Halloween, if you’ve been gifted with a sweet tooth, may be the best holiday there is. However, if you tend to celebrate with costumes, candy, and decorations, then you may find yourself dealing with some scary stains. Have no fear, because we’ve found solutions for many common holiday related stains and they’re listed below.
Fake Blood
You will need cold water and a non-gel shaving cream to tackle this one. Spray the shaving cream onto the stain. Using your fingertips, work the shaving cream into the stain. Let the stain dry completely. Rinse the garment with cold water and then wash as your normally would. When finished, check to see if the stain has come out before you put it in the dryer. Heat can make fake blood stains set into fabric. If the stain is still there, repeat the process.
Pumpkin & Colored Hairspray
There is one solution to both types of stains. First, if dealing with pumpkin, make sure you remove any excess orange bits from the garment. Next, run the clothes under cold water, inside out, so that the water pushes the stain out and not in. After soaking the garment, spray it with Triple Action, which is a hard-working stain remover. Wash the garment as usual. Before drying, check to see that the stain has disappeared. If not, repeat the process.
Glitter
While not a stain, when glitter spills, it can stick around like one. Luckily, there is an easy solution. First, vacuum up as much of the glitter as possible. Then, take a lint roller and go over the area where the stubborn glitter remains. With this trick you won’t be finding orange and black glitter on your rug in the middle of Spring.
Gum
Consider this a sticky stain with a simple solution. If the gum has hardened, freeze it with a piece of ice and it should lift right off in one piece. If it has not hardened, reapply the ice until it has and it should come right off.
Chocolate
You may find you’ve made a mess of your costume when you missed your mouth with your chocolate bar. Now what? If you’ve heard that nothing gets chocolate out, then you haven’t tried this method.
First, try and scrape off as much of the chocolate as you can from the garment. Do this gently so you do not rub the stain in any further. Rinse the stain with cold water next, inside out. Then, take Wash Bryte and gently massage it into the stain. Let the laundry detergent sit for five minutes.
When five minutes are up, soak the clothes in cold water for another 15 minutes. Every three minutes, delicately rub the stain between your fingers. Now wash the garment like you normally would but do not put it in the dryer unless the stain is out. If you find the stain does not come out after you put it in the washing machine, return to step one and start the process over.
Perhaps you’ve moved past this holiday and are already preparing your turkey (which involves an entirely different set of stains). For the rest of us, there is this guide and Misco Products to help keep our costumes clean for next year when we get to do it all over again.
