If the crisp October air, the twinkling stars in the clear night sky and the smell of wood smoke drifting from chimneys is making you desperate for Halloween to arrive, you’ll want to make this years’ the best ever. Get everyone involved, even dress up your pets and enjoy this spooky night being with friends and family. That’s what Halloween’s really about. Here are some quick tips to take the hassle out of the whole thing.
Halloween on Female First
Plan Ahead...
If you’re a Halloween traditionalist, there’s a lot to think about. Costumes, pumpkin jack-o-lanterns and tasty treats all take effort to prepare, but if you do everything in advance it’s much easier to handle. There’s nothing worse than running around the night before trying to improvise a ghost costume from a bed sheet. For parties, a buffet is easiest to do, and there are plenty of deals on sweets this time of year for visiting trick-or-treaters. Stock up early and you’re sorted.
A great way to look after your furniture - while maintaining a spooky feel - is to cover everything with white sheets. You’ll have a great abandoned mansion look, and your upholstery will be protected from any spills and stains.
...but Don’t Worry too Much
With any party or event, there’s bound to be some mess, and with Halloween especially, it’s easier to get into the ‘spirit’ of the thing (groan) than be too fussy. Go wild with pumpkins, candles and bowls of sweets. Spray fake cobwebs in the corners. Cut bat and spider shapes out of black paper.
You can cover furniture upholstery quite easily, but don’t worry about getting chocolate on the carpet - our Spot & Stain remover will get it out. You can also use it on candle wax marks, although you’ll need to pick as much of the wax off as you can. For really stubborn stains you can put a cloth over the wax and melt it with an iron on its lowest setting. The Spot & Stain remover will do the rest.
Look After Children and Pets
It should be obvious that trick-or-treating children should be escorted and only visit people they know, but it’s often easy to forget our pets at Halloween. Dogs in particular can be scared by people in masks and costumes coming to the door, so it might be best to shut them in a room upstairs to keep them out of the way. Of course, it’s also possible that children visiting your house are scared of dogs!
After It’s All Over
On 1st November, you’ll likely have a mountain of sweets and some clearing up to do. If you find you have too much chocolate, how about using it as ingredients in delicious cookies? Bars can be chopped up and some sweets (like Smarties) can be thrown straight in the mixture. Or if you’re trying to cut down, taking spare sweets to work for your colleagues is always a popular move.
If you’ve planned ahead the clean up shouldn’t be too bad, but don’t forget you can always rent a Rug Doctor carpet cleaner to give the carpets a deep clean. Even if there aren’t any visible stains that need removal, carpet cleaning is a great way to make your home look and smell fresh in preparation for the festive season that’s now just around the corner..
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