The Boxing Day Blue: 5 tips for the big Christmas party clean up
You’ll find that, living in Sydney, the Christmas period is rife with celebrations of friends, family, the end of a good year, great health, et cetera. Whatever you can think of will probably be celebrated during this time, if just for an excuse to invite the friends over to wine and dine! However, after any great night comes the daunting task of having to clean up after yourself and your guests, which may be the last thing you want to do the next day. Take a gander at our handy clean up tips – it may just be your post-party saving grace!
The day of the party
Make it easy for your guests to help out during the party
This involves there are enough bins placed around so your guests can dispose of their rubbish themselves. Fail to do that, and you’ll find a lot of napkins nervously stuffed into crevices, and plates with half-nibbled bits of meat and vegetables stacked on top of each other next to the couch.
Speaking of plates, if you make it easier for your guests to leave their dirty dishes in one spot, they will more than likely leave their dirty dishes in one spot for you instead of leaving them strewn around the dining area.
Don’t let good food go bad
p>While everyone is enjoying the last morsels of dinner or dessert, use this downtime to get a head start on leftovers – having cling wrap and containers at the ready beforehand will be the most time-friendly task possible – you don’t want to spend all night dealing with food that’s slowly getting towards room temperature while also missing out on any fun that’s going on outside of the kitchen!
The day after the party
Clear the debris
By having taken care of the most time-consuming aspects of the cleanup process the night of the party, you will hopefully be able to take things a little more easily the next day (after a good night’s rest). Tidy up any other plates, glasses or tid-bits that may still be laying around. Pack up chairs and tables. Take a break.
Take a closer look
The house will be looking relatively close to normal by this time, as long as the processes of washing dishes, throwing away rubbish and packing up furniture wasn’t too debilitating an experience. After this will be possibly the most annoying but most rewarding process – vacuuming, mopping and wiping down surfaces. Believe me, you’ve gotten this far – you don’t want to get lazy with the clean up process now, lest stains get very stuck and unwanted guests (such as cockroaches) come to gatecrash the already-over party.
While cleaning up is definitely the least enjoyable aspect of having held a party, it can be made much easier with a little bit of forward thinking. Your weary bones – and your well-worn in home – will thank you for it!
For more party tips, check out our article on how to hold a stress-free outdoor Christmas party here: 10 tips stress free outdoor christmas party