101 things to do with Soak | 038 Halloween costumes

Author: Ngoc

Lions, goblins, princesses and super heroes. These are a few of the interesting characters that you may have seen roaming the streets a week and a half ago (or perhaps you were one of those interesting characters).

If your house is anything like mine, then you’ll have an endless supply of single sized chocolate bars, chips and jujubes. Discounted candy after Halloween gets me every time. I am also notorious for not taking down decorations once the occasion has passed (this is reinforced by the ‘Season’s Greetings’ banner that still hangs in my mom’s house from the time I wanted to decorate in Gr. 10. Let’s just say I’ve finished highschool… and University… and that banner still hangs. It’s a running joke now amongst my friends).

I digress, let’s get back to the topic at hand. If you have kids or you chose to dress up yourself, I’m sure you have a crumpled up costume either thrown into your laundry basket or in the corner of a room somewhere. It’s been a week and a half, it’s time to wash and put it away for either next year or to be donated to your local Goodwill shop for someone else to enjoy. Or maybe you have a toddler at home that loves being a princess or superman more than just 1 out of the 365 days of the year. Or perhaps, you had on a slightly risky costume (a mistress Claus? Wonder women?) that may be pleasing to your partner on days other than Halloween. Either way, it needs to be washed.

Many of the store-bought costumes aren’t made to the highest quality and may not survive a trip in your washing machine. A lot of the time you will see costumes with lace, satin, nylon, sequins and other fun materials, that need extra care. A nice gentle wash in Soak is exactly what your costume needs.

Washing your Halloween costume

• Check the label of your costume for care instructions. A general rule is, if it can get wet, then it can be wash with Soak.
• Make sure you take out any left over candy that may have found its way into the pockets. If your costume was battery powered, make sure you remove the batteries and the hardware.
• Fill up your sink with cool water, add some Soak.
• Put your costume in to soak for 15 mins. 
• Give it a gentle squeeze to remove excess water. Roll in a towel to remove more excess water. 
• And as always, hang or lay flat to dry.

I also made a Where’s Waldo costume this year. Can you do me a favour? If you have young kids in the house, can you ask them if they know who Waldo is?  I walked by a boy who looked about 12 and he looked at me with zero recognition of who I was dressed up as. Do kids still look at Where’s Waldo books? Has Waldo gone the way of cassette tapes? 

I love home-made costumes and would love to see your wonderful craftmanship. Send your photos to ngoc@soakwash.com.