Making an Impression to The New Guests

By M. Rakinul Islam

If you are from the South Asian continent, you definitely know guests are right there ranked second just under religion. They hold the power to be the reason for completely changing the looks of a household overnight, just to be more pleasing to their sight and bring out the master chef in your mother. In summary, anything and everything is done to make an impression and if it’s a new guest, renovation knows no boundary.

What happens if you are a South Asian millennial and have guests coming over to your new settlement? You do what every millennial does, a google search! Given that you are reading this blog and still continuing we understand how desperate you are to make that perfect impression. Worry no more, we got your back! Without further delay let us take it step by step on this stairs into perfecting your impression on the new guests!

Prepping the House

If you were observant during your childhood days, you’d notice preparing the house for guests started the night before, the house was properly vacuumed, wiped with everything organized This is very important in case of first impressions. To start off with preparations, the first thing on your list should be organizing everything. During our daily lives, we often place objects or furniture at a desired comfortable position. This can look odd for someone coming to your place for the first time. Put those shoes in the rack, hide the laundry basket and reorganize the house in a manner that is both comfortable and eye catching to the visitors.

Once everything is in its right place and swept under the carpet (do not literally sweep anything under the carpet) go for a full on cleansing schedule, if it shines it might be gold! Start by dusting the whole place. Those pesky spiders make homes in all the wrong places, so pay attention to details. After dusting, clean the whole apartment with water and any antiseptic mixed, preferably a sweet smelling antiseptic to ensure soothing aroma. A few very important areas to be kept squeaky clean includes the toilet, kitchen and bedroom, note that these are areas the guests will most certainly visit and definitely judge by.

What is a clean house with no decoration? Get your favourite bed sheets and drapes out for your apartment however you please, matching the pillow covers are an added bonus unless you like to mix it up a little and play with colors. To compliment the fresh bedsheets an array of cleverly chosen curtains will surely leave a lasting impact. To entertain serious guests, a choice of heavy light colored curtains has proved to play a positive role.

Once you have the house organized, cleaned and decorated, it’s time to move on to enhance the perfect impression.

Tableware

The main event of a guest visiting is the lunch/dinner session and a well decorated dinner table hits the home run. We all have special crockeries hidden away for a special occasion, it’s time to make some use for them. Take them out and place them over a decently draped table, maintaining space and inserting enough decoration is a true challenge that pays off (how about adding a flower vase).

If you really want to go the extra mile, investing in some neat looking salt and pepper holder and tissue holder can be a game changer along with properly placed cutleries. A professional looking table will always be remembered.

Menu

Regardless of lunch or dinner the menu for guests over at your place deserve two sections. The first section focusing on light snacks suitable for conversing over tea. This menu is a bit complicated as it might risk the appetite for the main course so, stay on the safe side and include dishes with low oil amount and focus mainly on fruits.

The main menu can range from something exquisite to a personal preference of cultural. In my experience guests have always appreciated a culturally centered lunch/dinner over something exquisite, probably due to the memories associated.

Upon Arrival

Needless to say the guests should always be received with a warm gesture and seated at the living room for some refreshments and appetizers. A brief conversation about any topic focusing on daily routine is advised. A trick to hold on to a dying conversation and inevitable awkward silence is to offer the guests a tour of your home, this will spark conversation regarding a lot of other factors and keep the crowd lively.

A cozy sitting space is highly advised to entertain the guests and a constant warm smiling gesture is required at all times, regardless. Considering you have come this far the next few steps are self-explanatory, simple etiquettes and a pleasant meal is always expected to bring positive impressions. 

Guests can be both amusing and annoying but indifferent to their attitude it’s a responsibility on the hosts to ensure they have a soothing experience. Spice up the instructions and hold on to your patience to ensure a great impression to the new guests.