Entertaining Overnight House Guests - Made Easy

I have truly enjoyed entertaining overnight house guests and since we live in Florida near a beautiful beach, we have guests who look forward to the change in scene and for some to get away from frigid weather up north. It is fun and enjoyable simply because of pre-planning and organization.

Below are some tips that work very well for entertaining overnight guests:

*Planning - put together a plan for meals to be served including breakfast, lunch and dinner far in advance to allow sufficient time to shop for groceries and have the right food on hand.

*Food Preparation - prepare most foods ahead, freeze or refrigerate.

*Breakfast - this meal tends to be more difficult to prepare in advance. Have on hand cereals, yogurts, protein powder to make smoothies, fresh fruit, eggs, bacon/sausage, pancake mix, frozen waffles. Preparing omelets and pancakes makes breakfast special and my guests enjoy watching this activity. Also, I have on hand a few additions so that my guests can personalize their omelet.

*Lunch - sandwiches are the quickest and easiest to prepare. Have on hand a variety of deli meats, tomatoes, dressings. Package salad mixes work well along with a variety of bottled dressings. Leftovers from dinner the night before also works well including fried chicken, cold sliced roast beef served over salad greens topped with dressing.

*Dinners - meals that can be made ahead include casseroles, tomato sauce, either with meat or marinara style, fried breaded chicken breast. I do the breading early in the day and refrigerate till ready to fry. Fry an hour before serving, and place in a warm oven. This gives you additional time to set the table, prepare a salad and visit with guests. I also prepare breaded veal cutlets and fry in extra virgin olive oil or bake until brown. An easy meal is serving the cutlets with lemon slices, a vegetable and a salad. Also, the cutlets can be served cold the next day in a sandwich.

*Morning Coffee - if you have an auto-timer coffee maker, prepare coffee the night before and set to the time guest awake. Have cups, sweetener, and cream set out for guests to help themselves until breakfast is prepared.

*Preparing the House -place an alarm clock in the bedroom. Have adequate hangers in the closet and provide drawer space. Find a space to store luggage.

*Bathroom - should be equipped with fresh soap at the sink and in the shower along with shampoo and conditioner. Have an extra supply of towels stored in a convenient place for guests to reach. Since traveling by air these days makes packing some toiletries difficult, have on hand in the guest bathroom small bottles of lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, small size package of aspirin/ibuprofen, Band-Aids, even a spare hairdryer can come in handy. I also like to include a small package of TUMS, as it's easy to over indulge when on vacation and always have a few extra rolls of toilet tissue.

*When Children Come To Visit - keeping children entertained is easy. Just be sure to have things like books, puzzles, crayons, paper, scissors, and Silly Putty. Also have a small variety of toys and a large basket to store the toys, making cleanup easy. Kids can sometimes be picky eaters, but most children enjoy chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, bagels, waffles, canned soups and fresh fruit.

I have found planning in advance has made my time with guests relaxing and gives me more time to spend visiting with them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Ahearn

Where to Find Great Games

Sometimes you want to bring some new games to family game night so everyone can all learn together. But how do you find these games? Here are some tips for finding the best games.

1. Yard Sale

It is amazing what you can find from yard sales sometimes, any time I go to one I always find something I want. That's why it is always a good idea to stop whenever you see a yard sale sign. This doesn't only apply to board games but practically anything that might be good to find.

2. Search it

The search engines are the biggest information portal man has ever created. Going to your favorite search engine and typing in a key word like, "favorite board games" or "best games" will bring up a ton of different result which you might find useful, you never know.

3. Ask a Geek

Ah the power of geeks, you may be laughing but this is how I find new games. Whenever I want to know which games are new and of course Fun, I ask one of my geeky friends. Somehow they just know the right games, or they know a hole in the wall place that has a bounce of weird games I have never even heard of before.

4. Buy Traditional Games

If all else fails you can always go down to your local Wal-Mart and buy a game of scrabble. There is nothing wrong with that more traditional games are always fun. Of course if you are looking for newer games to play this probably will not be a good option.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Rosenberg

How Plan a Hawaiian Theme Party on a Small Budget

Today's Question is: -

"How do I host the perfect Hawaiian theme party on a small budget?"

In credit crunch times, people do not stop having birthday parties, but our budgets get just a little bit tighter. So I'm going to show you how to have a great Hawaiian Theme party on a very small budget. I'll show you where you can cut costs, where no one will see.

Best if you have a small budget to host your Hawaiian theme party at home. This will cost your more time, but less money. As you do not have to pay for room hire.

If your home is a little small, you could move the party outside weather permitting. If you are worried about what the weather will do to your Hawaiian theme party if it rains, you could try asking around to find your local community centre or church hall. There will be a room charge, but it will be a very small one.

Whether you can spend a little or a lot there is always a budget to deal with.
When your budget is small. Work out where you wish to spend the money on, and where you can save it.
For example: - With the Hawaiian party theme, you do not have to spend a lot on decorations. You can make the buffet table your Hawaiian centrepiece. Decorate this with a Hawaiian party table centre or table runner and hey presto you have your party theme almost covered.

If you also ask your guests to come dressed up in a Hawaiian outfit. This also helps to carry the theme into other rooms, without much in the way of party decoration. This fancy dress approach adds colour to the room with you having too.

