I’m part of a facebook group for LDS mothers with large families. In our conversations it’s interesting to see what we all do that is the same and what we do that is different in managing our families of more than six children.
Last week the conversation was around how we serve our meals. Some preferred buffet style, others sit-down family style passing the food around the table {that’s what we do}, and still a few had mom or dad serve the food and pass the plates down to each child.
What surprised me was how few of us used tablecloths. I guess I never really thought about why we use a tablecloth. . . . until now.
Reasons we use a tablecloth:
My grandmother told me I had to. Seriously! When Mr. Ferrero Rocher and I were dating he came to Georgia for a visit. My grandmother was living with us at the time. I can’t remember why he was late and eating dinner alone but I do remember my grandmother getting upset that I served him at the table without a tablecloth or even a placemat. She scolded me about always making mealtime a special time and showing my love by taking extra care to set the table correctly with either placemats or tablecloths. Yes, ma’am!
It makes for the easiest clean-up ever. We don’t have to wipe off crumbs. After the table is cleared we just roll up the tablecloth and shake off the crumbs outside for the birds. Usually the tablecloth is clean enough to use again for the next meal. Tablecloths also help soak up any spilled liquids before they spread from here to “the other shore”.
See? We used a tablecloth for our annual gingerbread house making extravaganza. Clean up was a snap. There was no wiping and scrubbing. Just a quick shake and all candy crumbs were gone.
I’d rather do a load of tablecloths a day than scrub my table clean after every meal. We are able to eat almost every single meal together as a family. Three to four large tablecloths make a good sized laundry load so there’s usually one load of tablecloths getting washed every other day. Because they are washed so soon after being used we don’t have trouble with stains. Not even on my white tablecloth {pictured earlier in the post}.
Mealtime feels special, especially when a bright colored or pretty patterned cloth is used and even when the dishes don’t match the color or pattern of the cloth. 🙂
Our table is pretty big. It measures about 9 x 4 feet (108 x 44 inches). It’s actually this table with both extensions on it to accommodate the whole family and then some, especially when we use benches. {It’s also the same table the Duggars use! Only they have two end to end.} We’ve been able to fit 16 around it pretty comfortably. It can be hard to find tablecloths for decent prices that will cover it. Sometimes I can find them in the clearance aisle but usually I resort to making my own.
This green tablecloth cost me a total of $5 from 60″ wide fabric that was on clearance. It’s rare to find good fabric that wide on clearance though. I have two other tablecloths, one white, one brown that I made from fabric also found on clearance. It’s really not a big deal to hem up edges. And sometimes I cheat. When the fabric is 60″ wide and the selvedge edges look good I don’t touch them and just hem up the cut end edges which is what I did on this tablecloth.
The absolute easiest way to make a tablecloth is to use sheets! They come in all different colors and patterns. For our table I use king size sheets. A flat king sized sheet costs about $15 and measures 108 x 102 inches. I cut it in half width wise, hem up the cut side and end up with two tablecloths that are 108 x 50 inches, just enough to cover the top of the table. Aren’t those colorful stripes cheery?
Now I am curious what you do at your family meals. Do you use a tablecloth or placemats? How do you serve the meal: buffet style, family style, or some other way?
No table clothes, although I’m also tired of scrubbing the table and wiping up the 1-2 glasses of spilled water at every meal. Actually, my 12 year old has gotten pretty good at running to the kitchen really fast after every spill. I usually have plates passed to me and load all the food on my side of the table to serve. If we are having a big meal, it’s buffet style off the kitchen counters :).
We have a dreaded square table…
and my tablecloths are…wait for it…shower curtains.:)
Love it!
Oo! I love that idea, too! 🙂
i love this.
We use placemats and buffet style. But I do break out tablecloths for holiday dinners. I don’t know why…Just dresses it up nicer than the every day…
The kids usually eat breakfast and lunch up to the counter, but dinner is @ the table with a tablecloth. My mom and grandma was use one, so I do.
I grew up using tablecloths and even used them until we got our HUGE table. I actually don’t know what it measures, it was a hand-me-down from our neighbor. Funny you should have this post today because I was just thinking last night that I wanted to make some tablecloths for our table. I love the look of a covered table.
Definitely measure the table then check out the measurement of different sheet sizes. Chances are you’ll find one that will cover that big table.
