New Year’s Eve is a time for celebration, but stains will inevitably happen. These tips can help you clean the mess up and move on to celebrating.
The most common party mishaps are red wine, chocolate, makeup, and soda stains. If your costume gets stained with any of these substances, do the following:
1) If the stain is still wet, try to absorb as much liquid as possible with a clean cloth or paper towel. (For a more stubborn stain use an old toothbrush to gently scrub the area.)
2) If the above doesn’t work, try soaking the stained part of your costume in cold water for 30 minutes to an hour. This should help flush out any stubborn stains.
3) Try spot cleaning with a detergent stick or liquid laundry detergent. Apply directly to the stain and let sit for at least 5 minutes before washing in cold water. (This works great on chocolate and red wine stains.)
4) If all else fails, take your costume to a dry cleaner.
A word of caution: Do not use bleach or hot water on any stain! You don’t want to make it worse.
Do you have a favorite costume that you just can’t stand to see ruined? Well, don’t worry! We’re here to help. We’ve created a list of some common stains you might encounter and the best way to remove them. So, before you throw away your favorite Halloween costume, check out our list of stain removal hacks below.
1. Blood: Remove excess blood with a clean cloth or towel. Then, soak the area in cold water for 30 minutes and rinse. Repeat until the entire stain is removed.
2. Wine: Grab some salt and pour it on the stained area. Gently rub the salt into the wine stain, and then wash as directed by the instructions on your tag.
3. Smoke: Try soaking your costume in white vinegar for 30 minutes, rinse and then wash as usual. If this doesn’t work, try using baking soda instead of vinegar and repeat the process above.
4. Beer: First, soak up any excess beer with a clean cloth or towel. Then mix one tablespoon of ammonia with two cups of warm water, dab on the stain and let it sit for 15 minutes before rinsing with cool water. Repeat until all of the stain is gone!
5. Coffee/Tea: Mix one part
If you’re like me, you’ve been planning your Halloween costume for weeks. The perfect outfit is out there somewhere, whether it’s a store-bought costume, or something you put together yourself.
But even the best-laid plans can go awry. You have to be ready to deal with surprise stains that can happen when you least expect them. Luckily, there are a number of ways to remove common stains from your costume, whether it’s store bought or not.
If your costume gets stained at a party, don’t panic! It can be frustrating to have your night cut short by a spill on your outfit, but I’ve got you covered with tips on how to handle the most common mishaps when they occur.
There are many common stains that you can get on your costume while having fun around Halloween. Chocolate, blood, and grease are some of the most common types of stains that costumes encounter.
Chocolate is a stubborn stain to remove from fabric because it is greasy, but also because chocolate contains dye. The best thing to do for a chocolate stain is to scrape off any excess chocolate as soon as possible. Then, using a color-safe laundry detergent and warm water, blot the stain with a sponge or washcloth until it begins to lift. If you have trouble getting the dye out of the fabric, try soaking the fabric in a bucket with some color-safe bleach for about 30 minutes before washing in warm water.
Blood stains are also difficult to remove, especially if they have dried onto the fabric. If you have blood on your clothes or costume, try soaking it in cold water as soon as possible. Use an enzymatic detergent and gently rub the stain with a soft-bristled toothbrush or soft cloth.
Grease stains can be removed by applying some baking soda or cornstarch to the stained area and letting it sit for about 10 minutes before brushing the powder away. If the stain persists, try soaking it in
How do I get a stain out of my costume?
This is a question we get asked a lot, and many times we just can’t answer it. But there are some good sites on the web that can help you out. We’ve listed them below, but please note that we have not tried all of these methods ourselves, so if you do try something and it does not work, please don’t blame us! If you have any suggestions for additional sources to this page, please send them to us at: info@costumestore.com
If you’re wearing a delicate wool suit when you’re out on the town and someone bumps into you, spilling a drink, white wine or champagne are the worst things to get on your outfit.
Lemon juice is trickier. It can act as both an acid (bleach) and a base (soap). So if you spill lemon juice all over yourself, what you’re going to want to do is blot it with a towel as soon as possible. Then, apply soap or dish detergent to the stain, and dab it gently with a wet paper towel. If that doesn’t work, pour some salt on there to neutralize the acidity of the lemon juice. That will prevent it from bleaching your clothes.
If you’ve got a grease stain — whether it’s from food or some other oily substance — don’t rub it in. Even alcohol won’t help here; rubbing alcohol actually dissolves grease further into fabric and makes the stain worse. Instead, reach for salt or baking soda! Both contain elements that break down and soak up grease. Just let them sit on the stain for an hour or two, then throw that item in the wash.
It’s bad enough if you get blood on your shirt — and it’s even worse if
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