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10+ Essentials For Overnight Guests

When you have guests coming, you want to stock up on certain items for them. Find out what in this 10+ Essentials For Overnight Guests post on www.drugstoredivas.net.We have guests all the time. We live in North Carolina and people love coming to visit. I don’t blame them. We usually wear t-shirts on Christmas. It’s the best. The majority of our friends and family live in New York, so when we have guests, they’re overnight guests. It’s not usually just someone driving by who decides to pop in and say hi. It’s almost always planned far in advance, giving us time to prepare and get together our essentials for when you have overnight guests.

If you’re having overnight guests (maybe for Thanksgiving, which is right around the corner, or maybe you’re just preparing for Christmas), we’re here to help.

I put together a list of essentials for overnight guests. As long as you have everything on this list, you’ll be ready for your company.

10+ Essentials For When You Have Overnight Guests

We broke this list down into three categories: in the guest bedroom, in the guest bathroom, and in general. Hopefully that will make it easier for you as you prepare for your upcoming guests.

In the guest bedroom

1. Fresh sheets

The first thing we do when we know a guest is coming is wash the sheets on the guest bed.

The best trick I’ve learned is do a load of laundry the day before the guests are arriving. It’s just an easier way to remember that yes, you do have fresh sheets on the bed for your guests.

If you wash the sheets after guests leave, in anticipation of more guests coming in the future, you might not actually wash them. If there are no guests on the horizon, you may think you can put off washing linens (because, really, who likes laundry?). Then, when guests actually do decide to visit, you forget if the sheets are clean or not … so you end up washing them (again) anyway.

Plus, fresh sheets are the best. One of my favorite things in the world is sleeping on freshly cleaned sheets. I always dry ours with two dryer sheets and it adds some sort of magic and really gives the best night sleep. So definitely do that for your guests.

2. An alarm clock

You don’t sleep in the guest bedroom, so you probably don’t think about setting an alarm in there. But your guests would like an alarm clock in that room. Trust me.

I know what you’re thinking. People have phones and phones have clocks and alarms. That’s true. But for whatever reason, every single time we have guests sleep over, they leave their phones plugged into an outlet in the kitchen when they go to bed.

Maybe it’s because we have an alarm clock in the guest bedroom.

And, just double check the time on that alarm clock and make sure you changed it for daylight savings time.

3. Extra blankets

When we’re having company sleep over, we always have the bed made with four pillows, fresh sheets, and a comforter. But, I know some people get cold and want extra blankets. So, I keep extra blankets in the second shelf of the dresser in the guest room. When our guests arrive, I let them know extra blankets are in there if they need them.

Speaking of that dresser, we leave the top drawer open so our guests have somewhere to unpack. We want them to come here and feel comfortable and at home. We don’t want them to feel like they have to live out of their suitcase the whole time.

In the guest bathroom

4. Fresh towels

While you’re washing sheets for your guests, be sure to throw in towels as well so you can put fresh towels in the guest bathroom.

We make sure to fold fresh washcloths over the fresh towels too so our guests don’t have to hunt for them. Because we do have a big basket of them in our guest bathroom’s cabinets, but it’s just so much easier if they’re already out.

5. Shower necessities

As a couponer, we always have a ton of shower necessities. I have so much extra body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. So, to make our guests’ lives easier, I always have the guest shower stocked with everything our guests need to shower.

I leave a razor in there too, just in case our guests realize they forgot one. Honestly, I’m not sure how many of our guests have actually used that razor, but I like to leave it there just in case.

If you don’t have extra full-sized products to just leave in the guest shower, you can pack a cute glass jar with sample-sized items from hotel rooms. They’ll work in a pinch.

If you want to be really great, you can also leave small containers filled with cotton balls, cotton swabs, and toothpaste in your guest bathroom. Your guests may have packed these, but they’re nice to offer … just in case.

6. Toilet paper

We were staying a weekend at a friends’ once … and she ran out early in the morning because she had run out of toilet paper. What a pain, right? Ever since then, I always make sure to have toilet paper stocked up. And I put an extra roll in our guest bathroom, just in case.

Paper towels are so important if you are hosting guests with little kids. There’s a very good chance there will be a spill (or two or three) and you just want to be able to grab a roll of paper towels to clean up.

7. Magazines

We have a magazine rack in our guest bathroom. And it’s constantly filled with new magazines (that we get for free all the time from the free subscriptions I post on here). That way, if (heaven forbid) our guests are in the bathroom without their phones, they have some reading material.

You can actually buy bathroom game signs, like a bathroom word search or bathroom word scramble, and hang those in your guest bathroom too, just to entertain your guests. Which is actually a funny thing to say, now that I think about it. But blame Pinterest.

In general

8. Snacks (including drinks)

When guests come over (and stay overnight or not), it’s important to feed them. You don’t need to give them a full five-course sit down dinner, but it’s nice to have cheese and crackers or chips for them.

And drinks too.

You can stock up on water and soda or if you know that your guests like a certain adult beverage, you can pick that up for them too. You can always go out to the store when your guests are in town to pick up stuff, but it’s nice to let them come in, relax, and have something to snack on after a long trip.

9. WiFi password

Such a modern essential, but you should have your WiFi password available for your guests. Even our guests who just come for Football Sundays ask for the password almost as soon as they step inside the garage.

Everyone has this need to be connected … without using their own data, of course.

So, when you’re having guests, be sure to have your WiFi password ready to give to them when they ask.

There are really cute WiFi password signs that you can buy and write your network and password on. If you display that somewhere publicly in your home, it’ll be really easy for your guests to connect.

10. An itinerary

When guests come, sometimes they just want to sit at our community pool and relax. And that’s great. Whatever they want is good with me.

But I love to have an itinerary, basically a list of things that we can do while they’re here. Parks that have exhibits, restaurants we want to try, things of that sort. We don’t have to do anything on the list at all, but it’s nice to be prepared with options, just in case people want to go out and do things.

11. Extra phone chargers

I can’t tell you how many times people have come to visit and have forgotten to pack their phone chargers. You would think it never happens, but it happens all the time.

So, have extra phone chargers around, either in your house in general or in your guest bedroom. That way, when your guests come to stay, they’re able to charge their phones and tablets.

What items do you think are essential for overnight guests?

Getting ready for guests?

Before your guests arrive, check out our other posts about hosting overnight guests so you’re prepared.

– Tips For Stocking Your Guest Bathroom
7 Ways To Prepare For Unexpected Guests
What You Need For When Guests Visit

Karen

Thursday 14th of January 2016

Great post. Thanks for the suggestions.

Teri@The Freshman Cook

Thursday 14th of January 2016

I love the basket idea, making it easy for guests to find what they need, when they need it! Thanks for sharing at Celebrate It!

Mollie

Tuesday 12th of January 2016

I started to laugh because that sheet situation is one I have often had happen to me~right now as a matter of fact~

Heather Jacobs

Tuesday 12th of January 2016

I love the basket idea and instead of t.p in there I think I will tuck and extra blanket and put it at the end of their bed.

Kayla

Sunday 10th of January 2016

Great tips! We never have guests because I live in a one bedroom apartment, but I'm hoping some day soon that will change! Love the idea of including the wifi password :)