, the whole point of having guests over is so you can get to know each other better. You can find out what they do for a living, where they went to school, and many other things. You’ll never know what you’ll learn from each other until the conversation begins!

Conclusion

Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together and celebrate all the good things in their lives. This means that it’s also a time for friends and acquaintances to come together and celebrate as well. As a host, it’s important to make your guests feel comfortable and at home during their visit. You can do this by preparing your home for guests, making it look inviting, having a comfy place for everyone to sit, and not having too many dishes that are unfamiliar. You also don’t want to force conversation – give your guests some space and time to talk and get to know each other. After all, the whole point of having guests is so that you can get to know each other better!