Guest Welcome Basket
We have a friend coming to visit from out of town this weekend, and I'm inspired to create a welcoming experience for her. I was reminded of this post I wrote last year when we were waiting to move into our new home:
I want our home to be the kind of place where we invite people to stay for dinner at the last minute and can whip up something delicious. I want our home to be the kind of place where children can run, explore, connect with nature, and swim. I want our home to be the kind of place where our family can curl up together on Friday nights to watch movies. I want our home to be the kind of place where everyone crowds around the kitchen island to help with dinner. And the kind of place where we gather around the table for board games in the evening. I want our home to be the kind of place where robots are built out of cardboard, Halloween costumes are sewn, cookies are baked, science experiments are conducted, and bird feeders are built. I want our home to be the kind of place where out-of-town guests choose to stay and where they find fresh towels and Aveda shampoo waiting for them. I want our house to be the kind of place where Classical music flows and spontaneous dance parties erupt. The kind of place where marshmallows are toasted while chatting in Adirondack chairs. And the kind of place where vegetables are grown and fruit is harvested. I want our home to be full of laughter, love, and joy.
So, fresh towels and Aveda shampoo it is!
Other ideas for welcoming guests:
- A welcome note written on a mini-chalkboard (or maybe it should be on a card so they could keep it?)
- High-quality instant coffee (is there such a thing?)
- Little chocolates (could we keep these in the house without eating them?)
- Maybe an extra toothbrush, dental floss, and soap in case they forgot something?
Image from Martha Stewart (of course)
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7 comments:
Thanks for the mention below!! I hope you enjoy. We make a similar basket, we include a map of our city and brochures for attractions we think our guests might like, a house key and a couple of local cafe menus. Add cute handmade (by the kids ) soap.
If you are shopping at somewhere like Aveda (Aesop is good for this), ask for some samples, often for guests a sample size is all they need.
We surely couldn't keep chocolate in the house without eating it, I'd have to hide it. Starbucks makes an instant coffee that isn't bad, but it is really expensive. I think it's called Via - we drink when we are camping.
+1 on the Via instant coffee from Starbucks. We've experimented with many since we are campers and this one is the best I've found.
You can also find instant Late products at the grocery store, which are good for folks who don't take their coffee black. I've most commonly seen them by Nescafe.
Regarding the coffee topic for house guests, we stayed with some friends for a week last year and they had a keurig setup. Omg we felt so spoiled! I know it's an investment piece but if you are daily coffee drinkers anyway it might be worth looking into :-)
I remember the original post. Lovely!
Great idea. I would say no to the instant coffee unless the people aren't big coffee drinkers. I really don't think any kind of instant coffee is good at all. Then again I live in Portland. If Austin is anything like Portland in terms of the coffee scene, the guests might just appreciate their own beans and access to your grinder and french press or whatever coffee maker you have.
I love the idea of maps, local menus, transit brochures for the gift basket though. I think the chalkboard is more friendly for the environment and if they want to save it, they can take a photograph, which might be nicer and better for memories.
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