diff --git a/src/eventlogdb.js b/src/eventlogdb.js
index 8a025c8dd..49d12134f 100644
--- a/src/eventlogdb.js
+++ b/src/eventlogdb.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
 };
 
 var assert = require('assert'),
+    async = require('async'),
     database = require('./database.js'),
     DatabaseError = require('./databaseerror'),
     mysql = require('mysql'),
@@ -125,11 +126,19 @@ function delByCreationTime(creationTime, callback) {
     assert(util.isDate(creationTime));
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
-    var query = 'DELETE FROM eventlog WHERE creationTime < ?';
-
-    database.query(query, [ creationTime ], function (error) {
+    // since notifications reference eventlog items, we have to clean them up as well
+    database.query('SELECT * FROM eventlog WHERE creationTime < ?', [ creationTime ], function (error, result) {
         if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
-        callback(error);
+        async.eachSeries(result, function (item, callback) {
+            database.query('DELETE FROM notifications WHERE eventId=?', [ item.id ], function (error) {
+                if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+
+                database.query('DELETE FROM eventlog WHERE id=?', [ item.id ], function (error) {
+                    if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+                    callback();
+                });
+            });
+        }, callback);
     });
 }
diff --git a/src/test/database-test.js b/src/test/database-test.js
index f087360e8..d2f9fa507 100644
--- a/src/test/database-test.js
+++ b/src/test/database-test.js
@@ -118,8 +118,30 @@ describe('database', function () {
     });
 
     describe('notifications', function () {
+        var EVENT_0 = {
+            id: 'event_0',
+            action: 'action',
+            source: {},
+            data: {}
+        };
+
+        var EVENT_1 = {
+            id: 'event_1',
+            action: 'action',
+            source: {},
+            data: {}
+        };
+
+        var EVENT_2 = {
+            id: 'event_2',
+            action: 'action',
+            source: {},
+            data: {}
+        };
+
         var NOTIFICATION_0 = {
             userId: USER_0.id,
+            eventId: EVENT_0.id,
             title: 'first one',
             message: 'some message there',
             action: 'usually a url'
@@ -127,6 +149,7 @@ describe('database', function () {
 
         var NOTIFICATION_1 = {
             userId: USER_0.id,
+            eventId: EVENT_1.id,
             title: 'second one',
             message: 'some message there',
             action: 'usually a url'
@@ -134,6 +157,7 @@ describe('database', function () {
 
         var NOTIFICATION_2 = {
             userId: USER_1.id,
+            eventId: EVENT_2.id,
             title: 'third one',
             message: 'some message there',
             action: 'usually a url'
@@ -143,6 +167,9 @@ describe('database', function () {
             async.series([
                 userdb.add.bind(null, USER_0.id, USER_0),
                 userdb.add.bind(null, USER_1.id, USER_1),
+                eventlogdb.add.bind(null, EVENT_0.id, EVENT_0.action, EVENT_0.source, EVENT_0.data),
+                eventlogdb.add.bind(null, EVENT_1.id, EVENT_1.action, EVENT_1.source, EVENT_1.data),
+                eventlogdb.add.bind(null, EVENT_2.id, EVENT_2.action, EVENT_2.source, EVENT_2.data),
             ], done);
         });
 
@@ -1740,6 +1767,39 @@ describe('database', function () {
                 });
             });
         });
+
+        it('delByCreationTime succeeds with notifications referencing it', function (done) {
+            async.each([ 'persistent.event', 'transient.event', 'anothertransient.event', 'anotherpersistent.event' ], function (e, callback) {
+                var eventId = 'someid' + Math.random();
+
+                eventlogdb.add(eventId, e, { ip: '1.2.3.4' }, { appId: 'thatapp' }, function (error) {
+                    expect(error).to.be(null);
+
+                    var notification = {
+                        userId: USER_0.id,
+                        eventId: eventId,
+                        title: 'first one',
+                        message: 'some message there',
+                        action: 'usually a url'
+                    };
+
+                    notificationdb.add(notification, callback);
+                });
+            }, function (error) {
+                expect(error).to.be(null);
+
+                eventlogdb.delByCreationTime(new Date(), function (error) {
+                    expect(error).to.be(null);
+
+                    eventlogdb.getAllPaged([], null, 1, 100, function (error, results) {
+                        expect(error).to.be(null);
+                        expect(results.length).to.be(0);
+
+                        done();
+                    });
+                });
+            });
+        });
     });
 
     describe('groups', function () {