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Message |
    
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13193
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 10:32 am: | 
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I'd like to host a Passover seder for my extended family this year. Haven't done it in 14 years. My 11 year old nephew has a severe allergy to pet hair. We have a dog and a cat.
Is there a service I could hire to intensively remove pet hair from our home? I would send the dog and cat away between the cleaning and the seder.
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joy
Citizen
Username: Joy
Post Number: 408
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 10:50 am: |
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I read once that even after a year of no cats - the dander remained.
You can try - but it means cleaning the rugs, furniture, drapes, damp mopping the hardwood floors - still with no guarentees.
Is an antihistamine out of the question? |
WendyP
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 3398
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 10:51 am: |
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I hired a company called Branch Chem-Dry to clean my upholstry. They also do carpet. I really liked the folks I dealt with on the phone and the guy that came to the house was great. However, it could be very cost prohibitive--it cost me $137 for one sofa and ottoman.
Another option would be for you to pay someone to do an intensive top to bottom cleaning of your home (probably a couple hundred dollars), and for you to remove and wash whatever slip covers you have. Then follow the thorough cleaning with a really great product I use when friends with allergies visit us: Febreze Fabric Refresher with Allergen Reducer. The bottle says it "reduces up to 75% of airborne allergens from fabrics." A couple of applications should cover you.
Although if his allergies are "severe" it might be hard to say. Sometimes severe allergies are set off even after there has been no pet in the house for some time. |
Thenewguy
Citizen
Username: Thenewguy
Post Number: 107
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 11:06 am: |
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My vet told us that the main ingredient in some of these pet allergen sprays is distilled water. He suggested it is the distilled water, and not the other stuff that may be in the spray, that neutralizes dander. He suggested spraying distilled water and seeing if that works before buying the pet product for something like $10/quart |
Eats Shoots & Leaves
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 3151
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 11:10 am: |
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On the preventative side, I have taken to dipping my dog in lacquer before allergic guests come over. |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 2232
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 11:10 am: |
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I’m not sure if it keeps with tradition, but a friend of the families has the Seder dinner outdoors (In a large party tent) with heaters, every year. She cleans her outside porch, wipes off the furniture, and airs it out for a few weeks before the kids get there. This way the kids can play on the porch and the adults can talk inside, and everyone can enjoy dinner. |
Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 1425
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 11:11 am: |
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Tom, I know this isn't the solution you are looking for, but JUST IN CASE you can't get the hair problem solved (if the kid is SUPER allergic I think you SOL) you could do what we do.
Yes, we have a house now, but actually haven't started doing festivity dinners in our home yet. We go to other family member's homes and we do ALL of the cooking and preparing. For instance Thanksgiving is OUR holiday, but we do it in the in-laws home. Everyone actually thinks it's fine. And everyone loves TS' cooking so most people are really happy for us to do it this way.
Just a thought. Even if you can't have it in your house, you can still have it be your holiday. |
WendyP
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 3400
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 11:11 am: |
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Branch Chem-Dry:
201-438-0990
800-625-0990 |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13196
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 12:46 pm: |
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Thank you for all the suggestions. They're all very good.
Alleygater, yours is excellent, except that it's not just that I want to facilitate gathering. Passover is meaningful to me, and I'd like to do it my way, for a chance. I disagree with most of the hagaddahs, and I want to compile things from various hagaddahs (or is the plural hagaddot?) to have our our ceremony. And I can't do that in someone else's home.
So it would mean a lot to me if I could pull this off.
My nephew is asthmatic, though he recently told us it's getting better lately. He may not be as sensitive as before. I'll ask my sister what she thinks of my idea and how my nephew is coming along with his asthma and allergies.
Brett's idea of a tent sounds like a ton of fun, but our property isn't big enough for that. Well, MAYBE we could fit on the deck in the back. Outside the deck, the ground is rough and tiered, and we can't all fit on the same level. Still, I'm not dismissing the idea. It could work, but I can't rely on it, since I don't like the idea of a big heater, and the weather is far from guaranteed. The first seder is April 12.
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WendyP
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 3401
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 12:50 pm: |
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Your driveway is big enough to accomodate a tent, and the surface should be relatively level. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13197
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 12:51 pm: |
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Holy cow, you're right!
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WendyP
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 3402
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 12:56 pm: |
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Holy cow, I know!