Bunting of the Multi-coloured variety is also a winner for decorating a large party space on a small budget. You can of course make your own Hawaiian party decorations, but a little word of warning here. Your decorations will not be flame resistant, most brought ones will be. So please take extra care around naked flames.

With the Hawaiian theme party decorations almost done, we can turn our attention to the food.
Hawaiian's use a lot of chicken, pork, pineapple and rice in their traditional recipes.

With the aid of a quick search on the inter-net you should be able to come up with a few great Hawaiian recipes for your buffet table. It would however be a little foolish to use all Hawaiian recipes. As there is always room on the buffet table for a few party buffet favourites. If you need to make a little party food go a long way. Pasta, potatoes & rice can help to bulk out your buffet.

I hope that has helped sort out your budget Hawaiian theme party for you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jan_Dering

Outdoor Toys and Garden Games

Outdoor Toys have been in children's lives for many generations, however the last 10 years has seen a dramatic change in the variety of outdoor toys available on the market. As parents become more and more worried about their children venturing out alone they are thinking of different and exciting ideas of keeping them at home. This has in turn led to manufacturers designing some very unusual and innovative garden games such as the spring free trampoline and garden slacklines.

As well as new innovative outdoor toys, the old faithful such as climbing frames and swings are still going strong. These conventional garden games however have been developed and redesigned to suit the wants and needs of the new generation of children. To keep a child interested these days seems much harder than 20 years ago, its a good job that there is a much greater range of outdoor toys on the market.

Outdoor toys can help a child become more confident and co-ordinated as well as being extremely fun to play with. Garden games also give the child the much needed exercise that we all need. Im sure the majority of us would prefer to see our children in the garden playing, running around, playing on climbing frames or jumping on a trampoline rather than sat inside playing on there Playstation or Nintendo. Playing with outdoor toys, playing outside and interaction with other children all help in the development of our children.

Safety is paramount when it comes to our kids so you will be pleased to know that the safety standards of outdoor toys are getting more specific and generally harder to achieve. The last thing that we want to do as parents is put our children in danger. It is especially pleasing to know that trampoline safety standards are improving and with the introduction of the spring free trampoline we hope to see the number of injuries dramatically fall.

Outdoor toys are a fantastic way for our children to keep fit and entertained. Lets embrace the fun and all go out to play.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Eastwood

Winning at Scrabble

Scrabble is the king of word games. It allows you to make points by using tiles to spell words. Here are some helpful tips to give you the advantage.

1. Save the S
S tiles are very important in the game of scrabble. They allow you to make someone else's high point word your own, or even score points on your high point word twice. S's are the most valuable letter so save them and use them wisely.

One trick you can do with S is use them in a word and attach the S to the end of another word. This way you get points for your word and points for making the other word plural.

2. Look for the bonus spots
Of course the bonus squares help you out a lot. For every word or at least for most of the words you spell you are going to want to have one of your letters on a bonus square. Remember also to use the bonus squares wisely.

Don't put an A on a double letter score because it isn't going to help you very much, but if you could put a Q or a X on a double letter bonus it will be a big help.

3. Look for vowels next to bonus spots
A vowel next to a bonus square just begs you to put a word there and make a ton of points. Keep your eye out for spots like that. And remember to avoid putting a vowel next to a bonus square whenever possible because your opponent might take advantage of it.

4. Build up your vocabulary
Scrabble is a word game, doing things that will build up your vocabulary will greatly increase your chances of winning. Reading more often and playing other word games can help you here.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Rosenberg

Staycations in a Rough Economy

This year, it seems that the economy is not improving. This is rough for all of us, especially for those who have their own families. Since families usually travel somewhere when vacation comes, it is hard for the kids to stay at home and miss out on the occasional trips. For those who are also stuck in their houses because of financial difficulty, not to worry because a few tips will give you the same or greater satisfaction as traveling far away. You just have to appreciate the smaller things.

To have a great day at home, look through your basement and around the house. You may find something fun and exciting to do with your family. There might be board games that you have forgotten about and missed or cards you have long since played. You might be surprised by how much fun you had before just staying at home.

Group sports like basketball and baseball can also form stronger bonds with your family. It develops cooperation that lacks in other things. Roller skating is another activity that won't bore anyone. If you like traveling so much, roller skating allows you to go to streets you might not have gone to before. These recreational activities are good for the health, which should not be forgotten during vacations.

Not traveling will save everyone a lot of money. Because of this, we can indulge on other things we can't do before. The best example is food. Families rarely eat out because of the expenses. But having some money to spend, you can actually do it. The best meal is to eat out is probably supper. Afterwards, you can all watch movies. Renting or buying DVDs and not going to a movie house will save you a bundle. Aside from that, you feel relaxed because you are at home.

To spend the time during the day, your family can go to a picnic. It won't make you cooped up in your house and also, it's fun going somewhere. With picnics, all you have to spend money for is gas and food. But the same thing happens when you have lunch in the house so you don't really spend much.

A great idea if you really don't want to stay at home is going to a resort nearby. Although you'll spend cash here, its less than what you'd spend traveling. You can stay cool in the swimming pools and hanging out there. Camping out will also do the trick. But is you can't find a place to camp, you can do it in your own backyard. It won't cost you anything.

Money is tight for most people these days. It is up to us to save money and spend only on important things. Saving money is really easy; you can do it without sacrificing your good life. By simply paying bills on time and not being too extravagant on unnecessary things, you will soon discover that you have saved more that you thought.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lauren_McNeal