There’s no place like home when it’s time to throw a party. When you have a party or social affair at your house, it makes your guests feel more relaxed, warm, and comfortable compared to hosting it at a cold, drafty event hall. But when you have a gathering at your home, you also have to do a lot of preparations. Here are a few simple tips for preparing your Philly home for guests.

Protect Your Floors with a Runner

When you’re expecting a lot of foot traffic in your home during the rainy season or winter months in Philadelphia, a full clear plastic runner is a must. It protects your carpet and hardwood floor from water, ice, snow, and mud that your invitees will undoubtedly track into the house if the weather outside is “frightful.” The runner should lead directly from the door to the main party room — get more than one if necessary. Remember to place a large black PolyCoir or Coco Brush mat at the front door where visitors can wipe their feet.

Image Source: Flickr/Greg Habermann

Protect Your Valuables

If you have valuables or delicate items in the rooms where your visitors will be socializing, take extra measures to protect them from damage or loss. For instance, if you have a china closet containing expensive or sentimental items such as fragile glassware, vases, trophies, and plates, remove those items temporarily and replace them with decorative holiday items. Remove all fine furniture from the room and replace with foldable tables and chairs. Also, designate a locked coat room for guests and assign someone to manage the task of retrieving coats.

Minimize Your Cleaning Tasks

Sometimes hosts stress themselves out by cleaning their entire homes from top to bottom to prepare for company, but a better plan is to focus on the two or three rooms where guests will frequent the most. Spend your time cleaning the main party room and the bathroom that will be open for guests. If you have carpeting in the main room, have it shampooed by a professional. Wipe down the walls and baseboards with a pine-scented cleaner so that it will smell fresh and clean.

Safety Check Your Home

Your visitors will be focused on having fun, mingling, conversing and enjoying themselves at your party. It’s your responsibility to do a safety check of your home (the rooms where you’re having the gathering in particular). Here are a few suggestions:

– Replace rectangular and square tables with round tables that don’t have sharp edges and move them to the side to give visitors plenty of room to move around.

– If visitors will need to ascend stairs to get to the restroom, make sure that your railings are secure and sturdy — especially if some of your invitees are senior citizens.

– Check all of your electrical outlets to ensure that they are safe and up to code, especially if you will be using an energy-draining stereo system to play music. Avoid using extension cords.

– Test all smoke alarms and ensure that there are at least two convenient and safe emergency exits.

– If some of the invitees will be small children, child-proof the outlets, drawers, and cabinets throughout your home.

– Make sure all pets are secured in a room where they have plenty of food and water throughout the evening. Discourage visitors from feeding them food scraps from the party.

Image Source: Flickr/PhyreWorX

Have a Happy, Carefree Party at Home

Your party should be a happy and carefree experience for both you and your guests. Use these simple tips to prepare your Philly home for your upcoming social gathering.

[cf]skyword_tracking_tag[/cf]