Guest Room Essentials and Free Printable
I don’t know about you, but I love having friends and family come visit. I love getting to show them around our town and catch up on all the things we’ve missed. One thing that I’ve noticed from having visitors is that I have been doing a horrible job at making sure they felt welcomed in every aspect and had everything they need! Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, I mean, I still made sure they had a clean room to sleep in and of course I fed them, but I hadn’t really ever given much thought to going the extra mile to make sure they felt truly welcome. Given that thought, I decided to stockpile our guest room with all the guest room essentials to make sure that not only would our guests feel welcome, but they’d want to come back! 🙂
To start, I broke down the essentials into 4 categories to make sure I had all my bases covered. Those four categories are: the essentials, entertainment, personal care, and snacks. Once I knew what I was looking for, I headed to the Dollar Tree to stock up! I love the Dollar Tree for guest room essentials because you can get all the necessary items without spending a fortune! This makes it easy to replenish your supply after you’ve had a guest come for a visit.
So, are you ready to check out how easy it is to get your guest room set up to be nicer than a hotel? Let’s get started!
The Essentials
There are only a few things that guests really truly need to feel relaxed and comfortable in your home, and that’s water and wifi access. 🙂 However, you can also supply a few more things to make sure they easily get settled in, and of course, you can make it pretty too.
- Water – It is so important to leave a carafe of water on the nightstand with a drinking glass so your guests don’t have to get up in the middle of the night, wandering aimlessly in the dark throughout your house trying to find the kitchen.
- WiFi access – Let’s face it, you wouldn’t be happy about staying the weekend somewhere that didn’t have internet access, so why expect your guests to? Make it easy for them to get online without having to ask for the Wifi name and passoword by leaving it in plain sight on their nightstand! Of course you could leave it on a post-it note, but you could also take the extra step to print it out and stick it in a cute frame! This way you’ll never have to worry about writing it down for anyone else again! And, to make things even easier for you, I’m giving you a free printable to use!
- Remote Control – If you have a tv in your guest room, be sure to leave the remote in an easy-to-find location.
- Candle – This one isn’t truly an essential for everyone, but it most definitely is for me. I think candles are so inviting and relaxing so naturally, they should be on the nightstand for your guests to enjoy. Just be sure to leave matches or a lighter of some kind so they can actually light it!
Entertainment
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve stayed at someone’s house and either stayed up later than them or gotten up long before they did, only to find myself lost in boredom. So help your guests out a bit by leaving some form of entertainment.
- Books and magazines – While yes, they’ll have their phone and maybe a tv, a book or magazines are always a good option as many people actually prefer to read (not on a screen) to help them fall asleep. No place is this probably more true than in an unfamiliar place! So pick out an interesting book and a few magazines to keep by the bedside.
- Notebook/Journal and a pen – It’s also a good idea to keep a notebook or journal and a pen by the bed so if they wake up in the middle of the night with an idea or random item they need to add to their shopping list for when they get home, they don’t have to go digging through their purse or bag to find one.
Personal Items
No matter how much you travel, you’re most likely going to forget something. This holds true for your visitors, so plan accordingly to save them from having to run to the store or ask you for something. The main things to keep on hand are likely to be the types of things you use on a daily basis.
- Deodorant, Shampoo/Conditioner, and Lotion – Even if someone is only going to stay with you one night, don’t assume they’ll be find if they forgot any of these items, especially if you plan on keeping them busy! Always assume that your guests are going to need these things.
- Floss, Toothbrush, and Toothpaste – One of these is inevitably the thing I forget when I travel. I don’t know how I do it, but I have rarely remembered to bring all 3 with me, leading me to the local CVS to buy the thing I forgot. These are easily found at the dollar store, so they’re super easy to replenish if a guest comes and uses one from your stash.
- Tissues/Cotton Balls/Pads/Swabs – You never need these until you’re staying at a friends house and don’t have any of your own. Just do me a favor and throw them in your guest room drawer just in case, ok? 🙂
- Band-aids/Cough Drops/Zantac/Excedrin – Medicine and band-aids are always a good idea for guests because being away from home may actually cause them to need some of these things. Let me explain, if you take your guests out to explore and they walk in uncomfortable shoes, they’ll likely need one or two band-aids for blisters at some point. If your house is kept at a different temperature as your guests keep theirs, the difference in air conditioning/humidity/etc… may cause them to get a tickle in their throat which cough drops will help with. Zantac is a heartburn medication and is likely to be needed by some guests when trying local regional food that they are not accustomed to eating. And Excedrin can be taken for a headache if they haven’t had enough water to drink which frequently happens while traveling.
- Nail polish and clippers – I threw these in just because I know some of my guests are not likely to make time to do their nails at home, so making it available to them to do at my house is just something nice.
Snacks
It really sucks when you’re staying at someone’s house and you’ve had dinner then went to bed, but now you’re hungry again! Some guests will just raid your fridge or pantry on their own, but some may be more polite and decide to tough it out through the night because they don’t want to be rude. Put some quick snacks in the drawer for them so they don’t have rummage or starve! The dollar store has plenty of snack ideas and can allow you to put a variety of snack out for your guests, ranging from semi-healthy to semi-not. 🙂
- Nuts/Trail Mix – good option for those who are a little more health-conscious, plus the nuts will help to keep them satisfied through the night.
- PopCorners chips – the Kettle Corn flabored ones are my favorite because they’re just a little bit sweet, which is a good option for guests. Also, they have less calories than regular chips, so still on the semi-ok side of the snack aisle.
- Chocolate – any kind of chocolate is always good. M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, you name it and I promise that your guests will love it!
So there you have it! For roughly about $20 you can set your guests up with everything they may need while visiting your house.
Don’t forget your free printable!
Before you go – grab your copy of this free Guest Room WIFI Access Printable!
Click here to download!