Entertaining Guests During a Pandemic

Without a doubt, Covid-19 has changed much of our social life as we’ve known it. For the first couple of months we were in almost total isolation. After taking measures those first couple of months to safeguard our family’s physical health by staying away from people, my husband and I began seeing the need to balance that with safeguarding our family’s emotional health in being around people. So as it’s become more apparent that the virus isn’t going to pass on by too quickly and that we’re in this for longer than originally anticipated, I’m exploring ways of having friends and family to our home in safe and responsible ways.

I thought I’d share a few ideas I’ve come up with for entertaining guests during the pandemic. Yes, these ideas are good for own family’s health and well-being, but our primary goal in having others to our home, as it’s always been, is making them feel welcome and comfortable. Each of our guests has their own comfort level when it comes to socializing, and we want to respect that! And that brings me to the first idea.

Idea #1: First and foremost! Talking with our friends and family to find out what their preferences are for social distancing is a first step in inviting them over. For those of our loved ones who have more concern and are at higher risk, I also try to be honest with them about activities or work we’ve been engaged in that may have brought us more exposure, and I assure them that we are not offended in the least if they’d feel more at ease in waiting to get together.

Idea #2: Hosting smaller groups. For instance, these days rather than having our whole extended family over at one time (it’s really big!), we’re having everyone over in smaller family units.

Idea #3: Taking the party outside. This may seem harder now that the heat, humidity, and thunderstorms are are at their summer peak, but we’re finding some fun ways to manage the elements. We recently had my mom, my sister and her kiddos over for a water day! The kids were content in the hot sun because they were playing in water, and we adults sat under the shaded porch with the fan and a breeze.

I fixed up buckets for each of the kids with items for their water activities: water guns, water balloons, bubbles, and shaving cream! Water Day has been a summer tradition with this set of cousins for several years now and we were so happy that it worked well with Covid-19!

Idea #4: Simplifying the food. Ordinarily, I rarely purchase individual prepackaged servings of chips, snacks, drinks, etc. It’s just so expensive. But this summer I’m finding it worth the extra dollars to put minds at ease with serving foods that don’t require everyone’s hands going into one big bag of chips. I’ve been serving more single serve chip bags, Uncrustables, canned drinks and water bottles, Caprisuns, and lots and lots of popsicles! Since I don’t usually purchase prepackaged foods like these, my son thinks this is the best summer ever! I’m sure I’ll have to break him of the habit later, but for now he’s living it up, and I’m enjoying less food prep!

And there are plenty of ways to get around foods that aren’t prepackaged. I’ve learned from my mom to simplify a hot dog bar by going ahead and placing the hot dogs in the buns and setting out tongs for serving. I usually have a box of those foil sheet wrappers for burgers and hot dogs but am currently out of them.

S’mores ingredients can be packaged into single servings in baggies and set out with the skewers and a roll of paper towels and some wet wipes for each guest to help themselves. This is how I always do smore’s anyway! When the party is over, I take the leftover s’mores baggies and put them in a big gallon bag to go in the freezer. Then my little s’mores packages are ready to get out and serve for the next gathering!

Idea #5: Putting out hand gel. For those who will want it, I place a bottle of hand gel on the food counter. I DO NOT make an announcement that everyone needs to use it though, because this is is not for me; it’s for my guests’ comfort. For those who feel better sanitizing their hands, or for the mamas who want their kids to grab a quick squirt before eating, it’s there.

Idea #6: Ditching the community hand towel! This one kind of pains me because I’ve always enjoyed my collection of hand towels and selecting a pretty one for each occasion, but alas, I’ve done away with the one cloth hand towel hanging in the bathroom for everyone to use. And I really should have thought of this years ago, because I hear so many people talk about trying to find a clean spot on a towel that 20 other people have used. And with the number of kids we usually have at our gatherings, those towels are usually water-drenched and full of dirt and stickiness before the party is over, lol! So now I’m placing a roll of paper towels on the bathroom counter for our guests to use after washing their hands.

I hope this gives you some helpful ideas for entertaining people in your own homes–putting our guests at ease and making them feel truly welcome no matter their concerns with social gatherings. And if you have my family and me over to your house, please know that I will NOT be looking for you to replicate these ideas. These are things I do for my own guests to cover a broad spectrum of comfort levels. They are just ideas and nothing I would push on anyone else.

I pray you’re enjoying summer and the lovely people in your own lives!!