3 Ways to Party-Proof Your Home
The holidays are for spending time with your loved ones, which often means hosting them in your home. But hosting holiday parties can be stressful, especially if you like to entertain a lot of guests. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be stressful at all. In fact, you can party-proof your home to ensure your hosting experience is nothing less than perfect. The following tips will help you prep your home for entertaining guests without the stress.
1. Make Space for Your Guests
One of the most important things about hosting guests for the holidays — besides providing delicious food, drinks, and a good time — is making sure they are comfortable in your home. Even if you don’t have the biggest space, doing some rearranging will do the trick. Make your living spaces more functional by:
- Positioning furniture away from the center of the room to create ample floor space for tables, chairs, and other items you may be bringing into the living or dining areas.
- Providing your guests with a variety of seating options, such as folding chairs, sofas, loveseats, and bar stools. You may even want to throw in some fun bean bags or yoga balls for the kids too!
- Removing any bulky furniture that could get in the way, like coffee tables, ottomans or footstools.
- Storing away any delicate accent items like lamps and art pieces that could be damaged, shattered, or broken.
In addition to removing furniture, you should also declutter common areas by removing loose items. Your common areas should be free of things like mail, newspaper, laundry, and any other personal items you may have lying around.
2. Protect Surfaces and Rooms
Nothing ruins the holidays like finding stained furniture after your guests leave. For starters, you should always keep napkins and wet wipes on hand to quickly wick away spills and messy fingers! You should also always use tablecloths and coasters to protect your tables and other wood surfaces. As for your sofas and loveseats, you should take extra precaution since they are typically more expensive and harder to clean. Use couch covers or easily washable throw blankets to protect your sofas from spills, stains, and more.
Besides damaged furniture, the last thing you want is messy rooms or misplaced personal belongings. To avoid this, you should always lock up rooms you don’t want kids (or nosey aunts) peeking into during the holidays. Additionally, stock up your bathroom with extra toilet paper, hand soap, and other necessary toiletries.
3. Buy Appropriate Furniture Beforehand
If you are a veteran party planner (or plan to be), let Jerome’s get you on the right track. Jerome's Oops Protection Plan provides comprehensive coverage against stains and damages on leather, fabric, and vinyl upholstered furniture as well as wood and other hard surface furniture for five years. This means your furniture is protected before your guests even set foot into your home for the holidays. Some other things to keep in mind before and after purchasing furniture are:
- Keep heirloom furniture and valuables in less-used areas of the house to avoid any accidents — especially if there are going to be lots of kiddos running around.
- Invest in casual style furniture, which is comfortable and stylish. Plus, casual furniture means more opportunity to decorate with accent pillows and holiday decor.
- Know your audience. Is your brother bringing his kids? Is grandpa coming over? Make sure to think about all of your family's individual needs when deciding what type of furniture to get and where people will sit.
Final Step: Start Party-Planning
Now that you have these three steps covered, it’s time to start planning. These three party-proofing tips are sure to keep you and your guests happy and stress-free this holiday season. For more home inspiration, check out Jerome's great living room furniture to help your hosting dreams come true. Happy hosting!