OR: I Should Have Bought a Bigger Tree
I am working with Kohler Canada to share my tips on how to get your home ready for holiday entertaining. I was also provided products from Indigo. I hope you’ll like my tips and that they’ll help you this holiday season!
When I was younger and still lived at home with my family, preparing the home for guests was always a stressful time. In part, the stress was so intense because everything happened last-minute.
Mad rushing around to get a home ready for holiday entertaining can be avoided with a little forethought and pre-planning. As with other areas of my life, I take a “less but better” approach to holiday entertaining so that I can avoid feeling stressed before, during, and after the event.
Welcome guests with festive decorations
Seasonal decor does a lot to add a festive tone to a dinner party or other holiday get-togethers. I live in a small apartment and don’t have a lot of room to store decorations, so I keep it simple for the holidays.
I picked up a small blue spruce tree from a garden centre a few weeks ago and decorated it as an homage to Canadian provinces and territories, thanks to a partnership with Indigo. The square ceramic ornaments are each painted with the name of a province or territory, plus a few things that are representative. Take a look at a few of them, below:
As you can see, since I bought a tiny tree, I couldn’t fit all the beautiful ornaments on it. So, I decided to create a Western Canada theme with ornaments for Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. I’ve been thinking about what else I could use the ornaments for after the Christmas season is over.
Here are a couple of my ideas:
-“flashcards” to remember things like capital cities, bodies of water, trees, and provincial and territorial flowers.
-decorations for a cabin or cottage
Get your Kitchen Ready for Guests
Everyone knows the kitchen is where most guests tend to gather. Don’t worry too much about cleaning the bedroom(s) or areas of the home where guests are unlikely to see. Instead, tidy your kitchen: set out dishware, drinks, and drinkware. The Kohler Wine Glass Drying Rack holds 4-6 wine glasses, depending on what size you have.
The drying rack allows you to wash your glasses without worrying about water spots because the glasses are stored upside down. Whether your guests want to have a sip of water, juice, or other beverage, drinking from a wine glass is so much more fun than from a tumbler, don’t you think?
Make it Easy to Cook and Clean
When I’m cooking, I tend to wash my hands about once every 10 seconds. Instead of using up valuable energy yelling at my soap dispenser, I’ve opted to help myself out by using the Kohler Touchless Foaming Soap Dispenser which doesn’t require me to use one hand for pumping soap into my other.
It’s awesome because I can just put my hand under the nozzle to start washing my hands. Plus, I’ll know if I’m washing my hands for the recommended amount of time because the light stays on for 20 seconds. With 3 choices of foam or soap, you’ll get just the amount you want, when you wash your hands.
Thank you to Kohler Canada for partnering with me for this blog post. If you also live in Vancouver and would like to see Kohler’s huge range of both small and large products, check out the Kohler Signature Store.
Make your home feel warm and inviting
Other than decorations, there are some practical things that should be on hand for holiday entertaining. Extra seating, cozy cushions and throw blankets, candles, and ambient lighting are all things that will make guests feel welcome and comfortable.
