8 Easy Steps for Welcoming Guests
How to welcome guests:
- Invite your guests to your Get Together!
- Text/email them in advance that you are looking forward to your get together and send your address and the time.
- Greet them at the door (or ask them to meet you in your backyard and be there waiting for them so you can greet them).*
- Introduce the families to each other – perhaps share something that they have in common.
- Offer them water, etc.
- Enjoy your get together and what you have planned (guests always feel more comfortable when the host is comfortable).
- When they leave, walk them to the door (don’t just say goodbye from the backyard).*
- Text them after to thank them for coming (include the pics you took).
*Abraham and Sarah were known to be extremely welcoming- their tent was open on all sides so that they could walk and greet their guests. Just like Sarah and Abraham, we want to be welcoming to our guests. The author Wendy Mogel applied this concept to playdates (greeting and walking out guests). Sometimes kids have a difficult time with transitions and find it hard to stop playing; therefore, instead of just the guest leaving (while the host child continues playing), it is helpful if everyone gets up and walks to the door (or to the front of your home from your backyard :).
- Lisa Litman’s video: Welcoming guests to your get together!
- Here is a great video for parents about welcoming guests from bimbam (afterwards it links to a fun kids video if parents or kids want to watch that too).
- Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer’s article: Helping Our Children To Welcome Guests
- jkidphilly welcoming resources including a welcome sign (that kids can print out and decorate!)
- PJ Library’s Helping Kids Welcome Guests (The mitzvah of welcoming guests, or hachnasat orchim, is not just about inviting people in but also making them feel honored, relaxed, and at home.)
Enjoy your Get Together! Email Bari Jacobson with any questions.