Holiday Hosting: Make Your Home Accessible for Guests

You're holiday hosting, but is your house ready for guests with mobility issues? Find out how to host an inclusive holiday party by making your home accessible.

The holidays should be accessible for the entire family. With just a few simple adjustments, you can make your guests feel comfortable at home even if they have unique accessibility needs. This can range from people with disabilities to seniors, children in strollers, and people with limited mobility. 

This is always an important topic to keep in mind when hosting both family and friends as it can help make everyone feel comfortable and welcome in your home. At the end of the day, making your guests feel at home is one of the most important parts of being a good host.

Looking for a quick guide on holiday hosting for guests with accessibility issues? You’re in the right place. Here’s everything you need to know.

Being the Best Holiday Host

Hosting family and friends for the holidays is always a major task. Depending on the specific event that you’re hosting, being the best host starts with the invitation. While you may think that you don’t necessarily need invitations, the truth is that invitations allow everyone to know that they’re invited to the event and provides them with essential information. 

Planning is another essential part of the process as it allows you to make sure that everything runs like clockwork. From preparing your menu to having your home cleaned before your guests arrive, everything should be organized in advance.

Despite the planning and invitations, the most important part of any event is to make sure that your guests feel welcome and comfortable. The truth is that even if you don’t have the best food and the entertainment goes all wrong, as long as your guests are comfortable, you’re bound to have a great time. 

How Do You Accommodate House Guests When Holiday Hosting?

As mentioned above, creating a safe and comfortable environment for your guests is key. This starts before your guests even enter your home. In many cases, the host will send out invitations to people and request people to RSVP whether they’re coming or not. 

Another important part of this process is to ask for information that you may need to make the event comfortable for your guests. In most cases, this is usually where you ask for dietary requirements that you can use to structure your entire menu. However, it’s also important to ask for any information about mobility or accessibility issues so that you can make the necessary arrangements at home. 

Making your home accessible for people with mobility issues can often be expensive. This is why it’s important to ask if it’s a necessary investment to make. However, making your home accessible is always a good idea over the long term. 

How Do You Know If Your House Is Wheelchair-Friendly?

When it comes to home accessibility solutions, wheelchair access is one of the most important things you can do. People with mobility issues often rely on either crutches or a wheelchair to get around. This is why having the necessary ramps around your home is so important. 

Wheelchair ramps are essential for people with wheelchairs to comfortably get into your home. This is true for even the smallest of steps that are present to enter or exit your home. The internal stairs that you have in your home should also be accounted for even though ramps aren’t really an option inside. 

This is where stair lifts can come in handy as they can allow your guests to effortlessly go up and down the stairs with ease.

Preparing Your House for Holiday Guests with Mobility Issues

Preparing your home for holiday guests is essential as it allows you to make everyone feel comfortable. When it comes to making your home comfortable for guests with mobility issues, there are accessories and equipment that you can get. This includes simple accessories but can also include bigger pieces of equipment that may require more of an investment.

Since the holiday season comes around every year, it can make sense to invest in handicap equipment around your home over the long term. These kinds of investments can also help boost your homes value. In this way, it makes the entire investment worthwhile.

Handicap Accessories for Home

If you’re thinking about quick ways to make your home more accessible for guests, there are a ton of handicap accessories you can get. These accessories are small and are often the more affordable option as well. In many cases, you can also rent them to help lower the overall cost.

The most popular accessories to get for your home are grab bars and a wheelchair ramp for your stairs. The grab bars are an essential handicap accessory to install around your home. These bars are a simple upgrade and can be installed around the home whenever you want people with mobility issues to have more stability.

Grab bars are essential in both the bathroom and the shower. This is to help with stability in these rooms as they tend to be a lot more dangerous because of the running water. The grab bars make using the facilities a lot more comfortable for your guests.

There are also mobile ramps that you can buy for your home. These ramps are not permanent but can be placed on your stairs so that wheelchairs can effortlessly access your home. The benefit of having these ramps is that you can place them on your stairs when they’re needed and then move them to another set of stairs as needed.

Accessibility Equipment

When it comes to making your home accessible for events, accessibility equipment can often be a great investment. Accessibility equipment is often more expensive, making them great as a long-term investment. This kind of equipment is designed to make your home accessible for people with mobility issues.

Vertical platform lifts are essential if you have stairs that lead to your front door. The vertical lift is perfect to help people in wheelchairs comfortably get into your home. Stairway lifts do the same thing but are designed to help you get up and down the stairs in your home.

Internal lifts are also a great idea to help you get up and down the stairs in your home. However, these are often the most expensive option as well.

What Makes an Accessible Home?

When it comes to making your home accessible, there are tons of things you can do. However, most accessibility modifications center around your homes entrance, stairs, storage, doorways, kitchen, and bathroom. 

Your homes entrance and stairs are one of the most important aspects of your home as accessibility options allow everyone to enter your home comfortably. This also extends to your stairs as people with mobility issues may find it difficult to get to the top floor of your home. While stairlifts are expensive to include in your home, handrails are an affordable option to consider as well. 

As mentioned above, wheelchair access is another important factor to keep in mind. This is true for the entrance of your home but also for the doorways throughout your home. Having wide doorways is essential to allow wheelchairs to effortlessly move around your home. 

Lastly, the kitchen and bathroom should also include modifications for people with mobility issues. In the bathroom, simple handrails can be added to help people with mobility issues navigate the room safely. However, the kitchen may require a bit more work to lower storage for people with accessibility issues to comfortably reach them.

As you can see, making your home completely accessible can be quite an investment. Theres something that you can do in almost every room around the house, allowing everyone to feel comfortable throughout the home. If you’re looking for the quickest, most effective way to make your home more accessible, handrails are the best way to go. 

This is because handrails are generally more affordable and can be installed quickly before you host your next family event at home.

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