The Most Wonderful Thing and a Free Printable

You know that moment when what you know in theory turns into an experience in reality?  When you finally find out if you were right in your assumptions or totally off track?  That happened to me last week.  One of the things we most looked forward to with moving to a new area, was the proximity to family.  In theory this was going to be fantastic.  Not just for us to hop over for a visit, but having family come to stay with us.  This part really excited me.  For starters, we have a room for guests to use when they come.  This is absolutely amazing to me, and I love that I can offer a little oasis to overnight company.  Secondly, I have two boys, who's bathroom has to double as the guest bathroom.  I want to emphasize the BOY part.  They have very little bathroom items, tooth brushes and paste, a cup, comb, gel and face wash.  Their vanity has lots of unused space.  I have a whole drawer, plus two shelves free and clear for company to use to hold their own bathroom stuff. Where am I going with this?

My parents came for a visit last week.  To say I was giddy with excitement was an understatement.  I had so much fun getting ready for their arrival.  It helped that I'm more in control of my home than the last time they came for a visit, so there really was little to do in way of cleaning.  Aside from an extra deep clean of the guest room and bathroom, everything on my to do list was stuff I would normally have done anyway.  Not having to organize on top of cleaning was such a huge help that I was able to spend some time putting extra touches on things.  Books on their bedside tables, a flower arrangement in their room, just little things, but they were oh so much fun.  In this case, reality was sooo much better than the theory.  I love being able to open up my home in welcome to those nearest and dearest to us.

The weekend before they arrived I sat down to make up a list of things to do, meal ideas, activity ideas, etc... As I was jotting things down I got to thinking; this isn't going to be a once a year thing, and it's not only going to be my parents coming for a visit.  Those wheels in my head started turning, and I decided that it would be kind of fun and totally practical to make up a planner for when we have overnight guests.  Here is what I came up with.

Guest Planner

Here's how I'm using it.  I plan on having one of these for each visitor/group of visitors. I can fill out all the info that won't change visit to visit and then tuck it into a page protector and use a dry erase for the the things that will change.  

Since I know that I'll pretty much do the same cleaning every time we get ready for company, I added the check-list on the top right.  And because having company usually means larger meals, or special desserts, I also have a shopping list at the bottom.  

The box for "Places to Go, Things to Do" will probably end up being a combination of permanent and ever changing.  For example:  When my Mom and Dad were visiting we found a local restaurant (more coming on that in a later post) that was AMAZING.  It definitely made the list of places to visit again.  I can jot it down in the box so that next time they come we don't forget about it.  

The "Meal Plans" box is for ideas, or items I know our guests like. Our Teen was telling Mom and Dad about this cornbread recipe he got in Foods class, and we found out that they both really like cornbread.  So I put a note in the box for next time so I don't forget to have our Teen make it for them.  I even noted the ingredients that I'll probably need to purchase for it on the shopping list.

With the holidays right around the corner, I'm thinking this little printable might come in handy.  I can't wait to use it again, because is there really anything better than sharing time with the ones you love?  Now, if only pulling together a guest room was as easy. ;-)

As always, to grab your free copy simply click the caption of the photo!  All printables are for personal use only.  

Do you like having out of town guests come stay with you?  Are there any special preparations you do to get ready for their arrival?


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