4 Essential things to knock out before inviting your moms group over for product testing.
1. Clean the house. This includes, but is not limited to:
A. The Kitchen. The kitchen can be a reflection of hygiene. When someone has a nasty kitchen, apart from the normal disarray from cooking supper and/or breakfast for the family and going to sleep or running out to make a last-minute appointment; it gives off the wrong signals. This is the place where people eat, and is seen as a vulnerable place in your home, where germs could easily spread, because of the immediate contact to your mouth; through using dish-ware. You want to make sure that all cups, plates, glasses, and silverware are clean. Spotless! Sitting dishwater is a playground for bacteria. So is food that is not stored properly and it also attracts gnats. Both can give an unattractive smell to the attention of your home. Wipe your stovetop and countertops clean of any nasty residue from the existence of food left behind. The inside and outside of the refrigerator, where germs linger on the door handles as well as spilled drinks and wasted food on the inside should be wiped down and disinfected. And don’t’ forget the floors – especially if you require a guest to leave their shoes at the door and walk barefoot in your home.
B. The Bathroom. The bathroom can be another reflection of hygiene, but on a much more personal and intimate level. An uncleanly bathroom can be borderline offensive. Lol. Seriously, when a person goes into the bathroom, where they will be removing their clothing, they are exposing another part of their body to what may be in your bathroom. The last feeling you want them to have is the feeling of being in a health hazardous, portable bathroom on the street corner of a project under mass construction. The bathroom toilet should be disinfected. That includes cleaning the top and bottom of the bowl, as well as inside and outside of the bowl. (Flush handle, bowl, tank and seat and the trapped dirt at the bottom back of the bowl) Give some attention to the toiletries, such as: hand washing soap, or wet wipes, lotion and air freshener. Be sure to refresh the toilet tissue and paper towels or supply hand towels for drying hands. This encourages your guest to wash their hands before leaving the bathroom and returning to the living areas of your home. This is one that should be practiced by the occupiers of the home anyway, so shouldn’t pose any extra planning in getting your home visitor-ready.
2. The Guest Bedroom and Bath (for overnight guest) in addition to the same attention to the bathroom, as listed above, attention to the tub/shower, sink/vanity, and mirrors should be pampered when prepping your guest-bedroom bathroom. Of course, your half bath has a sink and mirror and some hallway guest bathrooms are full baths instead of whole, but let’s not get caught in the logistics… the point is to make sure that whatever bathroom in your home that will be open to guest/visitors is clean. That means whichever bathroom, occupies the features of the aforementioned, and is clean and sterilized. The guest bedroom In this room, you want to make it as friendly, warm and welcoming as possible, without giving the impression that you are inviting your guest to turn into roommates. I say this with all sincerity because I found out long ago that while it is important to make houseguest feel welcomed, they often extend and overstay their welcome when they are too comfortable. So, with that being said, you definitely still want to provide them with fresh linens on the bed, plush pillows with clean pillowcases. You want to make sure the lights or lamps have bulbs that work. We will not be cleaning their room for them each morning or turning back the covers with hot chocolate or breakfast in bed. We will not be leaving mints and notes in the room about how we’d love for them to stay another night. Just make sure that upon arrival the room is vacuumed, dusted and smell good.
3. Do the dirty laundry While I am referring to the dirty laundry that is sitting in the laundry room and hallway upstairs that your children have not realized will not wash itself, it’s not a bad idea to consider the “dirty laundry” at home; which includes the indifferences that your other housemates or spouse may have about your arriving guest and or your decision to invite them to stay over. This comes down to, not being rude to your guest. Moms, before you plan a moms group meeting at the house, make sure you run it by all decision-making occupants in the house. It does not mean that if your husband can’t stand the way Meredith smacks when she eats, or the way Alex picks her teeth, that they cannot come. It means that you should give your spouse or other occupants the heads-up out of consideration so that they can excuse themselves during that time or make plans of their own to do something during that time. For the guest that is staying over, it’s also wise to inform your spouse or housemates just so that tension is not present during their stay. Its just good housekeeping protocol.
4. Grocery shopping for food and drinks If you’re a good host, you will take into account the diets and nutrition of your guest who are visiting, whom you will be offering a beverage and food service to. You should consider their allergies, more so over their preference and likeness. But of course, if you want to go all out for guest that you are preparing dinner for, you can certainly pick up something they requested.
When it comes to the mom group for product testing, there’s an exception: The exception could be that each individual is assigned the task of bringing certain items on their own. For example: If we are pairing wines, we delegate things like cheese, meat, and crackers to the vets of the group or the newbies of the group. Depending on who’s home been hosing the group, we could make our decisions based on that. Many factors to be considered to make it work, but the most important thing is that if it’s at your home, that you have a ready supply of things that will be needed for your guest.
On the flip side: This is also an area where we are going to consider the rules of overstaying a welcome. We are not asking our guest to come to move in with us, while we provide them with the lap of luxury, of which they get to live, eat and drink for free. We want them to leave, but we want them to enjoy their stay.
