Get your bowls of candy ready and your creepy costumes on, because Halloween is almost here. One of the scariest parts of this spooky holiday? Melted chocolate and ground-in hard candy staining your carpets and area rugs. 

After a night of trick-or-treating, your home’s carpets may resemble a horror movie scene. But don’t panic: here are some helpful tips on how to get chocolate and hard candy out of carpet.

How to Get Chocolate out of Carpet

Those little Halloween chocolate bars are delicious but can leave behind a big mess on your carpets and area rugs. Stains from melted chocolate can set quickly and be extremely hard to eliminate. When it comes to removing chocolate stains from carpet, speed is definitely key.

As soon as you see a chocolate stain on your carpet or area rug, quickly blot up any excess with an absorbent paper towel. If the chocolate has already set in, you can try removing any hardened parts with a scrapping tool like a butter knife. Take extra care not to damage your carpet or rug as you’re scraping. Applying ice may help harden melted, goopy chocolate, making it a bit easier to scrape away and prevent it from soaking too deep into the fibers.

You can then try commercial stain removers, or dish soap and water, diluted vinegar or lemon juice, or hydrogen peroxide. Be warned: some of these methods can also leave permanent discolorations on your carpet or area rug, so be sure to test them out first on a small, inconspicuous area. And keep in mind, chocolate stains are notoriously challenging to remove, despite all your best efforts and elbow grease.

How to Get Sticky Candy out of Carpet

After Halloween, you may find yourself in a sticky situation with candy embedded in your carpet or area rug fibers. Hard candy can be particularly stubborn and tricky to remove, especially if it’s ground in deeply.

There are a few home remedies you can try, including scraping away as much of the excess candy as you can with a butter knife and vacuuming up the remaining particles. Be careful not to pull or rip out any carpet or rug fibers while you’re doing so. You can also try getting the sticky area damp with a wet towel or sponge, agitating the stuck candy until it’s free, and mopping it up with a dry towel. 

If there’s a minimal amount of candy stuck in your carpet or rug, you may be able to remove it and clean the area with household cleaners, dish soap or a combination of water and white vinegar or lemon juice. Just be sure to test the solution first to make certain it doesn’t stain or ruin your carpet or area rug fibers.

Your Best Bet for Removing Chocolate and Candy Stains

For those post-Halloween chocolate and candy messes, why not treat yourself — and your carpets — to a professional deep-cleaning? Trained carpet cleaning specialists will have the expertise, equipment and solutions to remove the most stubborn chocolate and candy stains while also protecting your carpets and area rugs from damage.

At COIT, our independently certified carpet cleaning pros employ advanced methods approved by IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) to clean and sanitize carpets and area rugs deep into the fibers. That includes deodorizing your carpets and area rugs for a like-new freshness as well as cleanliness.

COIT also uses EPA-approved professional-grade cleaning solutions that remove ground-in stains, organic matter and grease while staying gentle on all manner of carpets and area rugs, including wool, olefin, nylon, and high-end fabrics. Last but not least, COIT techs can also apply non-toxic CoitGuardTM stain resistant coating to repel future stains resulting from spills, messes and more.

This Halloween, let your kids enjoy the sweet stuff without sweating the stains. When chocolate or candy winds up on your carpets or area rugs, you’ll know who to call (and it ain’t Ghostbusters). Happy Halloween!