Caroline and I were chatting the other day about having guests visit during the summer, and after we covered the basics—clean sheets, the Sunday paper, extra eggs—we suddenly realized there’s one MAJOR thing you need when hosting out-of-towners…

A plunger. I know it sounds random (and kind of gross) but CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING AT SOMEONE’S HOUSE AND NEEDING ONE AND HAVING TO ASK. Horrifying. So there you go. Number one item needed.

Are you having any house guests this summer? How do you prepare for them? I’d love to hear your tips…

P.S. Crowd-pleasing breakfast, and three tips for having houseguests.

(Top photo from Homelife, photograph by Armelle Habib, styling by Julia Green. Plunger photo from here)