I would detest having to wash all those tablecloths all the time! I’ve only ever put on a tablecloth for special holidays. I’m a big time table wiper. Right now my kids eat breakfast and lunch at the big kitchen island and then we all sit down to dinner at the table.
One thing I do all the time is put pots of food right on the table instead of transferring the food to a pretty serving dish. I’m just too fussy about efficiency during every day meals to want to get 2 things dirty! ( : Maybe I’m just lazy….For special occasions I do actually use nice dishes.
Question: What if someone spills something like oatmeal all over the cloth? Do you have to scrape it off before you can wash it?
Oatmeal, cream of wheat, grits….they are all pretty sticky but still shake off with some good snaps of the wrist.
And my dirty little secret is I’m only in charge of laundry every six months or so. Having older kids really helps in that area. 🙂 Although when we only had littles {under age 8} I had plenty of tablecloths to last all week and only did one load a week since they were also smaller than the ones we use now. But, I also use cloth diapers so doing another load of laundry is no biggie for me.
Good to know that you can shake it off!
Wow, laundry only every six months? Yes please! Ha ha! I do cloth diapers too, so there’s already that to keep up with. I can’t imagine keeping up with yet another load or two in a week for tablecloths, but they do make the table look so nice. And being able to shake crumbs off sounds great!
You know, I’d be interested in hearing about what things were like for you before you had anyone say, over age 8. Sometimes I just can’t figure out how you have time to do all the things you do, but then I remember that you have older children who you’ve trained well and they can do a lot of cooking, cleaning, laundry and errand running. Once you had older helpers did you find you had more time for other things- or have you always had some kind of great system in place to allow you to keep up with everything?
With having my fourth child and my oldest being only 6 I’m finding myself positively swimming in things to do and it’s so hard to stay on top of it all. I try to train the kids, but at this age there’s not much they can do that is truly helpful. Did you experience that once you had many young ones?
I’m in the same boat. 4 kids 6 and under and I’m swimming too! It’s busy. I would love to learn more tricks on how you managed many little ones at the same time.
We use a tablecloth also. We eat dinner all together also family style. We usually pass our plates up to dad to be served. I have 3 out of my 5 children at home with us.
We generally eat family style but my kids are still pretty young so we dish them up. But we don’t use a tablecloth very often because we only have one. But after ready your post I think I am going to have to get more because like washing the table after every meal and neither does anyone well in my family…
I want to use tablecloths. I think it makes meal time special. I haven’t figured out how to keep my 18 month old from just pulling the whole thing off. I’m afraid if I put food on the table, she’ll end up with chili on her head.
Ah, well, yes that does happen once in a while! I think right now our table is so big though its hard for anyone just to pull off the tablecloth. There are things you can do to keep it one better.
One trick we use often {especially when outside on the deck and its slightly windy} is to grab the tablecloth at a corner below the table and put a rubber band or ponytail holder around it. Do that to all four corners. It keeps the tablecloth snug against the table.
We use tablecloths on Sunday’s when we eat in the dining room, and placemats for all other meals in the kitchen. Now that we’re empty-nesters I dish up our plates at the stove and serve them. (One, it helps with portion control, and two, a lot of our meals are left-overs that I heat in the microwave directly on the plates.) When the kids were at home (six of them) we brought the food to the table and everyone served themselves, passing the dishes clock-wise. One thing that surprised me was when we switched from paper napkins to cloth napkins. So much easier!
What a fun topic! We are placemat people, for the most part. I have three different sets of placemats so I can rotate them out and always have a clean set on hand. You’re right about oatmeal and such–I usually just let it dry a bit on the placemat and then scrub it off with a sponge. Easy as cake! I also turn my placemats over when the top is dirty so we don’t wear them out in the wash as fast.
For special occasions, I get out my tablecloths. I have two beautiful, large tablecloths. One is from Germany and one is from Austria, so we always cover them with a large, plastic cloth (which is actually kind of a pain to use, but it’s worth it to me to keep my tablecloths nice!)
One other thing I love are trivets. I don’t like to put hot dishes right onto my table, so I always have trivets under everything. I also love serving things in pretty bowls (much to my husband’s chagrin! He doesn’t see the need to wash extra dishes, but I agree with you and your grandma that it’s important to make mealtimes nice with those lovely details. 😉
What great ideas for making tablecloths! They can be so expensive. Maybe I ought to make our family an everyday tablecloth and give our placemats a break once in a while!
placemats, family styles
I am the oldest of nine kids and we always had a table cloth with wipe-able place mats. It kept the table cloth pretty clean, so it didn’t have to washed every time. We had a massive table too, and usually sewed two table cloths together.
