How We Entertain in a Small Home

We love to host and entertain in our home. But we have a fairly small home. At least according to today’s standards! However, that doesn’t hold us back from entertaining in our small home! I want to share some tips and encouragement for how you can host, entertainment and be hospitable even if your home is small.

I almost titled this post “How We Practice Hospitality in a Small Home.” Because practicing hospitality is more how I see what we do. You don’t need a perfect home every day to practice hospitality. That should NOT be what we strive for.

But I think we often feel inferior to others if we want to host them, but our homes are small. We say things like, “I’d love to have you over, but my home is just too small.” Or we think, “If only I could keep my home clean I’d be able to host family and friends.”

Instead, let’s setup our small homes to practice hospitality regularly. Whether you call it entertaining, hosting, or practicing hospitality, it doesn’t matter. Invite people into your home. Show them love. Spend time with others.

Here are a few things we do to help us entertain in our small home on a regular basis.

1. We Don’t Keep Stuff We Don’t Need

This is a simple one, but probably the most important. Our cupboards aren’t overflowing. Our closets have room to breathe. We don’t store extra stuff in our homes that could cause extreme amounts of clutter.

This helps our home to stay fairly tidy on a regular basis. You can come over unexpectedly (or call us 15 minutes before you get here…that’s what we would prefer! 😉 ) and you will be welcomed into our home. I can’t promise there won’t be a few toys on the floor or some dishes that need to be washed. But overall our home will be ready for you to come in and drink a cup of coffee!

2. We Aren’t Afraid to Re-Orient Our Furniture

As we prepare for larger gatherings, we aren’t afraid to re-orient or rearrange our furniture. This Thursday we will be hosting 16+ people for a full sit-down dinner. We decided to flip around our sofa so that we have more space to extend our table.

3. We Borrow What We Need From Others

Since we live in a small home, we don’t have the space to store a bunch of extra appliances or furniture. That’s okay because we can always borrow what we need from others.

Whether it be folding chairs and tables or crock pots and serving pieces, anything can be borrowed from family or friends. Don’t feel like you have to store everything you need to entertain others.

4. We Keep It Simple

Entertaining in your home doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need fancy decor or a perfectly clean home. My mother-in-law has a sign on her kitchen wall that I love. It says, “If you feed them, they will come” That’s exactly how I feel about entertaining. Provide the food and let the rest fall into place.

If we are relaxed and enjoying ourselves, then our guests will feel that and be at home in our homes. Don’t stress over the little details. Just keep it simple.

5. We Prepare to Use Our Entire Home

I often hear the tip to only clean the main living spaces and close the doors to the rest. Well, my entire home is filled when we have company! So we clean it all and make it company ready.

Our bedroom might hold overflow coats from guests, the kids play in our boys’ bedrooms, and both of our bathrooms may be used by guests. And that’s okay! A home is meant to be used.

So while it might mean you don’t have a space to hide your clutter, the question really is…do you need that stuff anyway? Or is it keeping you from living a life you really want to live? Like hosting others in your home.

6. We Keep Our Entertaining Serving Pieces Neutral

While I love aqua and pretty florals, I tend to keep my serving pieces neutral. I’ve chosen to stick with white, clear, and wood tones for our serving pieces.

I keep my table linens in shades of white, grey, and light tan so they are easily interchangeable. This means that no matter what the season or holiday, I can use the pieces I have.

Bonus! Clean Up is Quick & Easy!!

Having a small home also means that we can clean it up quickly! When we invite others into our home it often means kids pull out all of the toys we own, crumbs end up all over our floor, and lots of dishes fill our sink. All these things are easily cleaned up. It was in order to begin with and everything has a home to return to.

Being with family and friends and nurturing those relationships is so much more important to me than a clean house. Everything can be cleaned. But that precious time with your family and friends is so much more important.

I hope you found some encouragement to entertainment in your home no matter what size home you have!