Thanksgiving Party Ideas That Will Cut Down On Clean Up Time So You Can Focus On Family (And Digesting)

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Planning Thanksgiving? Here are Thanksgiving party ideas that will cut down on the time it takes to clean everything up.

The big day is here!

You are thankful you read an article on how to organize Thanksgiving and planned accordingly.

You are thankful that your family is healthy and eating a delicious meal together.

You are thankful for the good times you've experienced and those the future holds.

You are thankful the dog didn't get to the turkey before the guests did (you are thankful you didn't leave it on the counter unattended; you are thankful you learn from your mistakes).

You are thankful for vacations, macaroni and cheese, your job, your days off and for life so far...

Let's add something to the list - easy Thanksgiving dinner clean up!!!

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Thanksgiving Party Ideas For An Easy Clean Up

There is such a smorgasbord of planning, cooking, purchasing, inviting, setting and decorating going on before the delectable day that not much thought is put into what happens after the meal.

With the following easy Thanksgiving party ideas, however, you will clean up and be lounging on the couch before you can say gobble. Gobble!

Wash as you go.

I'm sure you've heard this term before, so let's do this!

While cooking, you want to wash items as they become unnecessary and/or as stuff begins to populate the kitchen sink. Here's what you can do to stay on top of everything...

Clean all the things you used for prep (e.g. chopping, grating, sifting, mixing, stirring) while your masterpiece is in the oven.
If there's time, wash the pots, pans, etc. that were used for cooking after the prepared dishes have been moved onto their serving platters. (Or avoid this altogether by implementing the next tip.)
Using a crock pot? You'll be UBER thankful if you use a crock pot liner. Trust me.

Doing both of those things means that at the end of the meal, all you've got to wash are the dirty dishes and the serving platters. Pretty good, but we can cut that down even more. Keep reading!

Disposable pans are better.

Disposable pans are not better all the time, but it's Thanksgiving...give yourself a break and today is a good day to do it.

The toughest stains are on the items you use to do the actual cooking - pots, pans, baking dishes, etc. Why deal with it? Purchase some disposable cookware like aluminum tins and clean up will be nothing more than throwing them away.

Use heavy duty paper products.

Remember in the first tip I said that you could only have dirty dishes and serving platters to wash after the Thanksgiving feast? And remember how I said we could cut that down even more? Well, here you go!

Rather than scrubbing dishes all night long, buy some fun holiday paper or plastic plates. First, this is especially accommodating for the youngsters at the table. Second, they can be recycled after use. Third, you don't have to wash all those dirty dishes.

That only leaves the serving platters to be cleaned after the Thanksgiving meal. So totally awesome.

Enlist the help of others.

Thanksgiving is a collaborative holiday filled with family, friends and togetherness, so no need to do everything on your own. Enlist the help of others; I'm sure they will be glad to pitch in and be together.

Here are some things you can ask for help with that will not only cut down on clean up time but on Thanksgiving tasks altogether: