Tablecloths or Place Mats?

I never use a tablecloth or place mats. I find it easier to just wipe the table down with a dish rag.

There were times when I thought mealtime in the bathtub would be a good idea - everything could be hosed off easily afterward.
The summer is easier if you can eat outside on the deck/patio.
Plastic table cloth (flannel backed - if it has an elastic edge it'll hug the table), towels over the chairs and a drop cloth under the table might make meal clean-up easier but you'll be doing more laundry.

http://searchresults.harrietcarter.com/gifts/Elastic%20Ta...

I find it easiest just to wipe the table down after each meal, and sweep the crumbs from underneath the table. The chairs get a wipe every couple of days or as needed. The kids can now do that for me. Tablecloths and place mats just make more work. With place mats I have to wipe them down, then pick them up and wipe under them. Tablecloths have to go into the laundry.

I found that it's much easier to use NOTHING. If you wipe off the table immediately after the meal, the muck won't dry onto your table.

Also...get a dog. :-) They love to clean up all the crumbs after dinner. Bonus: They'll also prewash your toddlers. ;-)

I use place mats for everyday and a table cloth when we entertain. My son tends to pull tablecloths (unintentionally) and I spend to much time watching to make sure nothing will go flying off the table when we use them. Wiping down the table - just a fact of life. Demucking (great new word) the chair - completely unanticipated part of life with child.

No, I don't. I use place mats. However, I don't recommend that either, because I spend a lot of time cleaning them and the table underneath them as well. I don't use a table cloth because they often get pulled off by little ones unintentionally, and that is not a headache I want to deal with either. So, nothing changes and I clean "muck" up on a regular basis.

ChristyLee pretty much described my mealtime ritual as a child.

J. G. , I think it is actually MORE work to use a tablecloth or placemats. It is easier to use a rag and soapy water...takes a couple minutes. The others you have to go shake out then wash them and fold them.

But what is even easier is to have the kids set the table, clear the table, do the dishes and wipe down the table. Works in our home!! Start them young...everyone can do something to help. :)

After I had kids I never used a real tablecloth or place mats again. I've used decorative plastic tablecloths for parties, and that's it. It is much less work and either cleanup to not use them at all.

If you have to cover your table to protect it or because it is scarred up, then use a heavy duty vinyl cover and just wash it down after each meal.

I just wiped the table after every meal, looked for stuff on the chairs, took around five minutes.

My kids are older...so I use place mats.

How old are your kids? Maybe they can start cleaning up after themselves? Get a paper towel wet and have them wipe their spot down...

When we eat on the dining room table I take everything off so I can wash the table after the meal. It's cheaper than running the washer and dryer.

BUT when we eat every day meals we eat at the island in the kitchen. It's counter-top so scrubbable. It's by the sink too so that saves time.

I spray it with Gain scented Mr. Clean then wipe it down to get the debris off. Then I use dishwater to wash it off, get the goo off. I use fresh soapy water every day and add a splash of bleach to keep germs down.

I do both. A cloth tablecloth and plastic placemats more specifically. I can buy both very cheaply at Ikea so I have a good stockpile of both.

With the tablecloth I find if there is a cup spill, I can quickly clean the mess by sweeping the whole tablecloth off the table and mopping up what is beneath with the soiled tablecloth. Otherwise, the tablecloth stays on the table for a week or more with minimal fuss. I do have to watch my three year old because he inadvertently catches the tablecloth as he gets up and down from his chair. No big deal and just part of the routine.

The plastic placemats catch the daily meal grind and I wipe them down after every meal.

Regardless of what I do or do not put on the table, cleaning the table and the chairs is part of the territory of small children. Heck, even my ten year old stepdaughter isn't as neat as the adults. She tries but kids make messes. Such is the nature of the beast. The tablecloth and placemats only minimize the damage to the table and assist in cleanup overall.

If you have a nice wooden table, I recommend a table protector (plastic top and fuzzy underside) in addition to the other options. The top of our wooden table needs to be refinished in spite of the tablecloths and placemats. Condensation and spills have taken their toll. The table protector would have stopped all of that nonsense. Good luck.

I truly never realized just how messy kids are at meal time until I no longer had dogs! And when I went from having my 2 boys, to having 3 step kids, and eventually my daughter. I am forever sweeping under the table, and cleaning down the table and chairs. I never use a tablecloth or place mats. I would think it would be more work and more laundry. I just spray the table down with cleaner after each meal.

I remember my mom always had a table cloth and center piece on our dining room table (she still does). But she always took it off at meal time and put it back on after clean up. Seemed like a lot of work to me. To each their own!

If you're really good with laundry and really do at least a load a day, a table cloth can be great. We only do laundry once a week (our septic system issues mean that we can't do it at home so we go to the laundromat) so cloth table cloths are not a good option for us. Whenever I use one, I can get maybe 2-3 days out of it before someone spills milk on it and then it needs to be laundered, which means that I have to rinse it in the tub to get the milk out first or it will get moldy before I get a chance to launder it. I'm not a fan of ironing so that's another pain too in that the cloths can be pretty wrinkly. But if you can get them into the wash and out of the dryer quickly, real table cloths can be great.

So when we had an old, beat-up table, I used to use plastic cloths with flannel backing. They're still gross because you have to scrub them down every day, but it protects your table.

Now we have my grandmother's table and I'm eventually going to have a glass top made for it so that I can protect the table but actually see the beautiful table and will use place mats. My kids are older than yours though so we have less mess in general.

We have an oilcloth on our table, which means that spills stay on the surface and it's wipe-able. I keep it in place with those elastic bands one uses to keep fitted sheets on one's bed. Buy cloth, to hang down 1' on each end, poke/cut small holes on each end (in the middle-third--so they are directly under the table) of the fabric(2) then join beneath with a set of four elastic bands-- they each fit into one of the holes and meet in the middle, like two parallel lines under the table. Tablecloth doesn't budge.

