Should I use cloth table napkins with my kids?
Hello Kristen,
One of my goals this year is to reduce the amount of paper products we use in our house and going to a paperless, or near paperless kitchen. I already use dish cloths to clean up counters and messes and reduce most of our paper towel usage (I know you agree with how wasteful paper towel is).
The area I am struggling with is napkins. We go through a ton of paper napkins on a weekly basis. We have two very small kids and eating is messy. I struggle with cloth napkins because I would need so, so many just to get through the day. So I am worried about investing in a stock of napkins just to have them get seriously stained (I'm talking about you spaghetti) or not holding up to daily washing over time. I am also worried about the cost of the increased laundry. I would love tips from you or your readers on the best approach.
Thanks for reading,
Kasey
Reading your question took me back to the days of having four really messy eaters around my table! So much stickiness, right?
When my four were all small, I gave them each a small, damp washcloth to use during meals. Washcloths hold up a lot better than paper napkins, and since they're damp, they're great for dealing with stickiness.
(Paper napkins kind of fail at that.)
So if I were you, I'd buy a bunch of plain kitchen washcloths and use those at dinner instead of paper OR cloth napkins. One wet washcloth can take the place of 5-10 napkins at a meal, easily.
And if you buy plain washcloths, you're not going to care if they get stained with spaghetti (buy a dark color! Or buy white because then you can bleach them). You can use and abuse them to your heart's content.
If you rinse the washcloth after each meal and hang it up to dry, you'll likely be able to use one per kid per day.
But even if you use 3 per kid per day, I don't think you'll find yourself doing tons of extra laundry. I've never found that washcloths add that much bulk to my laundry pile.
They're so small, they just blend right in with the rest of the towels that I wash, and I really, really don't think they add much at all to my laundry bill.
(Hat tip to my aunt, mom of 9, for giving me the wet washcloth at dinner idea many years ago.)
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I totally agree with the washcloth idea. I use washcloths for everything. I usually pick up a new "set" each year either after school starts or after Black Friday (because the big box stores always stock sets of thinner ones for both and then clearance them afterwards) and replace any that are too threadbare then. I have some that are going on 10 years now from when I was in college. The cheaper thinner ones tend to be more flexible (especially with my hard water) and easier for kids to handle. Plus, if one gets damaged, I don't care.
Once I had kids, I colorcoded. The white washcloths are only for their use (no cleaning chemicals) and the brown ones are for my face. The other colors are for cleaning. I have a bin on the washer than I throw them in and wash whatever is in there when I do a load of laundry.
Well? I have a thought--if you're willing to compromise somewhat. In raising my son, it was important to me for him to develop a fairly high level of table manners, so--I would use paper napkins and inexpensive stemware--to train him. It actually worked miracles--but I bought a lot of napkins.
Since yours are small, would you consider a homemade version--kind of half between cloth and paper? They make these reusable cloths, called Handiwipes. that are sturdy enough to even wash a few times. I literally would fold those like a napkin and put them on the table. Its not a perfect solution, but your children are small--it would be temporary. Something to consider.
Good luck!
Paper towel addict here. I think the washcloth idea is brilliant. I buy big packages of white restaurant napkins at Home Goods and bleach them. One thing is, you use many more paper napkins than you ever would cloth. I find that my kitchen towels (I use the white bar towels in lieu of paper towels) and napkins add nothing to my laundry. I still do the same number of loads - the towel load is just a bit fuller. They have the big packs of washcloths at Home Goods, too. I use those for puppy foot wiping during mud season. As always, Kristen, thanks for your comments. I really enjoy your blog!
I think you could make "washcloths"/napkins from old towels or worn out clothing (I have a few pairs of flannel pajama bottoms that totally blew out that I have been looking for a use for and also some old ratty towels).
Great advice Kristen.
I cut up old towels for this. Also, when I knew I wasn't having anymore kids I used the stained blankets and burps cloths. I never had a need to buy anything for this purpose.
We also use washcloths at the dinner table with our toddler. We didn't buy any new ones; just used her baby bathing washcloths. Softer and less bulky to use on a tiny face!
Oh yes. The wet washcloth at the table for the littlest ones is brill! Cloth napkins for the rest of us, but they don't deal with greasy hands nearly as well as washcloths.
How about buying a bunch of different colored bandanas for napkins. You can get those wet too.
