After my cousin's birthday BBQ last month, we had 20 people using paper plates. Cleaning up was just tossing everything in trash bags. I don't see how that's a nightmare compared to washing a pile of dishes. Sure, you have to tie up the bags, but it takes maybe ten minutes. With reusables, you're stuck at the sink scrubbing for an hour. Is the extra work really that serious?
Right? Paper plates are the only way with a crowd. @owens.nancy maybe just scrape the plates into one bag first so you're not carrying a dripping mess. I did that at my sister's party and cleanup was done in fifteen minutes.
You say stuck at the sink scrubbing, but I managed to make a mess with paper plates too. I spilled leftover sauce everywhere when tossing them, so I had to clean the floor anyway. How do you avoid those kinds of accidents?