Halloween is becoming more and more popular here in the UK but if you celebrate this spooky day at home you will be presented with a whole host of cleaning disasters from blood stained clothes to clearing away egg mess from your windows

I have put together a few of my top tips in case disaster strikes.

Chewing gum stains

Trick or treat anyone? Chewing gum if often given as a treat and kids can make a right old sticky mess from it. There are a few ways in which you can easily remove chewing gum from clothes and carpets.

The best way to remove chewing gum is to freeze it. If its on clothing pop the garment straight into the freezing and leave until its solid. If the chewing gum is on the carpet use ice cubes or a bag of frozen peas and again leave until it is solid.

The second option is WD40, spray leave a few minutes and using a clean cloth blot to lift the gum out.

If you or your child has been unlucky enough to get it in your hair then coat it with vegtable oil and then comb it out.

Face paints and make up

Some Halloween make up and face paints can be an absolute nightmare to remove and sometimes no matter how hard you scrub it just doesn’t come off! My top tip is to apply a thick layer of shaving foam to your face and then wash off you a face cloth. The shaving foam will lift the stains with ease.

Fake Blood

Fake blood is very often made of food colouring, corn syrup and water. My top tip here is to grab some rubbing alcohol as its great for these sorts of stains. If you have also managed to stain any surfaces apply the rubbing alcohol to dry cloth and gently rub.

Halloween costumes

We all love to dress up at Halloween don’t we ? But when it comes to our costumes how do we look after them? Well wigs and furry suits can be washed pretty much the same way we wash our hair with shampoo. Use cool water and, in the case of wigs, don’t rub the fibres as this will cause tangling. After you’ve washed a wig, shake it gently to remove water, then lay flat to air dry. You can style a wig using a brushes.

Fur suits, because of their size, may be best washed in your bath. When you’re done shampooing and rinsing the costume, press down on it to extrude water, then roll it in a large towel and lay flat to air dry. If it looks a bit mangy or matted once it’s dry use a pet grooming brush to fluff it back up.

Glitter

No Halloween party is complete with out a bit of shinny glitter but remember glitter does tend to get everywhere and you can still be finding it days after your party. Use you vacuum nozzle and an old pair of tights to suck up the shinny particles or grab your lint roller.

Remove egg from your windows

Egg yolks can stain your front door and windows if you have been tricked by the trick or tr eaters. If you can get to these eggy stains straight away. Hose the mess off the house, spraying above the egg so the falling water can wash the egg away. If that doesn’t do the trick, wash it off by hand with a bowl of warm soapy water and a large sponge

Candle Wax

Don’t panic if you get a candle wax spillage as it is really not that hard to remove. Firstly do NOT try to remove hot wax as this will make much more mess. Once the wax has cooled cover the candle wax with a paper towel or an old tea towel and press a warm iron on top or apply heat from a hair dryer. The wax will lift onto your towel or paper.

This may take a few attempts to get it all out but your carpet will be a good as new.

Happy Halloween