I have 6 year old twins and I still use washcloths (we call them facecloths) at meals 🙂
I started using cloth napkins when my kids were very young, some days we would need multiples but most days we could fold it up and re-use the napkin the next day or two. If the meal/child was very messy they would be taken to the sink and cleaned up or a larger/wetter cloth would be gotten for cleanup. Napkins are so small that they don't take much laundry room and they really don't need ironing and so what if they get stained. If they are clean they are clean. Fun napkin rings are a must so each child has their own ring and napkin to use for the next meal.
I second the suggestion of using washclothes. I bought a pack of dark green washclothes when my son was a baby to use in the kitchen as napkins for him. He is now 17 and we still have the dark green washcloths and still use them. I will rarely use a paper towel unless something is particular stinky, greasy or nasty. I have dark red dishclothes and towels so I don't have to worry about staining on the washclothes, dishclothes or towels.
We use cloth napkins (my 5 year old does just fine) and found the dark green and dark red are perfect!
We also use damp washcloths for messy hands/faces. My 6 and 4 year old are still very messy eaters so cloth napkins aren't always the best option for them. Like someone else mentioned, we use our old baby washcloths they outgrew. We typically only need one per day so it doesn't add much laundry. I just wash them with my other towels/napkins/washcloths.
Another idea for me was handkerchiefs. I found a bunch of cute handkerchiefs at a garage/estate sale and they became our cloth napkins. They are smaller that regular napkins and they are great for little hands. And the fabric used seems to hold moisture better? Just an idea!
One other thing I meant to mention....now that my girls are older, but still messy, bibs don't really work for them. I use my older son's old white t-shirts (the Hanes or Fruit of the Loom white undershirts) to put over their shirts so that I don't have a big stainy mess to deal with. Then I toss the t-shirts in with the towels/washcloths/napkins as well. This works so much better than a bib and repurposes something he had outgrown anyway.
I have baby washcloths and cloth napkins. If you have some old receiving blankets or torn/worn flannel sheets you can make some napkins. I find anything like a regular cloth handkerchief is too rough on my face, if it's wet. That's why I use baby washcloths. I actually have cloth handkerchiefs for normal sneezing. (Unfortunately, in cold or allergy season I fight having a chafed nose. I haven't found anything to use instead of the lotion tissues.) I also use regular kitchen towels (hand drying), bar towels, and old prefolds for bigger messes.
Also... you could cut up old t-shirts for napkins. They don't fray. And they are pretty soft. I remembered that after seeing the comment above me. You could even stop by a thrift store and get a couple cheaper really large t-shirts.
Lotion tissues are amazing when your nose is sore and swollen. I always keep one box on hand, just in case. But never, never use them to wipe your glasses.
Yes, I'm a tissue with lotion user if I have a cold. I get severe cold sores on my nose and lips when I get a cold and it starts to get raw. This seems to be the only thing that helps....unfortunately.
I use washcloths and/ or cloth napkins depending on the meal...you can get a big package of washcloths at Sam's Club and cloth napkins at Goodwill!
Mom of 9?! Wow, I can barely handle one!
I use old teatowels at the dinner table and almost never use paper napkins. I find them to be really horrible to use in general so switching to towels is a *huge* upgrade. Flour sack towels are really nice if you don't want to use washcloths. They are sold at Walmart/Target etc. for about $1 each in the big packs. You can probably then cut them into fours and make four towels out of one. They are absorbent enough to use in my daughter's cloth diapers so I can't see why they wouldn't work well for napkins.
We tried washcloths to replace baby wipes and while it did work for a time, we're back buying wipes.
I use wash cloths for everything. I use white and bleach them once a week. We use them in place of Kleenex as well, I have seperate laundry baskets for the cloths. If someone has a particularly nasty virus I will break out the tissues. I do about one load a week but I don't fold them, I just put them into the decorative baskets around the house. Pretty easy!
I have been considering not folding mine anymore and just storing them in a nice basket I have. I quit folding my little girl panties because they always seem to just unfold them all when they get them out of the drawer. Seems like all this folding I do is sort of pointless. Maybe I'm just being lazy, lol.
I keep a garbage can with a pail liner in my dining room (it's not a fancy eating area) that I throw our used washcloths and towels in. I use a washcloth to clean the kids after dinner, but didn't consider giving it to my oldest as a napkin. When I feed my twins I just lay a tea towel in my lap and use that to wipe as we go. I only use paper towels for grease. For blowing noses and cleaning up the MANY spills we have in a day I use trifold diapers. They are super absorbent, but still soft. I just keep a bag in our living room of clean ones.