We ALWAYS had a sit down family meal together, even if it was a bowl of cereal for breakfast. We always had a little centerpiece or flowers. Meal time was always fun. Now that everyone is adults (the ones still at home), it is a little more relaxed at my parents home, except for Sunday dinners, and holidays that always include beautifully set tables, centerpieces, and luminary bags down the walk.
Oh, and as for serving. My parents served the “little” kids, and the rest we passes around at the table.
I admit to not using table cloths or placemats on our everyday kitchen dining table. We eat in the dining room one or twice a week and it always has a tablecloth on it. Years ago, we used placemats for meals. Then, our family got larger and we can’t fit the placemats on the table without overlapping and making uneven spots. This led to glasses always tumbling and I just stopped using the mats. I like tablecloths and would use them except they are always slipping or one child tugs too hard and all the dishes slide across. I’ve thought about tacking the corners to the table and covering the whole thing with clear plastic, but Mr. Neo claimed that would be like eating in pre-school and vetoed it 🙂 He really has an opinion on everything! We are shopping for a larger table and new chairs so I’ll wait to decide placemats or cloths. I have a set of placemats my grandmother crocheted for me years ago and I can’t wait to use them. I always transfer the food (except soups/ chili) to serving dishes and we pass around the table.
For many years, we only used a table cloth for special occasions because we had a tile table-top with a painted centerpiece that we really loved. It was a pain to clean with little kids becasue food got stuck in the cracks but I still love it. Now we have outgrown it. We had a square table for a few years and I tried table cloths a few times but abandonded that idea pretty quickly. This year we got an oak oval table. It is beautiful and we didn’t want the kids to ruin it so I strated buying table cloths. Now I see the drawback: The kids keep pulling the table cloth back and forth when they eat. We have had more spills in the past few months than ever in our 14 years of marriage!
I would like to know the name of the facebook group that you belong to – it sounds interesting and could be very helpful to me. By the way, we always use tablecloths or placemats – helps to not ruin my beautiful table!
It’s called LDS Large Families. I think it is unsearchable on facebook because it is a private group. BUT if you were my friend on facebook I could add you to it. 🙂 Send me a message through the Chocolate on my Cranium facebook page and we can go from there. It has been a great group to bounce ideas {and frustrations} between mothers who are all in the same boat.
Raising 6 kids, mealtime spills were a daily thing, and a tablecloth was sooo much easier to clean up. It traps the liquid spills, and controls the crumbs. With chronic carpal tunnel, wiping has been painful for decades. Much easier and faster to throw the tablecloth in the washer. Hated placemats and plastic tablecloths, because they were just harder to wipe. Always tried to set a pretty table with nice serving dishes, I learned from mom and grandmother. Cloth napkins are easier. Have often made my own tablecloths, but Ross, Burlington and other discounters often have lots of inexpensive, yet high quality tablecloths and napkins.
I was careful not to have a table cloth that hung over the edge when I had a toddler. At 18 months, they pull everything down.
As a smaller family (only 3 kids so far…still…dang adoption!) we totally could do this, and I have tried it a few times, but I am just not very consistant! 🙂 I will have really great ideas to special up our table, and we will do it for a while, but then I don’t do it after a couple weeks.
We do however eat every meal together at our table. It is something my parents drilled into me. Even if there isn’t a lot of talking, or whatever, we all sit together and eat. That is pretty much an unbreakable rule here.
When we were first married, I kept a red gingham tablecloth on the table 90% of the time and only switched it out when it got dirty, or I wanted a different one. Now (17 years and 6 kids later) I pull the tablecloths out for holiday dinners or when the missionaries have dinner with us. I should use them all the time since it is easier than scrubbing the table all the time. Besides, my family should feel “special” every day, not just when we have company.
As for serving, we generally do family style unless the entree is particularly messy, then we pass plates for that, but pass sides around the table.
We have a square table, and the top is on the list for refinishing this summer; until then, a tablecloth might be a good solution for me… and after, a good protection for the table!
We dish up from the stove/counter, but I do put some meal items (like raw veggies, rolls) on the table to maximize casual munching. Otherwise, though, the table isn’t large enough for putting all the meal components on at once. And having to get UP to re-dish makes for better portion control around here.
