It doesn’t matter how civilised you are, if you have people over to your house for any kind of get together, it’s going to get messy. Even if you just have two people over for dinner. I guarantee you’ll leave all the washing up until they’ve gone, there will be crumbs on the table from your tapas-style dinner and there will be crumbs on the floor… or a spilt glass of wine if it gets a little too exciting. While we all love having our friends and family over, we know the tidying up at the end is the one thing we don’t love. So here are a few top tips to help clean up in no time at all after your dinner party.
Paper Plates
Before you freak out about how bad this will look, you can actually get some gorgeous looking paper plates these days. It’s not all about the old fashioned, super-thin ones like we had when we were kids. The plates these days, you almost want to wash them up and keep them! If you’re having a buffet or tapas-style get together. A BBQ or even a party-style event, paper plates are the way to go. At the end of the night, you can just throw them in the recycling if they’re not food ridden and the job is done. No washing up, no putting away and so much time saved.
Table Cloth
Lot’s of people like using table cloths at dinner parties to give the place a little colour and to make it seem like a special occasion. It’s also great for hiding any stained tables you might like to pretend don’t exist. But my best advice if you want to clean up quickly after your party, it to use a paper table cloth. Again, you can get some amazing ones these days. From crisp white, almost fabric feeling table clothes to gorgeously printed ones. It means you can literally fold it up, with the rubbish, leftover food and mess still on it and throw it straight in the bin.
Location
If you’re having a dinner party, you need to think about the best place in your house to have it. If your front room is carpeted but your lounge has wood flooring, opt for the lounge. It might not be as big or look as nice, but it will be so much quicker to clean at the end of the night. Have you ever tried to get red wine or squashed cheese out of a fluffy carpet? It isn’t easy and it definitely isn’t pretty! Where if anything goes on your wood flooring it only takes a couple of minutes to sweep, hoover and steam. Sometimes the compromise on space makes up for the lack of effort required in the cleanup.
Guests
This might seem like a cheeky one, but when your guests offer to help, say yes! It’s very rare that a guest doesn’t offer to clean the table, empty the rubbish or do the washing up. Usually, the host says no, it’s fine, we’ll do it later. But why? Swallow that pride and take that help. If they’re willing to offer, you should be willing to take them up on it.