Now that mine are grown I use cloth napkins found at Goodwill or garage sales. They can be used for same person more than once if u refold etc.
When mine were babies-before wipes- i used wet soapy wash clothes in left over light bread bags when traveling or out on picnics. Just think where I would be today if I had called them disposable wipes!! lol
We've always used cloth napkins in our house, even when our girl was tiny and messy (she's still pretty messy even though she's bigger!). There is no need to fear excess laundry costs - even if you use new ones at each meal. The environmental and cost benefits are all on the side of reusables (in every category). And there's also no need to fear that they'll wear out: we are still using a set that was given to us at our wedding 12 years ago, and they still look perfectly good for daily use (perhaps not a fancy dinner party, but that's rare in our house). The other idea, and one that has yielded most of the cloth napkin supply in our house (which is roughly in the count of about 20 for a family of three), is to make them yourself from fabric remainders. Those are so cheap as to be virtually free, and the hemming of a square napkin takes no real skill with a sewing machine. That way if you feel some are getting too stained for your liking, you just replace them next time you go to the fabric store and find fabric remainders.
We use wet washcloth, and I use them for more than a day. I rince them well after each meal and when it gets visibly soil I change it. No one ever got sick from it, so it must be fine.
I've been using the Tidy Dish Clothes from Mighty Nest that I got last month as napkins. I LOVE them!!! They're not All white but I find them perfect for everyday napkin use.
I bought two sets of red patterned cloth napkins at an estate sale. The heavier textured ones are our faves. We love tacos and these napkins never show stains. My dish towels are also red and I have a boatloads of them, so once a week they all get tossed in the wash together. I love the washcloth idea, but fortunately we're long past baby stage at here at Casa Diane C.
Additional note: Do NOT buy polyester napkins. They don't absorb anything! Yes, they're less expensive than cotton, but that's also what makes them way less useful. Restaurants don't care if they're effective, they just want them to look good on the table and clean easily. Gah!
They are good for wiping ur face. I like them they look nice & work fine for us.
If u need to absorb something like a spill then a cleaning rag would be needed.
I feel the same way about polyester napkins. Napkins have to absorb things if they're going to be remotely useful!
YES!!! Use cloth napkins!! My (adult) children grew up with them. It's amazing how their manners were so much better at a restaurant, knowing what to do!
I'd grab the paper towels when we'd have things like pizza, spaghetti or BBQ, otherwise it was cloth all the way. Using a different color for each family member (I let them choose their color), we didn't need to launder them after each meal. I also used dish towels sometimes, too.
Go for the cloth. It will make every meal a little more special!!
60 bulk washcloths on Amazon for $25. I use them in all 4 bathrooms instead of soggy hand towels and as kids/self bapkins, dish cloths, you name it!
I agree Wet Wash cloths are the best for young kids. U can rinse them off right away n hang to dry on sink then toss w- other towels to wash.
Stores usually have them on sale regularly. & Garage sales Always have Recieving blankets & baby wash cloths for sale. U could make a few wash cloths out of a Recieving blanket.
& I do not buy Paper towels I use kitchen towels. & the white rags from Costco in the Automotive section & old Towls & old wash rags for cleaning & etc.
It's funny that this article popped up today. Bcuz I was on my way back to cloth napkins.
My kids are adults now & I had used cloth napkins for about 3 yrs. & then I switched back to paper napkins this Last summer, bcuz my family was complaining ( especial my Father 72 who grew up w- cloth everything...) sooooo Much. I know paper napkins not best for the world, but my stress level was bad for me at the time all the negativity & me Premenapause.
I'm actually going back to cloth napkins & just going to tell my Family to DEAL w- It, it's better for the world & they don't have to wash them.
P.S
eBay has napkins in lots of colors.
Made of Polyester for llike weddings but could be used at homes as well.
I had bought Burgundy for Christmas time. Dark green & navy blue fir everyday use. They didn't stain & was well.
My girls are teenagers now and a few years ago we started using cloth napkins. I would never go back! They are so much better than paper napkins. We have several sets in cute prints. They wash and wear beautifully.
we have used cloth napkins for the last 25 years. My kids are 24 and 22, so even when they were babies, we used cloth. I have different patterned napkins, and lay out a different one for each person. I toss in the laundry when they are dirty, so not necessarily after every meal! Everyone knows which one is their napkin and it's washed when necessary.