Hosted an outdoor shindig in the back yard for the little one's 1st birthday, which is in August. Set up a canopy (really just a tent without sides) on the driveway just in front of the garage with buffet tables for food service, and a half dozen or so little round tables with chairs for folks to eat/sit and chat. It provided a nice bit of shade and left the yard free for kids to run and play and additional seating at our existing patio table and chairs. Worked out very nicely.
And those heaters they use in these kinds of situations really kick •••. It could be really fabulous, depending on how you put it all together. |
golden
Citizen
Username: Golden
Post Number: 147
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 2:06 pm: |
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wendyp, not to get off the subject but did chemm-dry leave any chemical odor ? i need to have my carpet done and need something that dries fairly quickly but i too have asthma and allergies and cannot take any of those chemical smells. i can't tolerate strong perfumes or those chemicals that people use on their lawns either but i do have a dog and that doesn't bother me. |
Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 1430
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 2:57 pm: |
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So Tom, your saying that if you asked your sister, if you could run the ceremony your way, and you want this to be YOUR Passover she wouldn't go for it? Especially considering the fact that you can't have it at your house due to the pets?
I don't know, I'd be cool with letting you have it at my house and doing the ceremony any way you wanted if I was your sibling. |
WendyP
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 3404
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 3:05 pm: |
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Golden, I don't recall there being any odor associated with the cleaning agents, but then I'm not sensitive to those kinds of smells. There was a slight chemical odor associated with the protectant they put on afterwards, but that is optional.
As far as drying fast, this did not. If you find a cleaning service that does clean carpet and upholstry and it dries fast could you let me know. I have yet to find that. |
soresident
Citizen
Username: Soresident
Post Number: 351
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 3:31 pm: |
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I know it's not traditional, but, depending on the size of the extended family you mention, perhaps it would be just as easy to rent a location for the event? It might not be more expensive than the cost of the service you'd need to use to do the pet hair removal, and you wouldn't need to send the animals away! Since it's been 14 years since you last hosted, you could even think of the rental cost as amortized over those years! And I'm guessing you also didn't do the majority of cooking for Passover seders you attended those last 14 years, so think of all the time, effort and $$$ you previously saved (it's expensive and quite an effort to host these dinners). Thoughts: Maplewood Woman's Club, DeHart Center (is there a stove?), Little Club (a/k/a Maplewood Tennis Club), even Elks Club.
If you rented china and silver or used beautiful paper products it would mean all you'd have to schlep would be food, wine, and Passover paraphenalia.
And, for what it's worth: Freeman's makes fabulous gefilte fish, and the flourless chocolate cake at Cait & Abby's is to die for! |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13214
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 3:40 pm: |
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Wow, lots of good ideas. Alleygater, my sister hasn't offered her home, and even if she did, I wouldn't feel comfortable bringing a ceremony my wife and I devised to it or anyone else's home. I don't see feeling any differently about that. Well, I will think about it. Maybe I will like the idea if I think about it for a while.
My cousin often offers her home. She lives way out in Plainview, NY. Some come from Westchester, some come from Manhattan, and we come from NJ. If it were at my place, the shlepping would be the same, or slightly reduced, in the aggregate.
It's not about the money, soresident. Passover is supposed to be in the home, not a public place, not the synagogue. I suppose I don't mind breaking rules, but I happen to like this rule, and I like complying with it.
I do like the idea of getting a few things from Freeman's and Cait and Abby's!
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Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 1435
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 4:16 pm: |
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Tom, I suppose my point was you'd have to ask your sister. Sure it's a slightly odd request, but one that I PERSONALLY would honor, especially given the circumstances of my own child's allergies. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13216
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 4:18 pm: |
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Yeah, I get that. The trouble is, she has never hosted Passover, so asking her to use her home is presumptuous. She hosts Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas (we're half-breeds) so it's not as if she's stingy with her space or effort.
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kevin
Supporter
Username: Kevin
Post Number: 656
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 4:36 pm: |
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For tents, tables, chairs, even settings...
Union Rental: 908-688-3663
They deliver and setup.
Pioneer: 973-635-7870
They charged me extra for everything.
Haven't used any others. |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 7168
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 24, 2006 - 7:29 pm: |
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Tom:
It sounds as if the health needs of your astmatic relative should outweigh your desire to host the seder at your house. I think you and the rest of your extended family realize this. However, I don't see why your relatives are less apt to object to an alternative service if it is held at your home than if it is held elsewhere. Why don't you phone a few of your relatives and talk it over with them. You can always bring your personalized hagaddahs with you to someone else's house and lead the service there. |
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