Cleaning Out the Party Closet

In our guest room, instead of a closet for our guests (who never stay more than one night anyway), we have a party closet. It's the home to all my partyware, from keg cups to "Happy Birthday" banners, plus a whole lot of IKEA napkins, and it is one of my favorite things about the house. It's just nice to know that if I absolutely had to throw a party on a moment's notice, I'd at least have the paper goods covered.

I spent all day yesterday thinking it was just about to rain, so instead of going outside, I headed into the guest room to clean out the pile of crap in the party closet. It took hours  and now I want to brag.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a "before" picture, but trust me when I say that it was a disaster. Six years worth of plastic bags and random wooden skewers falling all over the place, plus a big jumble of washed-but-not-ironed napkins shoved onto the top shelves.

The napkins still haven't been ironed, but now they're all neatly folded and living in a big plastic container under the guest bed. And the shelves, well, I'll let you see for yourself:

It's not a huge closet, but big enough for an IKEA bookshelf that stores napkins and plates, plus extra room to the left for keg cups and random oversized glassware.

Yes, I have a lot of napkins from IKEA. No, I can't help myself when I go to the store. If I went today, I'd come home with even more. If TLC ever decides to make a show called "Napkin Hoarders" or "Extreme Napkining," I'm totally there.

Where there used to be cloth napkins, now there are pretty, colorful, unbreakable margarita glasses...

And pretty, uncluttered glass vases and plastic trays. BTW, I am prepared for any outdoor party challenge you can throw at me.

Do I use the party closet on a daily basis? No. But will I be just a little happier all day today, knowing that it's clean? Oh, absolutely yes.