A few suggestions for sauna guests to help make sure you’ll be invited back

As sauna becomes more popular, more and more people are being invited over to other peoples’ saunas for sauna parties and gatherings.

And all this is a good thing.

As an open hearted sauna host for over 25 years, here are a few of my suggestions to help sauna guests be low maintenance for their sauna hosts.  This helps make a sauna party a good vibe for one for all.

1.  Bring your own towel.   Nothing spells yahoo more than being invited to sauna and showing up without a towel.  Yes, we sauna owners are good hosts and wave the flag of freedom with our own pile of sauna towels.  Keep in mind, a seasoned sauna host may be known to de stress their clothes washer by refolding and restocking their once used sauna towels for future use.  Avoid depleting a sauna host’s stack of sauna towels; bring your own sauna towel.
2.  Bring your own drinking water.  Hydration is a critical part of the sauna experience.  I recommend drinking 32 oz. of water before leaving home to head out to a sauna party.  Yes, all sauna owners have extra water bottles around, but a seasoned sauna host may be known to offer yahoo sauna guests perfectly fine drinking water by dipping water bottle into the sauna water bucket and say “here, drink this, it’s just out of the tap”  (which it is).  ALSO: nothing wrong with filling a water bottle under the outdoor shower.
3. Don’t mess with the sauna stove.  Don’t add wood to the stove.  If an electric stove, don’t start messing with the dials.  A seasoned sauna host knows their sauna and how to regulate heat.   If the hot room isn’t hot enough, ask a question like “what temperature do you like your hot room?” to gently engage the sauna host.  Don’t be a dick about it.

These are the big three.  Want more?

4.  Watch out where you dump water over your head.  As a rule, never dump water over your head in the hot room.  Save it for cooling down outside.  And outside in winter, don’t dump water over your head on the patio or sidewalk.  Sauna hosts don’t want to come back the next day with an ice scraper.

5.  Gifts?  Not necessary.  Seasoned sauna owners don’t need bric a brac.  We want your smiles, good company, and one-ness.  If you want to bring something, try a 6 pack of beer or some Kombucha or some other consumable treat.  Consumables are a good thing.  EXCEPTION:  If visiting someone who has recently built a sauna, and you are well in tune with sauna host, saunatonttu, a special sauna rock, or wall hanging memento may be a very warm touch.  More from Andrew on this topic here.

6.  If consuming beverages, don’t leave empties laying around like at a frat party.  Find the recycle bin and use it.

7.  Leave with everything you came with.  Just like when camping.  A sauna owner’s lost and found pile gets to be a pain in the ass.  Seasoned sauna owners just throw other peoples’ left behind stuff in the garbage.  Enough is enough.

We sauna owners love sharing the sauna experience with others.  We like it more when sauna guests bring consciousness to the sauna, along with their good nature.

Following these practices will surely mean another invite to another sauna party down the road.  Sounding preachy here?  That’s ok, here are 7 more tips for further review.