Guests are arriving tomorrow for the first holiday meal at your new home. Not a good time to discover an assortment of stains from a previous dinner party. Wine, gravy, vegetables and candle wax all remain on your best tablecloth. Find out how to eliminate set-in stains before everyone sits down to eat.

Win the food fight

The trick to getting out set-in food and drink stains is to soak them loose. First, rinse the stains in cold water, then mix warm water and a ½ cup of Tide® with Bleach Alternative in a plastic bucket.

After soaking for about 30 minutes, put the tablecloth in the machine, washing in warm water with a full cup of Tide®.

Wax on... wax off

If it's candle wax that's got you stuck, try this technique. First, physically remove the stain by scraping it with a dull knife, then shake off the residue.

Place the tablecloth face down on a white paper towel and place another paper towel on top of it. Press with a warm — but not hot — iron, being careful to keep the iron on the paper towel. Keep changing the paper towels as needed until no more stain transfers.

Finally, pretreat using your favorite formula of Tide®, then wash in warm water with one use of Tide®.

Let Tide® do the rest

After you throw the tablecloth in the washer, you can head to the kitchen to start on the meal preparations. When the final rinse ends, the tablecloth will be spotless!

New year, no worries

You won't have to worry about set-in stains next year — if you have Tide to Go® on hand. This instant stain remover helps eliminate many fresh food and drink stains, including coffee and ketchup, on the spot.

This holiday season, when guests accidentally spill on the tablecloth (or themselves), you can get rid of the stain without having to get up from the table. Just remove the excess residue from the stain, then press the Tide to Go® tip on the stain (to release the stain solution) and rub.* Talk about holiday magic! Just remember to launder the garment before you store it away for the season.

Don't be haunted by the stains of holidays past ever again. With Tide®, you can focus on more important things — like spending quality time with family and friends (instead of your washing machine!).

*Tide to Go® does not work well on greasy stains. Tide to Go® is not a pretreater.

http://www.tide.com/en-US/article/stains-holidays-past.jspx

Articles

The stains of holidays past

Register

^*Required Field

^*First Name:

^*Date of birth: (mm/dd/yyyy)

^*State: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Conneticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

^*Email Address: