How to Care for Your Halloween Costume

Once you've spent money on a child's or an adult's Halloween costume, the last thing you want to do is to simply throw it away when the holiday season has passed. Instead, by taking care of and properly cleaning and storing your Halloween costume, you can prolong the life of the product. This means it can be worn another year, by another child, or even for another event. Halloween costume care isn't as complicated as you may expect, as long as you read the fine print and take care of how you store your items.

Hand-wash or dry clean.
You'll find out about your Halloween costume's recommended care specifics from the labels or packaging, but it's a safe bet that most Halloween costumes are going to require that you hand-wash or dryclean them in order to keep them looking their best. If there's no label, still don't throw the costume in the washing machine. It's best to air on the side of caution, especially if you are attached to this costume and know you'd like to save it for future occasions.

Spot clean stains and marks.
If you're uncertain about washing instructions, and if the Halloween costume was worn over top of regular clothes (as most are for young children), you may be able to simply spot clean any areas of question, rather than hand washing or dry cleaning the entire outfit. For example, the only mark on my daughter's bumblebee outfit was easily blotted out, and I was able to put the costume away for my next child.

Store all costume items together and in airtight containers.
The worst experience we ever had was to spot clean our daughter's Halloween costume, and then pull it out for child number two a few years later, only to find that we'd misplaced one of the shoes. Instead, store each component of a Halloween costume together. Airtight containers and plastic bags, away from moisture, may be best and can prolong the life of your Halloween costume.