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Birthday cakes, Christmas drinks, celebrating client wins – there’s a lot to celebrate in office life.
In fact, it can seem like the cake never stops! And for those mini celebrations, a quick tidy up with a bin bag and a once over with the office vacuum cleaner is normally enough to set things right again.
But once in a while, office parties go BIG. Proper Christmas celebrations, pizza and movie (and beer) nights, entertaining clients, ringing in the new year…
Lots of people, lots of mess – but lots of fun.
And it’s not just parties. Hosting events at your office, like local meetups and conferences, can produce a ton of mess, too. These kinds of events and community projects are useful marketing and branding tools, and they serve as excellent learning platforms – but they don’t half get messy.
So it’s no surprise that the cleanup after a big party or event can be super daunting – especially when it’s spread over a couple of floors, kitchens, toilet blocks and departments!
Where do you even start when your office is covered in paper plates, half-empty cups, crisps, cake crumbs and pizza crusts? Well, we’ve got a few tips to help you make cleanup easier, starting with a few pre-party checks.
Before the event, get set up for cleaning success
So, the mess is pretty much unavoidable. Drinks will be spilled, and crisps will be crushed into carpets. But you can make things easier and more manageable with a few simple changes.
1. Set a designated party or event area
If the party’s happening out of hours, close off all other floors and rooms – limiting access to one kitchen, one toilet block and one area of the office. Be sure to seal boardrooms, HR offices and areas with sensitive documents or equipment, just in case.
If you’re hosting an event within office hours, make it as self-contained as possible, with clear signposting. This will limit mess and keep disruption to a minimum.
2. Make it ridiculously easy for people to clean up after themselves
Your average partygoer is all about having a good time- not tidying up. And that’s fair enough. But it’s also likely they’ll be a decent person who doesn’t want to make things awful for everyone, either.
If you provide bins, bottle collection points, and clearly mark out off-limits areas, you’ll find that most people (even after a few drinks) will respect boundaries and the spaces within them. Oh -and remember that recyclable or compostable paper plates and cups save a ton of cleanup work, too!
3. Stains…
There will be spills, people. Plan ahead and stock up on stain removers suitable for your office floors and furniture. Red wine is a pain to get out, but if you’re prepared and can move quickly, you’ll be able to limit the damage.
Cleanup to do immediately post-party
There are a handful of pressing matters to attend to immediately after the event has ended, and some that can be left for later. Here are the most important things to get done right away.
1. Wipe up spills ASAP
Check for any sticky spills or food on surfaces. Give spills a soak with cleaning spray, to help loosen any sugary residue or greasy food gunk, then wipe as much as you can away with a damp cloth. You’ll thank yourself later…
If there are any stains on your office carpets and rugs, it’s best to tackle them as soon as you spot them. Allowing them to dry and set will make it much harder to get them out later.
Read more: How to Get Coffee Stains out of Carpet
2. Bins
Don’t leave half-eaten food and half-drunk drinks lying around. In the summer, you’ll be faced with an office bug infestation – but even in colder seasons, it’ll get gross fast if the heating’s on. Also, it’s all too easy to knock over a half-empty beer bottle onto the floor when you’re trying to sort other stuff out, so make this a priority to avoid repeating step one again! If you’ve prepped with some rubbish collection points, this will be nice and easy.
If you spot any streamers or party popper bits left on tables and furniture, now’s the time to bin them, too.
3. Deal with the leftovers
Any untouched food and drink should go in the fridge to keep it fresh. If it’s been opened, best to get rid of it. You can’t be too cautious with tummy bugs.
And that’s it for your on the day cleanup – hopefully you’ll have some help, so it should all be over in a jiffy.
Next-day Party Cleanup Checklist
Your next-day (or Monday morning, if it’s a Friday nighter) post-office party cleanup should be fairly routine – with some help from our Ultimate Office Deep Cleaning Checklist.
1. Surfaces
With the bulk of junk and bad stains dealt with (thanks, you from yesterday!), you can dry dust all surfaces before disinfecting with anti-bac spray and a clean cloth. Don’t forget the kitchen! After surfaces (desks, countertops and so on), it’s time to treat the floors.
2. Floors
If there are party poppers, streamers or the remnants of dreaded glitter bombs on the floors, try to sweep up as much as you can and use a dustpan and brush to bin them. Then, run the office vacuum cleaner over all your flooring, before mopping hard floors.
3. Tidy and reorganise
When the floors are clean and dry, it’s time to move everything back into its rightful place. Plug the office equipment back in, get the chairs under the desks, and pop your favourite pictures back up.
What about… the toilets?
Brave enough to tackle a post-party toilet clean? Then here’s an office toilet cleaning guide for you! But if you’d rather leave your post-party cleanup to the professionals – give us a call instead.
Professional Office Cleaning – even after parties!
Get professional office cleaning from The Abbey Cleaning Service. Call 029 2067 9323 today, and find out how we’ll help you get your office clean after a big do – without disrupting your work day.
