Planning a holiday party this year? If you are, it’s best to prepare for any mishaps that might happen. Have your stain pretreatment ready. A good at home stain pretreatment is an Oxy Power and water mixture. A lot of holiday foods create stains and although it’s not their mission to leave stains, things happen. Cranberry sauce is on majority of family’s tables and can cause quite a stain on fabric, upholstery, carpet and anything else it comes in contact with. If you happen to have an unfortunate spill from cranberry sauce on your upholstery, you should use some of your stain pretreatment along with some rubbing alcohol if you find the stain pretreatment not to be strong enough.

When cleaning, make sure to use a clean white cloth, free of dyes and patterns so that they don’t dye the upholstery. Use the white cloth to blot and absorb as much of the cranberry sauce as you can. Keep repeating until the stain disappears. Once it’s done, you can use a clean cloth to absorb the remaining liquid until the spot is dry. If the sauce happens to spill on carpet the same process should be safe to use as well. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and test a small area before treating the whole stain if you are unsure.

Another staple on your table this year will probably be a wine of some sort. Most people tend to stick with a red wine to correspond with the holiday season. If it happens to spill on your upholstery or carpet, begin to blot as soon as possible. A foolproof way of removing red wine stains from your carpet is by using hydrogen peroxide. First apply hydrogen peroxide, giving it a few minutes to soak in the carpet and penetrate the stain. Next, use a spray bottle filled with one part water and one part carpet cleaner to mist the stain. Then you must blot the area with a clean cloth until the stain is removed and the area is dry.

Another common dish for the holidays is gravy, another difficult stain to get out. When it does spill on your upholstery, try and scrape off as much of the excess gravy as you can. You can use baking soda to sprinkle on the stain. Let it stand for about 20 minutes and then vacuum off. You can use your stain pretreatment to avoid staining, just blot the area dry or until the stain disappears. You can use the same technique for carpets.