We've got 3 under six over here and we use cloth napkins. I bought them on etsy, they are mostly dark colors with fun designs. Each of my kids has five. The one the use at breakfast is usually just crumbs so I shake out and reside them for dinner. If they are terribly stained which they hardly ever are...ketchup is usually the most frequent offender. It soaks over night in the oxyclean soak bucket with the $5 for 15 white washcloths we got a Walmart to replace paper towels. when I do laundry I just throw it in with the next load. I've never run out and never met a stain that soaking in oxyclean can't get. Good luck ! I love my paperless kitchen....and the kids love their adorable napkins...never going back! Definitely worth the trade 🙂
Keep the paper napkins in the center of the table in a holder instead of setting one at each place- that way people only take what they need. Also, cut up old t-shirts or cloths that you were going to pitch anyways and use on little ones throughout the day. You can pitch them if the get gross.
IKEA has a package of 10 white baby wash cloths for like $3. That's what we've always used. Yes they get stained, but that doesn't bother me because they're just for wiping up kid food messes.
I use cloth napkins, but when the kids were little, wet wash cloths were used frequently for them. These days, a wet washcloth is handling the grandkids' faces and hands. I buy cloth napkins at yard sales -- people get gifted a tablecloth set with napkins and never use them -- and I've bought a few at the store, usually on clearance. My family also gives them to me sometimes, but most are from yard sales. My favorite are madras plaid cotton ones from India that I bought at a yard sale. Nothing stains them, somehow.
Regarding staining, some of my napkins are a little stained, but they are for everyday use with my family and we are fine with that. The sun takes out tomato product stains if you don't let it get set in the dryer, and sometimes, even after the dryer. It works all the time for me. I do have one nice set of big heavy white cotton cloth napkins bought on clearance that I use for special dinners and company, and a friend of mine, bless her heart, was learning to use her new embroidery machine and practiced by making a set of real linen napkins with our initial beautifully embroidered on them and giving them to me as a gift. I treasure them, and I do use them on fancier occasions.
A while back I decided I wanted to do away with paper tissues. I made a sheet and three baby blankets into hankies, and did a double hem on every single one (I do love sewing!). I ended up with about 90, which is enough to handle most day to day, and a few days of a cold. It was probably about 3-4 years ago I made them, and they are still going well with my non-zero waste enthused BF!
I use cloth napkins and cloth towels. I simply make them out of our old towels, shirts, pants, etc. I reuse clothing that has tears or stains that cannot be mended. I keep a stack of baby wipe length ones in a box on the counter that are soaked in citrus vinegar cleaner to wipe our counters down with. I find that because I make my own laundry soap as well, this really cuts down on costs and waste.
Unpaper towels! They're smallish (12x12 apx) squares of birdseye cotton. I use them for everything I once used paper towels/napkins for. They take up almost no room in the wash, can be dampened easily for messy cleanup, and are perfect for grabbing as a "plate" for snacks, etc. These aren't the ones I have, but are very similar: https://www.etsy.com/listing/119344831/paperless-towels-set-of-10-rainbow?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=unpaper%20towels%20birdseye&ref=sc_gallery_5&plkey=8f3c2b2cf41ec4f19dad3c7d6662099f86cbfcce:119344831
we use homemade "unpaper-towels" for cleanup and they double as our "napkins." one side is terry cloth and the other side is flannel. i love them! i don't feel wasteful when i use them, they keep the kids cleaner during meal times (when damp as kristen mentioned) and i don't notice that they add an unusual amount of bulk to our laundry. we usually have about 15-20 in rotation at a time. i do a load of laundry every day, so we rarely run out.
I bought some small flannel napkins on etsy in bright colors. My girls love them. I have basket in my dining room and we throw napkins, dish towels, etc in it. I wash the load once a week.
Those flannel napkins are 8x8 squares. They are not fancy and we only use those for casual family meals, so staining doesn't bother me. I have a few sets of better napkins that I take a little more care with.
I love the idea of wet wash cloths. My girls are 4 and 7, so they don't make messes that big any more, but what a smart idea.
A friend of mine is a professor of environmental studies. He did the math and concluded that it is cheaper to wash cloth napkins than to buy paper ones. Also, you can often find them very cheaply at thrift stores.
We use washcloths with our 10 month olds (and cloth napkins for ourselves)--I hadn't thought about having them continue to use them. Brilliant!
The cloth napkins we use are at least 14 years old. They don't look brand new because of wash wear but there are no holes or any problems with them. I have nicer sets that I use for fancier meals, but for every day these are going to keep going strong for a long time!
