Thinking about making room for guests at Christmas? Are you having guests over for Christmas? If so, you might be looking round wondering how you’ll fit everyone in. It would be a shame to keep people, especially family, off your guest list just because you worry about space, so we’ve gathered a few ideas to help you make more room for your nearest and dearest at this special time of year.
Making Room for Guests at Christmas
Clear the Floor and Surfaces
With all the extra things brought into the house over Christmas and New Year, clearing a bit of space for them is vital. Putting away lots of the everyday ornaments or objects that you don’t need over Christmas means there’s plenty of room to make tasteful, uncluttered seasonal displays.
As well as the normal items you keep on display through the year, consider also clearing out some furnishings to make more floor space. You could consider things like bookcases, footstools, centre coffee tables (replace with nested or folding side tables) and even floor lamps if that would free space in a corner.
Lighting isn’t normally a problem over Christmas since we have lots of twinkly fairy lights garlanded around the rooms. Plus, battery-operated lights make it very easy to get creative with fairy lights.
For smaller, everyday ornaments, wrap them up and pop into your holiday luggage for safekeeping. This way you don’t even need to acquire storage boxes.
Once you’ve identified the things that aren’t strictly necessary, consider renting a self storage room instead of trying to fit them in elsewhere at home. Self storage cost is quite reasonable and usually easy to access. You’ll find a variety of sizes from lockers upwards, so you don’t need to overspend.
Use Your Guest List to Organise Space
Everyone will need somewhere to sit that’s comfortable for them. If you have elderly visitors, tailor your seating arrangements so there’s somewhere for them, maybe close to the fire and with plenty of cushions.
And talking about cushions, don’t forget they can help make kids comfortable on the floor so it might be worth getting a few extra. Christmas themed, oversized cushions would be fun.
For other guests, have nesting stools or folding chairs in case all the comfier ones get taken. Experiment with fitting in all the seats you’ll need for everyone when the house will be at its fullest.
Ideas to make a bit more room:
- Pushing furnishings back against the wall when you need floor space for games.
- Getting a narrower tree that takes up less space at the base. Alternatively, get a smaller tree (or two) and pop them on a sideboard or table.
- Wall mount the TV if it’s not already. Clearing away the TV cabinet can make lots of extra room.
- Swap a big dining table for a drop-leaf version so you can fold it down after a meal.
- Have a separate table for children if everyone likes a sit-down traditional Christmas dinner. Just keep it close by so kids feel included, but decorate it with special, age-appropriate activities to keep them amused.
Host a Christmas Buffet
If you’re not bound by tradition, a Christmas buffet for your main dining event can work very well. You’ll prepare all the dishes you’d usually include, but instead of seating everyone round the table, simply lay the food out and let people help themselves before sitting wherever they like.
Have lap trays for those who like them, and maybe lay a couple of places for anyone who finds it easier to eat from the table. Many people prefer to eat casually these days, and a hot buffet gives them the opportunity to pick the items they like best.
Storage for Future Years
If you went with storage unit hire over Christmas, you could keep it going and pack the Christmassy things away for next year.
It makes much more sense than trying to store everything at home, especially if you bought additional folding chairs or tables, guest beds or extra cushions just for Christmas.
But more than furnishings, your storage room is also the perfect spot for all the decorations, trees, lights, advents, nativity items and card holders or garlands and wreaths. Even if you’re fairly sparing with Christmas decorations, you can still end up with a few good boxes full of stuff just for the tree. Not having it all at home makes much more space for everything else through the year.
Thinking ahead and starting to get organised now gives you plenty of time to finalise plans and experiment to find what will work best. Christmas is lovely, so it’s worth doing all you can to make sure you, as host, enjoy it as much as your guests at Christmas.
*Collaborative post
Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.
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