Plastic tablecloths are very helpful to the hostess’ budget, but they come out of their packages with all those unsightly crease lines. Taking a few extra minutes to tend to details like this make a subtle but impressionable difference. So, how do you get those creases out of a plastic tablecloth?
- If you have a day or more before your event and the weather is warm, hang the tablecloth on a clothesline. The heat from the sun will warm the plastic and gravity will pull out the creases. Do this for the full day for best results.
- If the weather is cold, or you have less than a day before your event, use a hair dryer on a LOW setting to get the wrinkles out. Keep the blow-dryer moving back and forth over the tablecloth (staying still in one place can melt the cloth, as can getting the dryer too close to the plastic) and smooth it with your hand. This technique is especially helpful if you have an extra set of hands to gently pull the wrinkles out while you warm them with the hair dryer.
- Another option is to place a warm, damp towel on top of any especially difficult wrinkles and iron the towel. This will create steam to loosen the wrinkles. The towel will become very hot, so be careful.
- I don’t find this to be as effective, but you could try hanging your plastic tablecloth over the curtain rod or shower doors in the shower, away from the stream of water. Turn on the hot water, close the bathroom door and allow the hot water to steam the wrinkles out for 15 minutes. You’ll need to wipe the tablecloth dry after, just from the steam condensation.
- The last option is to put them in a cool dryer with a damp towel for just long enough to get warm (a few minutes at most). Take them out immediately (otherwise they just re-wrinkle in new places) and lay on a flat surface, perhaps the table you’ll be putting them on. Smooth them out with your hands while still warm.
If you need to transport the plastic tablecloths to an off-site venue after removing the creases, layer them on top of each other and roll them around a wrapping paper cardboard tube or piece of PVC pipe.
Here’s to a SMOOTH party! 
The Party Muse
