Popsicle Stain Removal Tips For Clothing

Popsicle stain removal is something every parent seems to need to know about in the summer months.

That is because kids (and adults too) love to eat a cold refreshing frozen treat to cool themselves off from the summer heat, and drips and spills are almost inevitable.

These stains are very bright and can be difficult to remove because of the dyes contained within them.

Here are some hints for removing these spots:

• Rinse the stain quickly in cold water


• Presoak the clothing for at least a half an hour with cold water and a tablespoon or two of liquid laundry detergent


• Dab household ammonia onto the stained area, if needed


• Launder with detergent, and an oxygen based bleach (not chlorine bleach because you used ammonia previously, and combining bleach and ammonia can create toxic fumes)


• After washing, make sure the stain is completely removed before you dry the clothing, otherwise the heat of the dryer can set the stain

You can get more hints on removing food dye stains here, which has some additional hints and tips which may be of help.

Did these tips for removing popsicle stains from clothing help you? Please share your stain removal clothes tips here, telling me how you remove those pesky popsicle stains.

Photo by JeffS

How I Easily Removed Purple Popsicle Stains

by Taylor

My daughter was wearing a pretty little dress at her grandparent's house when she was given a freeze pop.

Instead of holding it with the plastic cut end up, she accidentally held it down and SPLAT, she got purple freeze pop all over her dress as you can see in the before picture.

Since I run this stain removal site instead of being upset or ashamed of the mess she ran right to me, jumping up and down with glee - "Look Mommy, here's a stain for your website. Take my picture!" HA!

Well, I did, and then threw the dress into the dirty clothes bag in the guest room, so I could deal with it when we traveled back to our home. (Yes, I should have pretreated it right away, but we weren't home, and I was busy!)

When we got home I pulled out all the clothes to wash, and at the last minute remembered to pretreat the purple stains on the dress.

It is a washable dress, which I just throw in with the regular wash, so I didn't do anything but spray it quite liberally with Shout Free stain remover (click the link to read reviews of the product) and throw it in to the wash with the rest of the load. (I was using Purex free and clear detergent as well.)

I honestly didn't expect all the stain to be gone when it was washed, but I was in a hurry and I figured I would see what happened and deal with it as I was removing things from the wash if necessary. (I obviously wouldn't want to dry it with a stain still on it -- a sure way to set it!)

When the load was done and I was transferring everything to the dryer I checked the dress and miracle of miracles, the spots were gone! Wow, that laundry stain remover works better than even I thought!

The after picture is after I got it out of the dryer! You can't see a trace of the mess.

Have you removed any stains from popsicles, freeze pops, Kool Aid, or other brightly colored stains caused by dyes? If so, I'd love to hear how you did it too. You can share your tips here or read others that have already been submitted.

Pre Soaking With OXI Clean Is Best For These Spots

by Linda

Linda says:

Apparently you do not like laundry products with perfumes either.

A few weeks ago I had to remove a red popsicle stain from a shirt.

Of course I did not know about it until it showed up on wash day and it was days old.

I presoaked it in OXI Clean Powder (fragrance free version) and then washed it with more OXI Clean and Wisk Free detergent.

It came out without a problem.

As long as I have OXI Clean on hand I do not worry about stains.

I admit that I did not know that Shout came in a Free version.

I have never seen it at the grocery store where I shop.

Based on your results I will certainly be looking to give it a try. It must be the only free type pretreater on the market.

Taylor says:

Thanks so much for sharing your results with Oxiclean Linda.

As I get more and more submissions from readers sharing how they got out various stains, not just for frozen treats, but anything that has artificial food dyes within it, I realize how great many types of oxygen bleach can be for removing them, especially when combined with the stain removal technique of presoaking.

For example, another reader shared how she presoaked these exact stains, but instead of using Oxiclean she used Biz for this process (click the link for the full review).

You're right too, I personally don't like to use laundry products with scents in them. Along with not using detergents with scents, I've tried to find lots of hypoallergenic laundry products as well (you can click the link to read a pretty comprehensive list of what is available) to help you find more things you might be able to use!

If anyone else has any other suggestions for removing these stains I would love to hear them! You can share your tips and recommendations here and I'll add them to the page!

***Update: A reader, Sunny, sent in this photo and said, "I needed this! Thank you! Right now I make my daughter eat popsicles that match her shirt! Lol!" ***End Update

Photo courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt, from Flickr CC

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