How to Clean up After a Dinner Party

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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A dinner party itself is a big task to prepare for, but it's the cleanup after a dinner party that often leaves people wondering why they had the party in the first place. Whether you have a five-course meal or a potluck, the cleanup inevitably follows. Use these simple steps to help make your cleanup a snap and leave you more willing to play the hostess again.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step1

Fill the dishwasher with all of your meal preparation utensils, wash off the countertop and wipe out your sink before the guests arrive. Start the dishwasher and let it run while you're having dinner. This cuts down on the after dinner cleanup and gives you a clean place to start washing up when dinner is over and you're feeling overwhelmed.

Step2

Put away all decorative pieces, the salt and pepper shakers and any unused napkins or utensils after the dinner party meal. Simply taking away these pieces makes your cleanup job seem smaller and less intimidating.

Step3

Rinse all the dishes as they come off the table and neatly stack them on the counter. That way, you can leave some of the dishes for tomorrow or the next dishwasher load without feeling like you're going to have to scrub for hours when you start to clean them or that you're taking up all the counter space with dirty dishes.

Step4

Utilize your friends. Don't turn away anyone who offers to help after the dinner party. Rather, put them to work stacking leftover food in containers, rinsing off the dishes, hand-washing your fragile or non-dishwasher safe bowls or loading the dishwasher.

Step5

Work on accomplishing small tasks at a time. Instead of focusing on the big picture, which can be overwhelming, create a "to do" list and cross off each step as you get it accomplished.