Welcome guests with pleasure

I believe many of us enjoy hosting guests. It does not even need a special occasion to invite people whom we are pleased to see.

However, it is important to to do this properly, so that both the hostess and the guests are satisfied. A few simple tips below will help us spend a great day in the company of people we like and show ourselves to be a wonderful hostess.

Each of the guests should be met in the hallway, showing joy for his arrival. It seems that our joy will be sincere, because if we are dissatisfied with someone, we will not invite such a person at all, correct?

It follows from this that by the time the guests begin to gather, the treats should already be ready and the table set. Otherwise, the hostess will have to hastily finish the dishes and the guests will remain left to their own.

If there are more than five guests, it would be good to arrange the furniture in the room in advance so that those who come have the opportunity to gather for communication in small groups.

To do this, of course, the hostess must know the guests well, who prefers to communicate with whom and what common interests or issues they have to discuss.

It is advisable to know in advance what type of food each guest prefers: some prefer meat dishes, others prefer vegetable dishes and some guests may be vegetarians, while others may have allergies or be diabetics. Accordingly, the dishes on the table should be present in sufficient variety so that everyone can find something to enjoy.

If not all your guests are familiar with each other, you should introduce a “new one” to the rest, so that there is no situation when he sits at the table like a stranger and feel awkward.

The hostess needs to make sure that none of the guests gets bored and sets the tone for a benevolent conversation, as well as offering interesting topics for discussion. At the same time, it is desirable to avoid matters that may increase the nervousness or lower the mood of the guests or even cause anxiety or depression. Moreover, when exchanging news, of course we refrain from gossip.

Remember: we invited guests to have a good and pleasant time with refreshments and warm conversation. Therefore, we should make sure that a good atmosphere is maintained at the table and that none of the guests inadvertently hurts or offends another. If this happened, we should smooth over the awkwardness with gentle words so that there is no quarrel and no one harbours a grudge.

Never forget to change the dishes for clean ones in time. It is good if one of the family members helps us with this (you can ask them to do this in advance), so that we are distracted from the guests as little as possible.

All that we have listed above does not consider the case of a guest (or guests) coming suddenly and without an invitation. In this case, the hostess is not obliged to rush to the stove and may limit herself to offering a light snack. And the guest should keep in mind that he may have to leave soon if the hosts have other plans for the day.

We have not given here the rules of etiquette because this is not always appropriate. However, if you, dear readers, are interested in this topic, then we can continue it.

Julia Zachesova 

As-Salam correspondent