Holiday Hospitality, the Hygge Way: Creating a Warm Welcome for Guests

From cozy linen bedding to soft lighting and thoughtful little details, explore how to craft an inviting retreat for friends and family this holiday season.

Hygge Headquarters: Preparing the Guest Bed

As the coziest place in the house, the bed is hygge HQ—so it's important to make it as relaxing as possible.

This starts with the right bedding. Chemical-free linen bedding is ideal for a hygge bedroom; it has a tactile texture that both looks and feels beautiful. High quality European linen is not scratchy as you might expect—it's soft and gets softer over time, as each wash dissolves more of the naturally occurring pectin found in the fibers.

Flax linen has been typecast as a summer bedding fabric, but it's just as effective in winter. It’s part of a family of fibers called bast fibers, which includes jute and hemp. These super-strong bast fibers are so-called because they are made from the tough inner "bast" of the plant stem, which transports nutrients and supports the stem. Because of its role in transporting nutrients, the bast contains lots of tiny pores. When flax bast is made into linen, these pores allow hot air to pass through, making it ideal for warm weather.

However, these same pores trap warm air against the body when the ambient temperature is cool, meaning that linen also keeps you warm in winter. European linen, therefore, is the ideal fabric to keep your guests warm during the holidays. The Modern Dane store is stocked with soft linen bedding in wintry shades of white, gray, and blue, plus many more Danish-inspired designs.

As for the rest of the bed, a down duvet and pillows will guarantee warmth and comfort—but may not be appropriate if your guest is vegetarian or has allergies. An alternative could be a "soft as down" duvet fill made from polyester—just make sure it's recycled.

Thoughtful Touches for Guests

If you really want to go the extra mile, prepare a little “guest pack” for the bedroom, to sit on a tray on the bed or on the nightstand. This can include scented goodies such as a pillow spray, hand cream, and an eye mask. To do as the Danes do, keep things simple and natural—for example, stick with classic essential oil scents such as lavender (which is also one of the best-tolerated essential oils for people with allergies).

Make sure the bathroom is ready too. As well as preparing your fluffiest towels (try bamboo lyocell towels as a planet-friendly alternative to cotton), put some nice, natural-smelling Scandinavian toiletries in the bathroom. Skandinavisk is an elegant, Copenhagen-founded brand selling toiletries made in Scandinavia; they contain soothing oat fibers and moisturizing aloe vera.

Holiday Lighting for Hygge Nights

Like in the United States, the holiday season in Europe glows with fairy lights. Copenhagen, the Danish capital, shines with thousands of glittering lights: on trees, on buildings, and throughout the winter wonderland of the Tivoli Gardens theme park.

However, one thing sets Copenhagen's lights apart from the rest—their uniformity. Danes believe there is beauty in simplicity, which means unscented candles, neutral walls—and warm white lights. It's as if every business in the city came together and agreed to hang lights in the exact same shade—or, more likely, you simply can't buy any other color in Copenhagen.

Whether decorating outdoors or indoors, make sure your fairy lights are in that same shade of warm white for maximum hygge. And be careful when buying lights simply labelled "white", as they might be daylight white or cool white—not very hygge at all!

For the rest of your electric lights, keep things warm, dim, and tasteful. Keep the "big light" off and instead aim to create many smaller "pools" of light.

And of course, don't forget candles—an essential item for any hygge holiday! You could even start your own Advent candle tradition, lighting a special candle for every day leading up to Christmas, as many Danes do.

Hygge Holiday Eats (and Drinks)

Hygge holiday time in Denmark is all about comforting food and drink, so prepare lots of snacks for your guest. Though Danes do enjoy a generally healthy lifestyle—with lots of exercise, fresh air, and time spent in nature—they’re also terribly fond of a good pastry.

A classic festive Danish treat is æbleskiver, a type of tiny doughnut made in a specialized pan dotted with half-spheres. At Tivoli Gardens, the nostalgic theme park in Copenhagen (and possibly the most hygge place in the world), you can watch the bakers working with æbleskiver pans, turning the little fried puffs each time they start to brown. You can buy an æbleskiver pan online and follow this recipe, making sure to follow the tip for “sealing” them shut at the end! Serve your homemade æbleskiver up to your guests with lots of jam, such as plum, blackberry, or strawberry.

At Tivoli Gardens, you’ll also find plenty of stalls selling gløgg. This Scandinavian take on mulled wine is a deliciously warming treat with plenty of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom (the cardamom is what sets it apart from most other versions of mulled wine). If you fancy an extra kick, you can add akvavit (Scandinavian distilled grain spirit) or rum. You can also add gløgg spices to blackcurrant juice for a non-alcoholic alternative.

Other Danish festive treats include klejner (deep-fried cookies), brunkager (thin gingerbread cookies), and little spiced pebernødder cookies. They’re all perfect for a wholesome festive season—if not for your waistline! But you don’t need to prepare them all in advance; just buy the ingredients and turn it into a fun activity for you and your guests to do together. The same can be said for savory dishes such as soups—kød og melboller suppe, or meatball and dumpling soup, is a holiday favorite. After all, hygge isn’t just about food and aesthetics. Above all, it’s about connection.

Will you be trying any Danish recipes this winter? How will you prepare for your holiday guests? Let us know on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter!