You don’t have to have a perfect home to show hospitality. This is how to show hospitality without a perfect home and still enjoy every moment!
My home is far from perfect. There are still boxes laying around from moving, very little on the walls, and laundry baskets are serving as our dressers. It would be so easy to avoid having guests over but good hospitality isn’t about a perfect home, it’s about relationships and making your guests feel welcome!
Hospitality seems to be a bit of a lost art. The concept seems to strike fear in some people’s hearts. This shouldn’t be the case though. I’ve felt very welcome in many homes that were cluttered and not in perfect shape and I’ve felt not very welcome in perfect, clean homes.
With all we have going on around here I could make so many excuses for why I don’t want to have people over. However, since my home will never be perfect my excuses would just keep going and we’d never have guests.
Our first guests in our new home were some friends of ours. We had gone out to dinner and they came over to see the home after. We hadn’t moved in yet, I was still cleaning and we were moving the furniture left behind out. My husband and our friend moved a few heavy pieces out and then we all sat at the kitchen table. We had some glasses, water, and liquor in the home, that’s it, but they were both happy to sit and chat with us. We had a lovely time in our almost empty, new, not totally clean home.
We’ve had other guests over since and not one person has complained or seemed unhappy to be over while our house is not totally finished. They have all been excited for us and our new home. I would hate to have missed out on these moments because I stressed about having a perfect home first.
I’ve learned some simple ways to show hospitality over the years, largely from watching my own mother.
How to Show Hospitality Without a Perfect Home
Keep Your Home Clean
Being able to welcome surprise guests into your home without feeling embarrassed is a wonderful feeling. I like to pick up once during the day and quickly before bed. This keeps things in good shape. It’s not perfect but it’s acceptable with this amount of effort.
There are some habits you can use to keep your home clean. By building these habits you won’t fall behind as often and it will make it easier to invite others over.
When You Have Advance Notice Do a Bit of Extra Tidying
A quick vacuuming, we love our Dyson cord-free vacuum for this, and fluffed pillows can do wonders for making your home look nice and clean.
You can also take a look around and see if there are spaces looking a little cluttered and if their are organize those spaces.
Add Welcoming Touches
It doesn’t need to be any thing expensive. Pretty and clean dishtowels and hand towels, fresh flowers from your yard, and a lighting couple of candles are a few little touches that can make your home feel more welcoming.
Have Something to Offer Your Guests
Assuming your guests are not coming over for a meal, it’s nice to have something to drink and a little snack to offer. I like to make a pitcher of iced tea and have a few fresh baked cookies to offer.
You can make this very easy by keeping some pre-made cookie dough in your freezer, pull out a few and make before your guests arrive. This has the added benefit of making your home smell like cookies, what is more, welcoming than that? If you aren’t a baker a few store-bought snacks or fruit are also nice treats to offer your guests.
Remember Your Guests Aren’t There for Your Home
This is the most important thing to remember, your guests are there for you, not your home. Don’t let yourself stress over trying to make your home Pinterest worthy. Be a kind and welcoming host and your guests will have a wonderful time.
No one has a perfect home and someone that cares about you shouldn’t be judging your home. We live in our homes and it will often look like that, and that’s okay.
Another bonus to practicing hospitality, having guests over is a great way to motivate yourself to clean! One of my big goals right now is to get into good habits so my home is always in order and ready for guests. Practicing hospitality should not only help make your guests happy but also make you feel happy as well.
Deanna says
We are apparently on the same wave length. I have a draft started for a post on hospitality, too. I got the idea as I was picking up the last batch of groceries before HMF. I had hoped to write it for today but it’s not going to happen until tomorrow. But that’s cool because now I can link to this post, too. 🙂
Lisa Sharp says
That seems to happen a lot! 🙂
Nina @ Hugs and Lattes says
I need to keep this in mind so that when I have a house that can actually be used for hosting, I can always be ready!! I live in a tiny apartment, so it SHOULD be easy to keep it clean, but since I live by myself it’s easy to let things fall apart!
Summer says
These are awesome tips, Lisa! I definitely do not have my dream home or even apartment yet, so sometimes I feel shy about having others over. These are great tips to help me more!
Mistle says
All great tips! I know sometimes my house is not the cleanest or neatest but I try to do what I can when I have guests coming over. It’s more about making them feel welcomed.
Lisa Sharp says
So true! 🙂 In reality few have perfectly clean and neat homes.
Angela Tolsma says
These are great tips. I’m a terrible hostess, I always forget to offer drinks and always assume people will know where things are. This stems from us having weekly games nights and me refusing to be just a waiter to the boys instead of a player. I’m working on it and this will help!
Lisa Sharp says
There are different friends of course. My best friend growing up was over almost everyday so she knew to help herself. I tend to set out glasses and a pitcher of sweet tea and show guesses where it is and let them get their refills. Makes it easy for everyone, plus if they are common guest they will get used it and know they can help themselves.
Marci Smith says
I have guests coming for the first time tomorrow, I’m definitely using the cookie trick!
Lisa Sharp says
Hope it went well! I’m sure your guests had a wonderful time if cookies were involved. 🙂
Rachel G says
Love this! Hospitality to be is a big value, and our little apartment sure isn’t perfect, but we try to say yes to every opportunity for hospitality that we can! Over the last year, we’ve had a total of 8 people stay in our spare bedroom–and 3 of those guests stayed for more than a month! I like having a very open home, though it’s a simple one.
Lisa Sharp says
That’s great! I’m sure people love your hospitality and don’t care about the size of your home.
Kelsie says
I love this a lot! I always try to keep our home reasonably neat so it doesn’t take a lot of effort to tidy for guests, or so I feel like they can just show up and I won’t be totally embarrassed ha. I try to keep messes mainly in our bedroom or garage so the rest of the house is presentable. I love the reminder that ultimately, our hospitality isn’t about our house!
Lisa Sharp says
Glad you liked it. 🙂 Right now with our home being new so people wanting to see it I have to keep it all picked up but normally my office is the room to get cluttered ha.
Anna says
Love these tips, especially #4.There’s something so warm and welcoming sharing simple food and drink together!
Thanks for linking to my “10 Ways to Show Hospitality on a Budget” post!
Ms.Cookie says
I stumbled across this while I was studying my bible and fussing at my husband and my son for being so nasty after I had just finished cleaning. Needless to say this article calmed me down and made me feel human. Thank you
Lisa Sharp says
I’m glad it helped!