Mom Tips: How to protect your Dining Table and Chairs from Kids

It finally happened! After 8 years of marriage, I finally got a real and nice dining table and chair set! (This was 2 years ago mind you). It was purchased second hand, but that didn’t matter. It was a real wooden table with real wooden chairs! No more fold up card table for us! And it was stunning! A stunning cherry wood with gold trim! And beautiful matching chairs with fabric covering. Oh, I was in love. And then we brought it home and my kids started on it! That’s it! Mom tips to the rescue! I’m going to show you how I salvaged and saved and now protect my beautiful dining table and chairs from my children!

 

Mom Tips to protect your Dining Table.

Now, what is the most common thing that happens to dining tables when you have kids? These are the things we want to protect against. Things like

• spills
• crayon
• markers
• Pen marks
• Scotch, packaging, duck tape residue (oh yes, I’ve scraped many a tape off our tables over the years)
• Nicks
• Cuts
• Scratches
• Playdough smeared into the cracks
• Burn marks

Oh, it can go on and on, but these are the most common. But we all have the same purpose in mind. We want to protect the beauty of our Dining table and chairs. We don’t want all that money we spent to go to waste in the first month of use!

Now I have tried various table cloths. But it was always the same. They were fabric. So when the table got dirty I have to do another load of laundry. Laundry! I hate laundry. Plus kids spill food, and it stains the table cloth. It was getting expensive to keep buying new fabric table cloths at $10-20 a piece for the size we needed.

So then I used the inexpensive table clothes that are a plastic type on one side, but a fuzzy flannel fabric on the back. These worked for a few days. But the kids still started to draw on them. The plastic was thin and cut easily. The kids just hit the fork on the table and they split open! Plus it is hard to find them when you need a replacement, and you often need to replace them.

Finally, I noticed these super cute Vinyl plastic rolls in the craft section of Walmart. They are thick plastic that makes wiping up the table super easy. Plus they have clear, or patterned designs so I can make my table look elegant. And the Vinyl is extra thick so I knew the kids wouldn’t be cutting through it as easily. Not to mention they were inexpensive. Just $2-3 per yard! And I only needed 2 yards for my table. How is that for easy Mom tips to protect your table?

So I got my first 2 yards and laid it on my table. It easily formed to my table and I have had the same vinyl covering table cloth for the last 2 years! The kids have not been able to cut through it with their silverware. And if they draw on it, I can easily clean it off.

It’s had paint spilled, food smeared, magic markers, pen, and more! And with a little cleaner, baking soda, and a wet rag I’ve been able to get it all off! And the Vinyl Table covering is still going.

Not to mention that thanks to its thickness, the Vinyl has protected my table from all this mess, scratches, nicks and more. Now my table still looks amazing underneath and I have an inexpensive yet still elegant table covering!

I’m sure you can find these same Vinyl coverings at many craft locations but the best prices I’ve found so far is from the Walmart craft section.

Update: So I have heard several of you say that you have not been able to find the Vinyl plastic at your local Walmart. Apparently, with Walmart downsizing their craft section, many of them don’t carry these any longer.

So I have been searching for an alternative for those that have been unable to find the Vinyl coverings locally in their stores and I think I have finally found an alternative!

I found a few different Vinyl Tablecloths from Walmart online that is very similar or the same vinyl plastic that is already fashioned into a tablecloth that will work for the same purpose!

Ivory Lace Tablecloth

 

White Vinyl Lace Tablecloth

Reversible Vinyl Lace Tablecloth

Mom Tips to protect your Dining Room Chairs.

Now, let’s think about all the ways your kids can destroy your chairs. It’s called being a kid. Have you any idea how many food items I have cleaned off our chairs? We have Stains, spills, liquid and spaghetti smeared into the fabric. Seriously! Fabric for chairs? Who thought that was a brilliant idea? Obviously, they didn’t have kids.

The most common phrase from the husband when things like this happen?

“And this is why we can’t have nice things.”

We have kids! We keep forgetting that they destroy anything valuable in our home. Our chairs are looking horrible! Not to mention the cat only adds to the problem. He likes to sneak up there and sleep on the chairs. Which leaves his cat hair all over the fabric. It is a nightmare to vacuum off!

So I got some brilliant ViveVita Everyday Elegance chair covers. They complement the elegance of the table, chairs and vinyl table covering. Yet they are very functional in protecting your chairs!

The Everyday Elegance Chair covers are a parent invented innovative product! They were made by parents who were tired of seeing their dining chairs being destroyed by their children and pets. And let me tell you, they are brilliant and I will never let my chairs go without one of these chair covers again!

The EveryDay Elegance chair covers differ from any other chair cover products and easily became my #1 choice because they are:

• Washable
• Waterproof
• Easy to install- no ties. All Velcro
• Stylish design that compliments the elegance of the dining area
• Comfortable to sit on
• No sticky plastic
• A variety of colors!
• Easily altered to fit any chair!

They are super easy to install. I had all my chairs covered in less than 5 minutes. It’s that easy! The ideal chair has an open slot at the back for the back flap to fold through. But that doesn’t mean if you don’t have the right chair that you can’t still use them. I just simply folded that flap underneath and still attached the chair cover in place. It still works perfectly!

These are absolutely amazing. Now when my daughter spills her drink on the chair, it just pools at the top instead of soaking into the chair! And they are super easy to wash. I just wash them on gentle cycle with a little detergent. And then hang them to dry. They dry really quickly too!

If you are a cloth diapering mom, you will recognize the PUL lining underneath that keeps these chair covers waterproof. So you simply want to take the same attention to them as you would your cloth diaper covers. But super easy and they really help keep your chairs clean!

You can learn more about the ViveVita Everyday Elegance chairs from the ViveVita website. You can purchase them on Amazon. They are sold in 2 packs and come in Ebony Black, Creamy Brown, Richly Red, Sage Green and Linen White.

Now I can’t give you a roll of the Vinyl covering, but I can give you a mom tip you can appreciate. I am able to give away 4 Everyday Elegance chair covers from ViveVita to you to get you started protecting your own table and chairs! Just enter our giveaway between 3/21/2013-4/5/2013! The giveaway will be open to US residents only! And a quick hint; the first entry is to comment on this post, so be sure to leave a comment before heading over there so you don’t have to return. (Saying, “thanks for the giveaway” is not a valid comment entry for the giveaway)

I’ve been using the vinyl table cover for the last 2 years and just recently added the Everyday Elegant Chair covers for the last month. I have to say I’m much happier! I know my dining table and chairs are protected from my kids and they are able to retain their beauty! Plus it also makes clean up a lot easier. I have to say these are the best Mom Tips I have picked up from my fellow moms ever!

How do you protect your Dining table and Chairs from kids?

What are your Mom tips?