How to Clean Up After a Dinner Party – 10 Easy Steps

You had a lovely dinner party – and now it’s time to clean up!

The party started here: A bright afternoon, and a beautifully arranged table.

But it always ends up here: Dark of night and slightly to seriously disarranged table!

Your kitchen isn’t usually spared either!

You had a wonderful time, but now you’re a bit tired and you want to go to bed. However, you can’t leave the house in such a state! DISCLAIMER: I actually love to clean up in the morning if I can, but I know I’m in the minority. So we’ll proceed as though you’re going to do it at night. (Which I did when I took these pictures!)

So, how DO you do it? Isn’t there a way to get it all cleaned up as quickly as possible? Yes! And as you might imagine, I have a system. Once you’ve done it a few times, you can almost go on autopilot. And you get to sleep so much faster!

So here it is. 10 steps to an easy dinner party clean up.

1 ~ Put Away

The first thing I do is put away the leftover food, and anything that doesn’t need to be washed. In this case, the pitcher (which we didn’t use,) the wine and liqueur bottles, that packet of baking chocolate – and get that flattened cracker box out of there!

2 ~ Clear & Consolidate

Then, clear the table. You probably already cleared the pre-dessert courses, and if you’re fast, you could have scraped the plates into the garbage/compost and stacked them in the sink to soak while you prepared dessert. But if you only had time to chuck the stuff on the counter (like I did a few pictures back,) no problem. Just put them into their proper stacks while you’re consolidating.

As I clear, I put the hand washing on the counter to the right of my sink since I wash right to left. All the things that go into the dishwasher, go onto the counter over the dishwasher. (Natch!) I put the table linens directly into a laundry bag I have hanging in my stairwell. And for the moment, the recyclables go to a specially designated spot on the floor.

Organize the hand washing by most dangerous/delicate, to least delicate. (See, the knives are over closest to the sink with their blades safely down. You’ll wash them first to get the dangerous things out of the way.)

3 ~ Load the Dishwasher

If you have a dishwasher, the next step is to fill it up! Here, I’ve loaded everything in, and wiped off the counter where it was all previously stacked.

4 ~ Wipe Down Other Surfaces

And that’s our next step. Once you’ve gotten everything put away, and the hand-washables confined to one area, wipe down everything else. Getting the rest of the room clean makes it so much easier to keep going with the hand washing! (And yes, that’s 12:04 AM on the stove clock. We’re night owls – did I mention that?!)

5 ~ Do the Hand Washing

You remember that hideous picture a few back with the sink full of pots and pans? Well that’s where I start. I lay down my towel and wash whatever’s in the sink! (And call it an idiosyncrasy, but I prefer just a towel on the counter, to a dish drainer. I don’t know why.)

Then you do the glassware and china, move through the pots and pans, and finish up with the cutting boards.

Dry and put away in batches as your counter fills up. If you have a partner to dry as you wash, even better!

I did another post using this crystal and china for a whole different look. You can read about that in this post.

6 ~ Wipe Down the Hand-Washing Area

Now that your dishes are done, wipe down the remaining counters, and wash the sink. (A little bump for my favorite cleaner in the world, Bon Ami! Not sure how I lived without this before my husband introduced me to it!)

7 ~ Take Out the Recycling

As I mentioned, I make a pile of our recyclables as I clean up. We keep the bins in the basement. This is kind of a distance from the kitchen, but we have an old house and not a ton of storage upstairs. If you have your recycling space near your kitchen, you can put them away in step 1 and skip this step.

8 ~ Sweep the Floor

The sweeping portion of the program is next. And conveniently, my broom hangs on the stairwell wall. Right where I can grab it on my way back up from taking the recycling to the basement!

9 ~ Take Out the Garbage & Compost

And then of course, take out the trash!

10 ~ Pour a Last Glass and Relax

And finally, pour yourself a last glass of something, (Port, for me, please!) cozy up in your favorite chair, and relax. This is one of my favorite times of the evening. When everything is clean and quiet, the dishwasher is gently swishing, and there’s the soft glow of candlelight!

You can remember all the fun you had with your guests. And feel good that your clean up is all done, in record time!

How do you clean up after a dinner party? Share your tips in the Comments – we’d love to know!

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