Search Our Site  
Owned by Bill Platt: (405) 780-7745 9am-6pm CST, Mon to Fri

Recent Blog Posts

10 Highest Rated Articles with Minimum Votes

Most Read Articles
This Month

Recommended Programs


Summer Vacations Remind Us To Remember Our Manners

Copyright © 2007-2008 Wesley Berry, AAF


With summer finally here, millions of Americans are planning vacations. As more and more people opt for short vacations with friends and family, you should remember your visiting and gift etiquette.

The trend to shorter vacations is mainly due to more families having two working adults. It's harder to schedule time off and people have become very time sensitive. With today's economy, people are opting for less extravagant vacations. This summer, vacation will mean more visits to friends and families in country, mountain or beach houses, or visits that take advantage of friends' proximity to popular tourist sites.

Everyone who has been either a host or a guest has a horror story: Hosts who treat guests like cheap labor; guests who think they're at a hotel, instead of at a home. Anyone can avoid the horror stories by following some basic etiquette- from the invitation thru the visit to the thank you.

If you are the host, you can start off on the right foot by communicating any basic guidelines. These should include who is invited, the length of the stay and any other "special" house rules that your guests should understand. You don't want the visit ruined by misunderstandings and hurt feelings.



Guests can help their hosts by being prepared for the visit. Decide what places you want to visit or activities you want to pursue. Don't leave the burden of entertaining you entirely up to your host!

Start our trip off right by showing your appreciation from the start. A French tradition is for guests to send flowers before their visit. For luck, send an odd number of flowers.

Guests who want to be invited back should be considerate. Make sure you keep the bedrooms and bathroom neat. Store dirty laundry in a laundry bag and make sure to keep wet clothes off of furniture and floors. Offer to buy groceries and prepare one of you specialties for breakfast or dinner. Pick a bottle of wine or offer to take everyone out for ice cream after dinner.

Be adventurous! Don't be afraid to do some exploring on your own, leaving your hosts with time for themselves. Guests who have children should be particularly sensitive when visiting people who aren't used to having kids around.

As a host, you can make it easier for you guests if you provide them with maps, brochures, or books about you community so they can get around. Remember, it is a vacation. Leave some books or magazines, and fresh flowers in their room.

As a guest, you must express thanks. One of the best ways to do this is to send flowers, a plant or a gourmet food basket. Your host will appreciate the thought and will be convenient for you. Just have the florist deliver your gift!

Flowers and gourmet baskets are more personal and unique as ever. While you are visiting, get in touch with the local flower shop and choose a plant or arrangement yourself. If your host likes antiques, perhaps you can find a unique container they will love while out shopping. Most flower shops are happy to use a container you bring in. If you have done a lot of golfing or boating, the florist can tuck in a box of golf balls or a small toy boat. The possibilities are endless and your florist is sure to have lots of great ideas to express your gratitude for a great visit.

With more people visiting friends, it's crucial that both guest and host accept responsibility for the trip. You'll have nicer memories, calmer vacations and you'll look forward to visiting next year.




About The Author:
Wesley Berry is member of the American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) and President of Wesley Berry Flowers, a successful multi-million dollar floral business that was established in 1946. As a member of the Henry Ford Hospital Community Relation Board he has contributed to the community at large. He owns both a brick and mortar and an internet flower delivery business. Visit Wesley Berry Flowerson the web at www.800wesleys.com.

VOTE ON THIS ARTICLE

Needs Work >> 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 << Excellent Article

Tell our authors what you think about their article.


Automatically Post This Article To Your Blog by inserting your Email-To-Blog Address, as can be set up in your Blogging software:


"Link Back To This Article" Copy-And-Paste


Are You Using This Article? We want to know about it.

HTML Article Copy-And-Paste


TEXT Article Copy-And-Paste


Article Description Copy-And-Paste


Article Keywords Copy-And-Paste




*** Digital Reprint Rights ***

  • If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links).


  • Links must remain in the form that we published them. Clean links should point to the Author's links without redirects having been inserted into the copy.


  • You are not allowed to Change or Delete any Words or Links in the Article or Resource Box. Paragraph breaks must be retained with articles. You can change where the paragraph breaks fall, but you cannot eliminate all paragraph breaks as some have chosen to do.


  • Email Distribution of this article Must be done through Opt-in Email Only. No Unsolicited Commercial Email.


  • You Are Allowed to format the layout of the article for proper display of the article in your website or in your ezine, so long as you can maintain the author's interests within the article.


  • You may not use sentences from this article as an input for any software that steals sentences from others in order to build an article with software. The copyright on this article applies to the "WHOLE" article.



    • *** Author Notification ***

    We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Wesley Berry, AAF can be reached at:     wes@wesleyberryflowers.com


    *** Print Publication Reprint Rights ***

    If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: wes@wesleyberryflowers.com


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a
    Creative Commons License.

    (You are not required to show the creative commons license notice when you reprint this work.)

    Current Article Stats


    Find This Article Title In The Search Engines:

    Right Blinker Search
    Widow Search
    Google
    Yahoo!
    Zuula
    MSN
    Cuil

    Reported Reprints:

    Placement Record for this Article

    Last Distribution Date:
    2008-04-29 11:00:00

    Word Count: 603

    Total Views: 477
    Views This Month: 12
    Views Last Month: 24

    Article Rating: 3.75 of 5
    Votes Cast: 4

    Google PageRank: 0
    PR Last Checked: 2007-04-12


    Author Overall Stats:

    Times Viewed Overall: 17493
    Author Overall Rating:
    2.52 of 5
    Votes Cast Overall: 884


    More Articles By This Author:

    Articles On This Website

    Our 09/2008 Site Statistics

    • Unique Visitors: 22118

      Page View Data:
    • Total: 136766
    • Article Views: 66817
    • Other Page Views: 69949

      Search Engine Data:
    • Search Phrases Served: 10123
    • Visitors From SE's: 18124

      Non-Search Data:
    • All Referring URLs: 1268
    • Visitors From Referrers: 2828
    • From Top 10 Referrers: 816
    • From Newspaper Websites: 185

      Location Data:
    • Countries Served: 110
    • Top Country #1: US
    • Top Country #2: CA
    • Top Country #3: AU
    • Top Country #4: EU
    • Top Country #5: GB

    Top 20 Highest Ranking Authors

    Other Sites We Own

    Other "Platt" Owned Sites



    Quick Links:
    Home | Article Distributions | Ghost Writers
    Article Marketing Blog | Article Marketing Ebook


    Unless Otherwise Noted, All Content On This Site Is:
    Copyright © 2001-2008, The Phantom Writers