The scenario: Your young co-star wipes her sticky fingers all over your white dress at your movie premiere … or you’re daring and order spaghetti with marinara and red wine at dinner — even though you opted for a white top. Oops.

What to do: New York fashion stylist Leila Wolford says you should never rub the stain, since that’ll just make it set in there more. Instead, “dip your napkin in water and lightly tap the stain, go back and forth between the wet part of the napkin and the dry part to try and soak it up.” If you have a Tide pen, you can also give that a try if the napkin and water didn’t do the trick.

And as for the uh, slight humiliation of spraying yourself with pasta sauce? It’s tough, but try and laugh. It’s happened to the best of us and your date will appreciate that you have a sense of humor and don’t take yourself too seriously (you can cringe and cry on the inside though if you want, we won’t tell).