Tablecloth stains are to a dinner party what ants are to a picnic -- unwelcome and difficult to get rid of. Take the stained fabric to a professional dry cleaner as soon as possible to decrease the chance of permanent damage. But in the meantime, follow these tips.

Don't scrub stains with salt, warns Pooneh Fracyon of Christopher's, a professional upholstery cleaning and fabric-guarding company in McLean, Virginia. "Salt can be very abrasive," she says. "You get the same, if not better, result just by blotting."

For liquid spills, blot the area with a dry white absorbent towel, and do not rub. Continue to blot until the area is dry.

For semisolid spills, like chocolate, use a rounded spoon to gently scrape up as much as you can so that the stain doesn't grind into the fabric. Adding moisture can cause the stain to spread.

What about the ever-popular seltzer or club-soda solution? "It can work," Fracyon says, "but it can also be detrimental, leaving water marks on fine linens and silks."

For finer fabrics like linens and silks, Fracyon recommends pretreating them with a solvent-based product like Scotchguard. Unlike water-based products, solvent-based treatments won't disintegrate if something hot is spilled on them.