Having a small house for hosting is no reason to be afraid! Learn how to embrace your space with these ideas!
Small Space? Don’t Let that Stop you From Hosting!
Dealing with a small space is a challenge to hospitality efforts. Sometimes our attitude is, “I would gladly welcome people into my home if I had a better space for it.” But we need to start with what we have! If you believe hospitality is important (find out why it is here), you will begin to extend a welcome to strangers and friends regardless of your specific limitations.
There are a lot of practical things that take creativity in your hospitality efforts! When you face a less than ideal space for hosting, it can be overwhelming but it doesn’t need to be impossible! Check out these ideas for some creative help!
Related: 3 Lies You Might be Believing If You are Afraid to be Hospitable – Free Printable!
1. Invite fewer people
Sometimes we view this negatively. We would rather plan for big parties occasionally than a regular course of life welcome. It is easier, for many of us, to have something on our calendar that we can check off once in a while than it is to consistently live a life of welcome (read more about that in my personal story here).
Inviting fewer people doesn’t need to be a negative though! In fact, it can be quite the opposite. A few people coming for an intimate meal together is the perfect place to get to know one another beyond the few pleasantries that are often exchanged in larger gatherings. Intimacy is created when there are fewer distractions from conversation. Embrace this!
2. Get outside
Maybe your home is small but you have a great yard (this is pretty much the case for our house). Have more people over to go outside. This may not always be possible (believe me, I get it! We live in snow country!) but for a large portion of the year this is a great way to get together. The house takes less time to clean-up after a gathering like this, you can include neighbors and passersby, and there never seems to be an end to the discussion in the great outdoors.
(This is a picture of the pumpkins a bunch of kids painted with their moms at an outdoor gathering at our house)
If your yard is not an option either, go to the park! We were famous for these types of outings before we moved into our own home. When we were living in an apartment we would often call up everyone we could think of and ask them to meet us for an impromptu gathering at a local park. Everyone brought something they had on hand and a meal would be thrown together along with yard games and playground equipment for the kids. These made for great memories and the fuel for fantastic relationships!
Related: 5 Inexpensive Hospitality Ideas
3. Team Up
If your home is small or not conducive to hosting guests often (there are some valid reasons for this!), team up with someone. This is a perfect thing for friends at church to do together!
We have a family in our church who loves to host guests, their home is perfect for it, and they really do enjoy it! They are known for welcoming our newest church attendees over for dinner during the week. But they don’t usually do it alone! They have 3 or 4 friends from the church who plan to come to the meal as well. Together they get to know our new comers, give several people who can’t host in their own homes a chance to exercise hospitality, and fellowship with the church as a whole.
If you don’t feel like your life situation or home is such that you can bring others into your it directly, team up with friends and other church members! You can volunteer to bring the meal so they only have to focus on cleaning up, or you can stay later and make sure everything is back in order for the next day. This spreads the burden out, makes it a lot more fun, and gives everyone a chance to participate.
4. Go out
Remember, a big theme around here is that our entire lives are meant to be lived in community! We are not supposed to only welcome others in our homes and be cold to everyone we meet on the streets. We have been welcomed by Christ and it is in the same manner we are to welcome others (Romans 15:7). This means that if your space or life situation is not conducive to welcome within your home, you can leave your walls and still practice hospitality.
Meet a friend at a coffee shop, take someone along with you when you go grocery shopping, have a playdate at the park, go for a walk with a neighbor. Get creative. Living a life of welcome doesn’t only happen within your home.
If your life situation is such that welcoming others into your home seems impossible, get creative. You have been called to welcome others (1 Peter 4:9). You have also been given unique creativity and gifting (read more about that here). Put the two together and, prayerfully, I believe you will be welcoming others in the beautiful way God has designed for you very soon.
If you are looking for some other great hospitality tips and tricks, check out this post for some of our favorite ideas!
I’d love to hear your ideas for getting creative in a small space! Let me know in the comments below!
Find this and other great blogs at these link ups:
Hi, I'm Katie! I help Christians get past their social struggles and feelings of isolation and loneliness by exploring all the skills we need to build community. I'm so glad you are here! Read more 
Imagine living in Bible times. How big were the homes? How many animals shared space with families? Having people over may be fearful for some. Maybe they are doubting themselves, wondering what to say or do. Many people have not had examples of showing hospitality. Our family always had folks over. It seems normal. We’ve even invited a group after church on impulse when all we were planning was soup and pb&j sandwiches. It’s not the where and what, but the sincerity of the heart. You have put down some good ideas we’ve never thought of. Thank you.
Amen!!! LOVE that!! You are so right! Sometimes we get so caught up in making the details perfect that we forget, people really just want to live life together! And sometimes that is absolutely pb&j!!! You guys are such a blessing! <3
Sometimes, when I want to build relationships but it isn’t a good time to do it at my house, I’ll offer to cook and ask if the other family wants to host 🙂
It’s so much easier not to have the responsibility of both!
YES!!! I honestly hadn’t thought of that until the family in our church started doing it and I LOVE that! It gives even more people the chance to extend hospitality! 🙂 <3
Great tips! Showing God’s love in our homes regardless of the size of your space is important. Teaming up is a great way to not be limited by your space.
Such a great way to phrase it! Couldn’t agree more 🙂
I have been in bigger homes but now have a smaller one – but these are some good ideas. Especially when I believe like you that hospitality is important.
I’m so glad it was helpful! Hospitality is so important and always takes creativity but can be done even with a small space 🙂
Love this post! It can seem hard to have people over when you have a tiny space, but it’s definitely not impossible. 🙂
SO true!! It takes creativity but can be done!! <3
What great ideas! We have always been blessed to live in largish homes, so we invite people over often. But I love the idea of having others help to host by bringing food or having everyone meet at the park. Thank you for inspiring me to be more creative in my hospitality!
Aw! I’m so glad you found it helpful! I know a lot of people in our church really love that they can be included in hospitality efforts by cooking,etc when others host! Plus it spreads the responsibility around which is nice 🙂
I live in a very small unit with my partner. Unfortunately we also have a tiny backyard and zero parking so having people over for dinner is pretty much impossible ? Can’t wait until we’re in a bigger place and can have guests over though, it will feel so grown up!
Indya || The Small Adventurer
Haha! Maybe the park is the best option for awhile! When we were in our itty bitty, yard-less apartment, the park was our go-to!
We moved into a smaller house 3 years ago now and at first I wasn’t comfortable with hosting. It sounds silly. but I was missing my larger home from before and it somehow felt awkward to host. Well, a year went by and I didn’t have any get togethers, which felt strange. So, I’m back to hosting but definitely like to try and do it in the summer (as we actually have a larger backyard now) or just invite fewer people over. Afterall, entertaining with friends always feels great 🙂
Definitely!! Hospitality is always a blessing but sometimes it does take a good deal of creativity! I’m so glad you were able to get back to it! 🙂
These are excellent tips. We have a relatively small home and very limited seating, so it’s hard to figure out how to host people. But that’s on my list of goals this year so these tips will help!
Aw!! I love that!! Such a great idea to have figuring out hospitality on your goal list! I’m glad this will help!