8 cleaning hacks you must know to clean up FAST after any party

Parties are absolutely fun to host – that is, until you have to clean up. No one likes to deal with the messy aftermath of leftover food, rubbish, and stains during the holiday season, but it’s an inevitable part of the process.

No, we’re not asking you to cancel that Christmas party. Playing host doesn’t have to be such a painful process. Check out the following cleaning hacks to help make your post-party cleaning a breeze:

Before the party

1. Designate an area to keep food and drinks

Source: The Daily Meal

While it’s a nice idea to put different snacks and drinks around the party space for guests to easily grab, it can turn out to be your biggest cleaning nightmare afterwards – just imagine all the half-empty drink cans and plates with leftover food lying everywhere! It’s also easier for you to immediately clean up any spill or mess that can happen when guests are scooping food during a potluck party or buffet.

2. Put multiple rubbish bags or dustbins around

One way to encourage your party guests to properly dispose of rubbish is, of course, to put rubbish bags and dustbins around the area. It’s easier for you to simply dispose of the trash afterwards – simply tie up the rubbish bags and dispose of them, instead of having to pick up the junk that is lying around everywhere.

3. Prepare less-mess food

Source: Holly Jean

Cooking for your guests is great when they praise your culinary skills and everyone gets to enjoy a good feast, but the pain of having to wash all your pots and pans afterwards can put even a MasterChef off.

Instead of cooking every single dish from scratch, why not consider preparing a combination of cooked and microwaved foods? Microwaved foods can, in fact, taste just as great as those that are cooked. For example, CP Foods offer a variety of microwaveable dishes such as Skinless Glazed Teriyaki and Pizza Pocket. These dishes may be difficult to prepare if you are new to cooking, but they are now made easy for anyone, even amateur chefs, to prepare.

This way, you not only have fewer appliances to wash after the party ends, but can also cut down prep time and save your energy for hosting guests during the party.

During the party

4. Clean up any spills as they happen

Spills are bound to happen at parties, and the best thing you should do is to clean these spills up immediately. Not only are they likely stay on as an unsightly stain if you just leave them there, you also risk having other guests slip and fall on the spills.

We recommend keeping a spritz bottle with water and a clean cloth in the kitchen to catch spills before they set, and have portable stain removers handy. To quickly clean up dropped food, keep a hand vacuum or small dustpan and broom nearby.

5. Give guests containers to bring home leftovers

Source: Beltec

Most of us are familiar with the problem of having prepared too much food for a party. If you are not keen on having to throw out all your leftover food, or have no space in your refrigerator to keep everything, why not give them to your guests to bring home instead? Prepare some plastic containers, and pass them to your guests right before the party ends for them to pack any leftover food that they wish to bring home.

After the party

6. Throw away all beer cans and disposable cups immediately

Source: 3:17am

Alcohol has a very pungent smell when it is old, and it can really create a bad odour if left lying around the house. So don’t leave clearing the alcohol bottles and cans to the next morning, no matter how tired you may be!

7. Air your apartment

Source: Philip Rakusen

If your party involves lots of alcohol and feasting, one important thing you have to do after the party is to air your house. You don’t have to do this immediately after the party ends, but make sure to do so the next morning. We recommend opening up the windows and adding some orange peel into a few cups of boiling water. The citrus not only helps to absorb the stench, but it also emits a fresh and clean scent.

8. Use play dough to get rid of of stubborn confetti and glitter

Source: Prom-Avenue

If your party involves lots of glitter and confetti, you may fret over how to get rid of the stubborn ones that don’t seem to go away, no matter how much you vacuum and sweep. One interesting hack to solve this problem is to use play dough, roll it over the surface, and lift the dough up for surface thoroughly clear of confetti and glitter.