For a few days in February, Cádiz becomes a different city. The chirigotas and comparsas that have competed at the Gran Teatro Falla take to the streets, the unofficial ilegales sing on every corner of the La Viña and Santa María neighbourhoods, the choirs tour the centre on their floats and hundreds of thousands of people fill the city in fancy dress. It’s the most Cádiz of all festivals, and also the one you notice most at home once it’s over.
Glitter on the sofa, confetti in every corner, streamers stuck to the floor, make-up on the towels and drink stains on the rug: if you live in Cádiz, El Puerto or Jerez, or if you have a holiday flat that’s let during Carnival, you know exactly what we mean. In this guide we explain how to clean up each of these leftovers without damaging your home.
Before the party: get the house ready
The best Carnival clean is the one you avoid. If you’re having friends round, getting dressed up at home with the whole group or letting your flat out for those days, a few minutes of preparation make all the difference:
- Protect the sofa with a cover or an old sheet you can wash afterwards. The glitter and make-up stay on the fabric, not on the upholstery.
- Take up the rugs in the living room and hallway, or swap them for a cheap one you don’t mind about.
- Do make-up and costumes in one room, ideally the bathroom or kitchen, with an easy-to-clean floor.
- Put down a large doormat and a box for costumes and accessories by the door, so the confetti stays at the entrance.
- Old towels for removing make-up, ones you don’t mind staining.
- Bin bags to hand and a lint roller in the hall.
Dry first: confetti and streamers
The most common mistake is getting the mop out as soon as you get home. With water, paper confetti falls apart, dyes the floor and sticks to the grout.
- Sweep or vacuum all the confetti dry before wetting the floor. A soft broom picks up light confetti better than a powerful vacuum cleaner, which sometimes scatters it.
- Paper streamers: pick them up by hand or with the broom. If they’ve got wet and stuck, dampen them a little more, wait a few minutes and lift them with a plastic scraper.
- Corners, skirting boards and under the furniture: confetti gets everywhere. Use the crevice tool on the vacuum.
- Entrance and doormat: shake the doormat out in the street; that’s where most of it comes in.
- Mop only at the end, with little water and a neutral soap.
If your building has shared areas, the entrance hall suffers too. It’s a good moment to ask your building’s cleaning service for an extra visit during Carnival week.
Glitter: the hardest leftover
Glitter is tiny, light, clings through static electricity and keeps turning up at home for weeks. The key is not to rub.
- Upholstery and sofas: use a lint roller or wide sticky tape wrapped around your hand, dabbing. Then vacuum with the upholstery tool on low power.
- Floors: vacuum dry and, at the end, go over with a mop or a microfibre cloth that’s very slightly damp to pick up what’s left.
- Smooth surfaces: a barely damp cloth picks glitter up instead of moving it around.
- Clothes and costumes: shake them outside before washing, and wash them inside out and separately so the glitter doesn’t spread to the rest of the laundry.
- Rugs: beat them outside and vacuum both sides.
If you’re still finding glitter on the sofa a week later, it’s deep in the fibres. An injection-extraction clean lifts it out along with the rest of the dirt.
Make-up and face paint stains
Carnival face paints and costume make-up are usually greasy, so treat them like a grease stain.
On upholstery and rugs:
- Lift the excess with kitchen paper, without rubbing.
- Apply micellar water or warm water with a few drops of washing-up liquid using a white cloth, dabbing from the outside in.
- Rinse with a cloth dampened with water and dry by pressing.
On towels and pillowcases: apply washing-up liquid directly to the stain, leave it for ten minutes and wash at the highest temperature the fabric allows.
Fake blood and dyes: use cold water, never hot, because heat sets the colour.
Drinks, wax and other party leftovers
- Wine and beer on rugs or sofas: blot with paper, apply water with a little white vinegar and washing-up liquid, and rinse. On light upholstery, treat the stain the same day.
- Soft drinks and mixers: the sugar leaves the area sticky. Warm water with washing-up liquid and a good rinse.
- Candle or lantern wax: let it harden, scrape off what you can with a plastic scraper and, on fabric, lay brown paper over it and run a warm iron over the top so the paper soaks up the wax.
- Spray streamers: brush them off once dry; if they’ve left a mark on fabric, treat it as a grease stain.
- Smoke and party smells: air the house with a through draught, wash curtains and covers if possible and leave bicarbonate of soda on rugs and fabric sofas overnight before vacuuming.
Costumes: how to wash and store them for next year
In Cádiz, costumes are reused, mended and handed down, so they’re worth looking after:
- Shake it out in the street or on the terrace to remove confetti and glitter before bringing it inside.
- Read the label or, if it’s home-made, hand wash it in cold water with a mild soap, especially if it has sequins, glue or paint.
- Treat make-up stains on the collar and cuffs before washing.
- Dry it in the shade and laid out flat; sunlight fades costume fabrics.
- Store it clean and dry in a fabric garment bag, never in sealed plastic, with a moisture absorber if the wardrobe is on an outside wall.
If you let your flat during Carnival
Many owners in the old town of Cádiz and in El Puerto let their holiday flat during Carnival, and guest turnover on those days is intense. After the festival, the turnover clean needs to be stepped up:
- Thorough vacuuming of sofas, mattresses and cushions to get rid of glitter.
- Checking for make-up stains on towels, sheets and covers before washing them.
- Floors and entrance free of confetti and stuck-on debris.
- Airing and odour control.
- Checking for damage and documenting it with photos before the next guest arrives.
Our holiday rental turnover checklist will help you make sure nothing is missed.
Post-Carnival cleaning in Cádiz
If you don’t fancy spending the weekend cleaning after the party, at Hola Limpio we’ll take care of it. We carry out deep cleans of homes in Cádiz city, El Puerto de Santa María, Puerto Real and Jerez through our residential home cleaning service, and we clean sofas, mattresses and rugs by injection-extraction with our sofa and mattress cleaning service.
For holiday flats, we step up the turnover clean throughout Carnival week with our holiday rental cleaning service. Book early, because it’s one of the busiest weeks of the year. Get in touch and we’ll prepare a free, no-obligation quote.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get glitter off the sofa?
With a lint roller or wide sticky tape wrapped around your hand, dabbing rather than rubbing. Then vacuum with the upholstery tool on low power. Rubbing with a cloth just spreads the glitter deeper into the fibres.
How do I remove a carnival make-up stain from upholstery?
Lift the excess with paper, apply micellar water or warm water with a few drops of washing-up liquid using a white cloth, dabbing from the outside in, then rinse with water. Greasy face paints come out best the sooner they're treated.
Does a holiday flat need a special clean after the Carnival?
Yes, it's worth stepping up the usual turnover clean: thoroughly vacuum textiles and mattresses for glitter, check towels and sheets for make-up stains and give the entrance and hallway a deep clean, since that's where the confetti comes in.