This is a collaborative post.
It’s fair to say that as time goes by, seeing friends and relatives can become more and more difficult. People tend to stay in touch on social media platforms such as Facebook and video chats nowadays. However, rewind a few generations ago and when someone moved out to another state or country, their connection to some parts of the family was forever broken.
Ultimately, you might have cousins in Europe, a great-uncle in Ohio and other relatives in Canada. As unbelievable as it sounds, a lot of families uncovered their ties through DNA tests and genealogy services. If you’ve used one of those genetic DNA profiles such as Ancestry.com, you might have been able to find relatives across a variety of locations. Why not get in touch and discover if you can revive the forgotten relationship? Here’s a little guide to invite your distant relatives to stay at your home for a couple of days without breaking the bank.
Use your garden to feed your guests
If you enjoy frugal living, you know that preparing a vegetable and kitchen herbs garden can get you plenty of delicious and fresh ingredients. In fact, you’ll find that growing your own herbs can not only save you a considerable amount of money at the end of the month, but it can also add a variety of different flavors and vitamins to your home-cooked dishes. All you need to feed your distant cousins is a handful of homegrown tomatoes, some basil and some fresh lettuce heads, and you’ve got yourself a simple but healthy salad. Depending on what you can grow in your garden, you can even get all the ingredients for the perfect ratatouille!
How to accommodate everyone
While most households have at least one guest bedroom, it can be challenging to run a tight home when you need to make room for new people. It can be helpful, for instance, to arrange bathroom allocation times, so that those of you who need to get ready on time don’t have to queue. Additionally, you might struggle to add more chairs around the kitchen table. When you have guests, it’s easier to retreat to the dining room. For large groups, you can use extendable tables for family gatherings, which are a perfect addition to your living area. To keep your costs low, you can pair your extendable table with a couple of benches, which declutters your decor and reduces the number of chairs you need.
Find fun ice-breaker activities
Of course, you want to take your relatives to see your town! But at the end of the day, you want to get to know them and rebuild the lost connection. It’s always a good idea to plan one evening at home where you can play get-to-know-you games. You can use fund conversation cards to get people talking, or set an area in your living room to take family photos. These games don’t have to break the bank, and they can be entertaining.
In the end, we all have long-distance relatives we don’t know about. Getting together can help you to fill up the blanks in your family history and understand where you come from too. Besides, isn’t family the most important thing in life?
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