While visiting family and friends over Thanksgiving is wonderful, struggling through an allergic reaction to people’s pets, dust, and any lurking mold spores during a celebratory meal or gathering is not.
I’ll be the first to say that I admire and appreciate all the work holiday hosts put into meal prepping decor and tidying. But amid all that labor, it’s easy to overlook things that can prove to be crucial to keeping guests with allergies comfortable.
Here, our cleaning pros share the eight ways to help any allergy-prone visitors, including cleaning tips for allergy sufferers, the products that will help and what to avoid.
Prepping your home for Thanksgiving guests with allergies
As a pet allergy sufferer, I’ve experienced many family visits when I would end up spending a lot of time in the bathroom splashing my red, irritated eyes with water trying to get a reaction to go down. My other half suffers from both pet and dust allergies: a double whammy that can make an otherwise nice time miserable very quickly.
Fortunately, there are several things every host can do to help make their home more hospitable to visitors with allergies.
While you probably won’t be able to completely combat household allergens, you can certainly improve the environment in your home enough for most people to feel comfortable. Here are the areas to which our experts say you should pay attention.
1. Confine pets if possible
This point is controversial to some people. After all, pets are part of the family and keeping them away from festivities can feel cruel. Besides, cleaning your home when you have pets can already feel like enough of a challenge.
You can compromise, however, and confine pets to a separate room for the during of the celebratory meal, which is when it can be most impossible for an allergy sufferer to get away from a curious dog or cat.
Tiffany Owens, MD and allergist and immunologist, also recommends considering ‘if the pet can “visit” a friend or neighbor while the allergic person is visiting.’ That way your pet won’t be bored. As a bare minimum, though, pets should be kept out of bedrooms where allergic guests will be sleeping.
If your visitor is a regular in your pet-friendly home, it is worth investing in one of our best pet vacuums as the HEPA filters will help with pet dander and dust with allergy-inducing particles in.
Our testers and Dan Fauzi, H&G's home tech editor, ranked the Ultenic U11 Cordless vacuum, from Amazon, the best budget one, and it has a HEPA filter capturing 99.97% of dust, pollen, hair and particles as small as 0.3 microns, which will go a long way to keeping your allergy-prone guests comfortable.
2. Take your cleaning to the next level
Of course, we all clean our homes before Thanksgiving celebrations. If you know that you’ll have allergic guests, though, it’s a very good idea to take your cleaning to the next level with the help of one of our best vacuums. You won’t need to put in more effort here, the vacuum will do the extra legwork for you.
It is also a good idea to do a wet clean to remove as much dust from your home as possible. Using feather dusters doesn’t work so well because you just end up moving the dust around, but we tried Damp Dusters and they were brilliant.
A wet microfiber cloth is your best bet for removing dust from tough places like ceiling fans, radiators, and ornaments. Hard-to-reach items like chandeliers can be dusted and cleaned with a lambswool brush.
All prices correct at time of publication.
Microfiber cloths are great at grabbing all particles of dust, grime, any stray pet hairs and pollen. Wash them on a hot wash to remove traces of allergens.
3. Invest in dust-mite proof bedding
Dust mites live in everyone’s bedding, there’s not much you can do about that. Of course, you can launder all guest bedding on hot as part of preparing guest rooms for Thanksgiving, but you may not have time for that on top of all the other holiday prep.
If that’s the case, Tiffany Owens recommends buying dust-mite encasements, available on Amazon, for the pillows and mattresses in guest bedrooms. They are washable, so you won't need to replace them every time a guest stays with you.
4. Use an air purifier
Whilst air purifiers cannot remove the source of a mold problem, one with a HEPA filter can very thoroughly clear mold spores in the air, as well dust, pollen, pet dander and more things that seriously make allergy-prone guests suffer.
Tiffany recommends getting at least two, one for the sleeping area in your home and one for the ‘gathering area’. Ideally, each bedroom should have one of the best air purifiers, but they can be costly.
Still, a couple in your home are better than none and if they’re powerful enough they’ll still make a difference to the air quality.
Avoid putting air purifiers in kitchens or bathrooms, as they don’t work so well in rooms with high humidity. Unless, of course, your air purifier doubles up as a dehumidifier, which can be handy if you live in a humid climate.
All prices correct at time of publication.
This budget but excellent air purifier covers up to 916 square feet and is whisper quiet, which will help keep visitors comfortable without disturbance, especially in a guest bedroom. It can be controlled via the app and Alexa.
5. Exclude fragranced products
Many of us love to pull out our best home fragrances, especially around the holidays, including candles, reed diffusers and wax melts.
However, as Dr Owens points out, ‘Many individuals with environmental allergies or asthma are also very sensitive to fragrance.’ If that’s the case with your guests, ‘avoid air fresheners, scented candles, or strong chemicals for cleaning.’
You can still create a beautiful scents cape in your home naturally, for example, by building a festive bowl or bouquet with real spices like cinnamon, orange peel, and fresh pine branches, or running a simmer pot recipe for fall and winter on your stovetop to naturally fragrance your home.
Also, some people are more allergic to essential oils in fragrance than to artificial fragrances. If you’re not sure which they will tolerate better, just ask!
Pro tip: Dr Owens advises asking allergic guests if they are sensitive to fragrance laundry detergents. If that’s the case, ‘they may wish to bring and use their own towels or bed linens.’
6. For large gatherings, consider labeling foods
This may not be necessary for smaller celebrations, but large families where dozens of people will be visiting throughout the holiday period, and you’re doing a buffet-style dinner, it is a good idea to label foods that contain allergens such as gluten or nuts.
It's much easier to incorporate food labels into getting your kitchen ready for Thanksgiving than having each guest ask you about every dish on the counter or dining table.
This simple roll of stickers can transform how you serve Thanksgiving dinner. We really like how easy these are to use: just tick off the allergen from the list and stick it on the dish. Moreover, the stickers are fluorescent, so your guests won't miss them even in dim lighting.
7. Don’t forget about mold allergies
Mold gets talked about less than dust or pet allergies, but it can too be severe enough to make things uncomfortable for a visitor. Always check the bathrooms for telltale signs of mold on grout and around plumbing under the sinks. If needed, apply a mold cleaner, available at Amazon, at least 24 hours before people start arriving.
Learn how to get rid of black mold in the home, and the warning signs you have mold in your plumbing.
8. Factor in some outdoor time
Finally, ‘Consider planning some outdoor activities, if the weather allows’, advises Dr. Owens. This will give everyone a much-needed break, an opportunity to walk off the heavy dinner, and time away from all those household allergens for guests who are sensitive.
Considering the allergies of your Thanksgiving guests ahead of time and prepping for it with these techniques, products and changes to your usual flow of household work will make for a more peaceful and enjoyable family gathering for everyone.
In a few simple steps, you can make your home environment more welcoming and inclusive.
