I’ve written this blog post several times, whenever I am expecting family to visit the house. In preparation for a family visit, or more especially a parent-visit, we have been known to go above and beyond; from buying an obscene amount of groceries, to cleaning and laundering everything we own, to planning family dinners that take me hours to actual make.

This time, when the parents arrive, they’ll see not much has changed because we’re prepping for our trip to Europe. Not a lot of extra cash to put toward home improvement. However, there are a couple of things I’m planning to prep for this visit:

1. Deep Clean- In addition to sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, etc., we’re going through our spare junk room. Until now, it’s been used to keep all of our unpacked stuff from the apartment. We’ve gone through to separate our donation boxes, papers to be shredded, things to be organized or packed up for storage. Laundry, window washing and straightening up the garage is also on the deep clean list.
2. Landscaping- Now that the weather is better, it’s time to seed and weed the lawn, clean up the fallen twigs and branches, and tidy up the back deck.
3. Ikea– We won’t be buying “fill up the room” furniture, but we do need to pick up a couple of room accessories: frames, curtains, possibly a new nightstand. We have guest rooms with the necessities, but I would like them to be more welcoming. 
4. Meal planning– Cooking for two people is very different from cooking for 6, especially when you take into account food allergies and picky eaters. We try to plan one night out at a restaurant that has a little something special. Then, one night in where I try to cook a bigger meal. We also buy more snacks than usual, in addition to actually planning lunches.  There aren’t ever enough left overs to cover two meals.
5. Activity planning– Last time family visited, we took everyone to Top Golf. Before that it was, the farmer’s market, Ikea and antique shopping. I have no idea what to do this time around…

Any other tips for family hosting?