Spooky stains

Halloween is one of the most fun holidays of the year. Children are excited about it – they get to dress up in costumes and go about the neighborhood collecting candy. They start planning their costumes weeks in advance, searching for everything from capes, masks and face paint to fake blood and vampire fangs! We’ll give you some costume ideas to make sure your children look the part this Halloween.

Just remember, no matter how careful you are, you will probably encounter some spooky stains. Don’t worry though, as Vanish has a range of products to make stain removal easy, so you can focus on the fun stuff with your kids!

The children will be so excited, they will most likely want to get into their costumes as soon as possible. In order to distract them from playing dress up before dinner, plan a spooky treasure hunt for them or put on a scary movie to keep them in the Halloween spirit, while diverting their minds from dressing up right away!

Assemble the face paints, fake blood and props! This is where the real fun starts. The great thing about Halloween make-up is the messier it is, the better! White faces, dark eyes and fake blood trickling down their faces - the more gruesome it looks, the better the costume.

As white as a ghost!

A classic costume usually created by an old bed sheet. Cut a hole in the sheet so your child’s body is covered with just their head on show. Cover their face in white paint and get your child to practice saying, BOO!

Dracula!

Start by covering their face with white paint. Add some dark liner around the eyes and don’t forget red lips with fake blood trickling down their face for added effect. Dress them in plain black clothes before tying a cape around their shoulders. Finally, add the vampire fangs for the ultimate Dracula costume! Between the white paint rubbing onto black clothes and the trickling fake blood, this costume is almost certainly going to leave some form of stain later!

Wicked Witches!

On Halloween you’re sure to see witches on brooms around your neighborhood. This costume requires a black dress, green or purple tights and a pointy hat. Paint your child’s face green, adding some black liner around the eyes and on the eyebrows to make them look really wicked! Add some fake fingers and a broom to really finish off the outfit. Just beware of the green face paint rubbing off everywhere!

Dressed up, ready to scare the neighbors in exchange for candy; it’s time to trick or treat! Bring your children from door to door, but make sure you stay hidden so you don’t give away their identity!

Here are our top tricks for removing the most horrifying Halloween stains with Vanish.

• Food stains
  While trick or treating, the children will gather all sorts of sweets and treats. Whether it’s toffee apples, chocolate bars or other gory goods, you can almost guarantee that the remnants are going to leave a trail of stains all over their clothes.
  To get rid of stubborn food stains add 1/4 scoop of Vanish Gold Oxi Action Powder with 3/4 scoop of warm water and leave to soak for one hour. Add another scoop of powder and wash as normal.
• Paint stains
  If your stains are caused by face or body paint, the chances are it is going to be water-based which makes it relatively easy to remove with a good soak.

If you can’t wash the fabric straight away, reduce the appearance of wet paint stains by flushing away any remaining solids with cold water. If the stain’s already dried before you get the chance to rinse your fabric, scrape solids off the surface before attempting to remove the stain.

Before placing into the wash, pre-treat your garments and linen with Vanish Gold Pre-Treat Spray. Squeeze the formula directly onto your stain, and work it into it using the specially designed rubbing head and leave for five minutes before washing with Vanish Gold Oxi Action Powder.

With these tips in mind, don’t let stains haunt you. Enjoy a fun-filled Halloween this year!