I have an old table from my great grandma. I like to see all the dents and scratches that have been refinished over and over again. Also, I have two little ones who LOVE to pull table cloths off so dishes fall down. It’s easier to scrub the table and sweep our small kitchen floor than to keep a table cloth on the table. But, maybe when my boys are older, I will use table cloths because I think they are so pretty and fun!
We use our long kitchen counter to serve dinner buffet-style, youngest to oldest. We found a great silverware/napkin/paper plate holder at Sam’s Club that we use with every meal. It’s been a big help! Our family is just too big (12 kids) to fit everything on the table any more. Our serving dishes are no joke! We just really need the extra space.
We use IKEA’s longest, biggest table with benches, but we still have to put a couple kids up to the counter. Our table has served us very well, but it’s become really hard to clean! (I want to repaint it, but that hasn’t happened yet…)
Anyway, making a few tablecloths out of old sheets could be the very thing! (And my table-wiping kid would probably appreciate it, too!)
Time for a trip to Goodwill! 😀
I love your thoughts on table cloths. It is something that I’ve always wanted to get used to doing, but haven’t brought myself to do it. Yes, you have a good point with wiping up and spills though. We had to start using place mats last spring when we changed our kitchen table to a picnic table. The slats make it impossible to eat without something like a place mat, so we use those at every meal. It has been a nice habit to get into. I like finding nice place mats. I’d like to cover the whole table though, the slats are still an issue when you run out of place mat space. This is just the inspiration I need! Thanks!
Oh, and I don’t have a big family like yours, but to me it feels big, lol. I have 4 children, and we usually eat family style at the table.
I like using tablecloths, but I need more so they usually are out only for the missionaries and holidays. Your idea to use sheets has inspired me since I have a few sheets in my sewing stash. We just bought a new table and we got a plastic tabletop cover that is about a 1/4 in. thick to protect the wood. Sometimes I put the tablecloth under the plastic with a table liner so it looks dressy and I can leave it there for weeks. We use placemats most of the time. I like the “painless learning placemats.” We end up quizzing each other during meals on state and country capitals. We do have one mat that is a picture of a table setting and my 3 year old always says, “What’s the capital of plate?” since she usually eats on that one. It is a pain too clean every placemat after every meal, but I like that they are learning a little while they eat.
Something else I do is have a rug under the table. My kids don’t spill a lot, but they do get crumbs a lot and I find it easier to vacuum under the table every other day than to sweep after every meal. The crumbs are there, but I can’t see them since the rug is an off-white color. (We do have to do a little sweep under the high chair though after meals.)
I rarely use table clothes. For the first 5 years of marriage I only had one, so it was a little annoying. But after reading this post, I am totally making some out of the twin size flat sheets I don’t use on beds! Wow! Not scrubbing the table after every meal? That sounds AMAZING.
I love the idea of “dressing up” our table! But I would also have to get into the habit of actually eating at the table as a family! Right now, I put everyone’s food on their plate, and hand them out youngest to oldest, so the LOs are always done before everyone else and they leave the table before they make a mess of their meal or anyone else’s! Ahhh, the joys of the under 4 crowd! But I would really like to make a family meal and table cloths a regular thing! Thanks for the idea! 🙂
We recently switched to a larger table and most of my tablecloths don’t fit anymore! I haven’t been a regular tablecloth user but though I could do it for dinner at least after this post. It has helped with spills and we have all liked how it dresses up the table.
I think the biggest reason we haven’t before is I didn’t want to do the laundry but I’m not doing diapers every 2 days anymore so towels and tablecloths shouldn’t be so bad.
I hadn’t thought about tablecloths in a long time. i used to use them – I have two, one plain green with a white stripe and one I made from a pretty blue and white floral fabric. I basically quit using them when the kids came along. I tried for awhile but just kind of stopped. I also used to like putting small quilts in the middle of the table, but I’ve sort of fallen out of that habit, too.
I echo your own feelings about tablecloths, totally! I use one for the same reasons.
Something fun we’ve done is to personalize a tablecloth (like you, I use bed sheets from time to time). I traced around a placemat, so there was one at each “place” and then the kids filled it in with their handprints or art or name, whatever they liked. It makes a neat keepsake and everytime we get it out, it’s fun to see how they’ve changed since they created their “place”. Kind of like the design your own plates.
Here’s a blog post I did about it 🙂
http://inchwormchronicles.blogspot.com/2010/12/heirloom-tablecloth.html