Post-Party Cleaning Guide
“Did a tornado pass through my living room???”
If you just threw your first house party last night, you might be asking yourself this question. Although you don’t remember a natural disaster occurring in your home during the party, all of the evidence points to the contrary. Your furniture is dirty, there are spilled food and drinks on the floor, and your buddy (who’s notoriously poor at holding his liquor) is sleeping in your bathtub. What now?
Although last night’s shindig was fun, chances are you want to get your house back into its original condition. After all, hosting a party is wonderful, but having the party linger for a week is not. To accomplish your mission, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves, apply some of that metaphorical elbow grease, and get to work. At AUXGOD, we’ve thrown our fair share of parties. So here’s our pro guide to cleaning your house after you’ve thrown the celebration of the century!
Gather Your Supplies
Before you can start getting your home back in order, you need to gather your supplies. If you’ve read our other blogs (you should because they’re awesome), chances are you’ve read the one about Party Proofing Your House. If you have, you’ve likely already stocked up on all of the cleaning supplies you need. Good job! You’re one step closer to making your home look like a home again.
If getting cleaning supplies wasn’t on your party planning radar, it’s time to take a short trip to the local superstore and pick up a few must-have items. Here’s a brief list of the necessities that you need to have on hand when cleaning your house after a party:
- Paper Towels: Highly absorbent and perfect for cleaning up any puddles of spilled drinks.
- Dishwasher Detergent: If it can clean food off your plates, it can clean food off of your floor too!
- Alcohol: No, not the drinking kind (although you might want to reward yourself with a glass of wine after the cleaning is done). Rubbing alcohol is excellent for disinfecting your home after cleaning.
- Mops: Make your floors sparkly clean.
- Brooms: For dry messes, crumbs, and dirt from guests’ shoes.
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Air Freshener: Get the party smell out of your house. This can be anything like a scented candle, incense, or can of aerosol spray air freshener.
Once you’ve gathered these must-have supplies, it’s time to get cleaning!
Step 1: Locate Ground-Zero
If you’re having trouble deciding where to begin cleaning your home, you need to find “ground zero” of last night’s party. In other words, you need to figure out which area of your house is most densely soiled.
In general, the areas where your guests have spent most of their time will be the dirtiest. Pay special attention to the locations where you had a dance floor, snack bar, or party games – these are the places where food and drinks are most likely to have been spilled by your friends.
Once you establish your party’s ground zero, you know where to start cleaning. We strongly suggest that you start your house tidying mission in the places that are the dirtiest. Then, work your way to the cleaner areas. This way, you’ll have the most available supplies to tackle the biggest messes. If you start with smaller tangles, you might not have enough detergent, disinfectant, and air freshener to handle the nightmare at ground zero. Rip off the bandaid and start with the biggest mess.
Step 2: Move from Top to Bottom
Unless you’re a physicist or engineer, chances are that you don’t think about gravity too often. Despite this, taking a play from Issac Newton’s game plan and keeping gravity in mind when tidying will save you from having to clean your house twice after a party.
Why should you care about gravity, you ask? Because when you clean, any loose crumbs, dust, or dirt will fall to the lower surfaces in your house. For example, if you dust the crumbs off your kitchen counter, some of them will inevitably end up on the kitchen floor.
As a result, it makes the most sense to start by cleaning the highest areas of your house and work your way down towards the floor. That way, you can ensure that you only have to clean every surface only once. If you begin by cleaning low and work your way up towards the ceiling, messes from higher surfaces will fall on the floor, and you’ll have to start all over again. Do yourself a favour and move from top to bottom when you’re cleaning your house after a party.
Step 3: Check Your Corners
When you think you’re done cleaning your house, take a few minutes to do one final inspection. Invest some time into taking a thorough walk around your home and checking for any messes you’ve possibly missed. Specifically, check your corners and other small nooks and crannies where a mess can hide. Pay special attention to places like the space under your fridge, areas covered by a rug, underneath furniture, and behind your toilet. There are few things worse than missing a mess and attracting all sorts of critters to your lovely home. Double-check your house – it might save you from discovering bigger messes in the long run!
The AUXGOD family has thrown tons of parties! We know all of the secrets behind planning and hosting a celebration. When our friends ask us how to throw a party that their guests will remember for a long time, we have one answer: Games, Games, Games!
Party games can make the difference between a boring, dead party and a shindig for the ages. Games get your guests on their feet, moving, and engaged in the party. If you’re looking for a party game that will make your next celebration stand out, look no further than the AUXGOD music card game!
AUXGOD is this year’s hottest new party game that’s taking over the shindig scene. It’s a unique experience that combines improv, trivia, karaoke, and a dose of competition to create the perfect party activity! Make your next celebration with friends a memorable one. Visit our shop and get your hands on an AUXGOD deck now!