Our kids are 7 and 8, and we still give them a wet dishcloth (on a pretty saucer to protect our table) each morning. They use those as napkins for breakfast and dinner that day, and then I rinse and hang them to dry each night. They go in the dirty laundry once they're dry and are washed with all cloth napkins, dishcloths, and kitchen towels. DH and I use cloth napkins exclusively, and I put small, dry dishcloths to use as napkins in the kids' school lunches. I bought adorable, kid-sized flannel napkins on Etsy, but the kids haven't fully transitioned to those yet. They still want a wet cloth for messy fingers!
At home we have both. One roll of paper towels last long because we only use it when we have company. Washcloths helped us saved money and it's not much of a laundry to do.
We purchased some plain brown wooden napkin rings. We each painted our rings so they look different from each other. Now my cloth napkin stays in my ring so I can use it multiple meals, and we don't have other family members' germs on my napkin. Of course, they do get washed, but not every meal.
Australian English and US English have made me think. When my children were little I had many cloth nappies (diapers) and I used those things for so many other uses. I used to wash up to 70 every two or three days. A hot wash and hang them out in the sun and they looked new. Now everyone is grown and there is a mixture of tricks. I care for my mother and she always has a dish drying towel on her lap! Modern washers make it all so easy.
I use cloth wipes from Green Mountain Diapers. They make cloth diapers and wipes. They're inexpensive and I've washed them many, many times over the past 4 years and they're holding up well. Wash cloths would do the same thing. http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/two-sided-wipes.html
This reminded me of when I first met my in-laws. My mother-in-law put wet j-cloth towels out at everyone's place when they had KFC chicken. It was a new idea to me!
I use wash cloths too but, like Jennifer M, I use ones designed for cloth diapering. I keep them in the "kids" drawer in the kitchen. I've had them six years. Some have been trashed but I found they held up well and did not increase my laundry load.
If you ever go to yard sales, I frequently find stacks of cloth napkins for super cheap. People see them as special occasion items and are always selling them. I am not picky either and have Christmas cloth napkins in my stack too. Whatever is cheap! Big packs of cheap washcloths are a great idea. Search clearance at stores, I often find cloth napkins there, since they change the designs seasonally.
I'm curious, where are people hanging these washcloths throughout the day when they're not in use? I have three children, so three wet washcloths feels like a lot hanging on my sink.
I use my oven door handle, my freezer drawer handle, or when we had kind of junky kitchen chairs, I just hung them on the back of the chair. Also, highchairs often have a spot on the back that works for hanging washcloths.
I have a magnetic curtain rod on the side of my refrigerator that I can hang damp towels and such on. It works great.
One thing I forgot to add earlier, when thermal underwear has finally seen it's day, cut it up and use it as cleaning cloths. The thermal weave makes it a great scrubbing cloth.
Those are both great ideas!
I found a bunch of dark red cloth napkins on clearance at Wal-Mart this January and stocked up (25 cents for 2). My two year old and four year old love having their own napkins and the dark color doesn't show any stains.
After we use them I just rinse them out and hang them on a curtain rod I installed in my laundry room. Since I have bought these I noticed that a roll of paper towels lasts me about a month.
The big pack of washcloths from the IKEA kids section are *perfect* for messy table napkins. I also use them a ton in the kitchen.
I love your Website! Thank You for posting such useful information!!!
I really like your iron paper towel holder. Would you tell me where you bought it?
Thank You So Much!!!
I'm guessing that I got it at Bed Bath and Beyond, although I'm not totally positive! I've had it for eons.
Here in Japan we use a type of washcloth called an oshibori. It is like the hot towel you get on an international flight (usually at the start of the flight and just before the end of a flight). There are companies that supply them to restaurants in bulk and they are usually heated in a special oshibori heater that looks like a tiny microwave. So hot towels are always handed out before a meal here, although more recently, less expensive restaurants have switched to disposable wet towels (individually sealed in plastic). So a kid's size ( baby washcloth) are standard here for meal time. Men and women alike carry small decorative terry cloth hand towels in purse or pocket because our rest rooms often do not have dryers.
We use large oversized paper napkins and attach them with dental bib clips around our children’s necks during meals. If the paper napkin stays somewhat clean, they get reused. If they have sauces or ketchup or gravy on them, we toss them at the end of the meal. We have three messy boys.(ages 8, 9, and 11. We certainly save on laundry and ruined shirts.