De-mucking-- have the kids help you every other day or so. Make sure they are using napkins instead of the furniture to wipe their fingers on. Even at four, my son knew to keep his napkin in his lap and uses it for his fingers and mouth. We do cloth napkins and wash'em when they're dirty... usually every day or two. (We also sit at the same place each meal, so that keeps it easy.)

I have an oak table.
I just wipe it with a spray cleaner every day.
To me, a cloth or placemats would be more of a hassle.

Well, my kids are teens now, but since they were little, I've pretty much just used a table runner over the wood table.

It pretties up the table a bit, but doesn't get as messy as a tablecloth or placemats and can be shook out easily if there are any crumbs, etc. It still needs to get washed, but not nearly as frequently as a tablecloth.

Then I just have always wiped down the table.

I do use a real tablecloth at birthdays or when we have company and I usually only get about 1 or 2 meals out it to when it starts looking messy to me and I take it off to wash.

I did try placemats a little when my kids where small like yours. They were fun from time to time as I would get some cute ones, but overall I thought they were messier than just having a table to wipe down! :) Don't know if there's a perfect solution!! :)

It's just more laundry, then. Do you really have 10 tablecloths, so that you can change it after every meal and get them all washed every 3 days or so?

I didn't. Still don't. Don't want to.

I just resigned myself to the fact that the table would get messed up (permanently... scrapes, ink, paint, etc... we bought a cheap table and had a "nice" one in the "real" dining room) and if we had company over and ate there, THEN I threw a table cloth over the damage.
Use a warm sponge and dish soap. And don't worry about the condition of the actual table. Clean the mess (and vacuum under) and save the table cloths for guests. Then you only have extra laundry on occasion.
:)

We don't use either. We have a glass table and it gets cleaned after every meal or activity done at the table. Easy enough.

We don't have animals because of allergies (mine and 8 year old son), but I do wish we had one after meal times :).

My opinion is that it's technically easier to just wipe the table after every meal. My table is all glass so it shows everything. But when my step dtr is here on the weekends, I do use a table cloth that is not vinyl. She is special needs and makes a mess so I just leave it on there for the 2 days she's here then throw it in the wash. I have used placemats but they seem like a lot of work too. Have your kids wipe down the table when they are done. Good luck.

We have a cherry wood table. We use a tablecloth year-round but we have a clear vinyl tablecloth over the regular one. That gets wiped after mealtimes and it helps to protect the table. It would be more of a pain to keep laundering the tablecloth it we didn't have the vinyl.

I never had a problem with muck (?) but I was pretty anal about wiping up after each meal. I tried using plastic place mats for a while but I found that just doubled my work as I still had to wipe down the table in addition to cleaning the place mats.
I love tablecloths, and use them all the time now that my kids are older, but I wouldn't have used them when they were little. They would have gotten pulled by little hands and anything on the table likely would have been knocked over or pulled off I'm sure!

We used to use table cloths all the time. I got tire of having to wash them, and then sometimes they stained. My husband complained that he liked the tablecloths and wanted them back. So I gave him the weeks worth and told him how to wash them to hopefully get rid of the stains. He stopped complaining. It is just easier to clean the table and chairs with a cloth. As they got older, my kids had to do it themselves. A 6 yr old can clean up themselves and that is when it started. Of course, the cloth chairs don't look so great but whatcha gonna do?

I found that my DD never contained her disaster to a placemat. If you go with a tablecloth, just get a vinyl one that is easy to wipe down, and consider plastic chair covers and/or a splat mat.

We don't do any of that. Wipe up the table after she's done and take a dust buster to the floor or chair if necessary. Or she does.

When I was growing up, we always had a heavy clear plastic vinyl sheet (that my mother purchased, cut from a huge roll at the hardware store) over my grandmother's tablecloths. We always had the beauty of our heirloom table coverings, but safe from us little squirrels. Still, I fail to see any relief from still having to clean that clear vinyl covering, vs. the formica top of the table. We find that it's just as easy to clean the formica top of the table, than cover it up. For special occasions, we still use the beautiful tablecloths, with the clear vinyl sheet. I don't want to have to wash the tablecloths at all!

i sidestepped that issue when i had busy, dirty little boys by having a tile table. the dh built it (with a little help from us) and it was indestructible, pretty, and so easy to clean. we never used placemats or cloths.
a year or so ago my dh decided that an empty nester reward would be a grown-up dining room set. it's lovely and we like it, but i still kinda miss my old friend, now in the basement for use on days when we have lots of guests and need extra table space. i use placemats because they're fun and easy to change according to season, and still allow us to see our nice table. but yeah, they constantly need to be shaken out and washed, and even without kids the table gets dirty and needs to be polished frequently. it's a lot more work than my scrub-and-go tile table!
i think if i'd had THIS table when i had little people in the house i'd have had to go for the tablecloth to save my sanity.
khairete
S.

I hate placemats for this reason. I think placemats are good for a retired couple who is going to sit quietly at the table and not make a mess while they eat their oatmeal and drink their coffee. But for families - never!

Our kitchen table was my grandmother's - it's maple so it's hard wood. But I got a plastic tablecloth (flannel backed) with elastic around the bottom so it doesn't hang down. I use windex and paper towels to clean it after meals. For my dining room table I have a similar table cloth on it every day so it doesn't get scratched. For holiday or extended family dinners I put a cloth tablecloth on top of the plastic one. When everyone leaves I use "Shout" to spray the spots while it's still on the table, then shake out the crumbs outside - then throw it in the wash. voila.

Maybe when the kids are grown and out I'll use palcemats on the nice wood - but then again, my hsuband's kind of a piggy too....