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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How have you handled the napkin issue with small children? If you use a cloth alternative, do you find that doing so produces a lot of laundry?

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Tim R

Tuesday 30th of June 2020

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.

Suzanne

Saturday 30th of April 2016

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.

Tricia

Monday 25th of April 2016

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!!!

Kristen

I'm guessing that I got it at Bed Bath and Beyond, although I'm not totally positive! I've had it for eons.

Chelsea

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.

Cara

Wednesday 20th of April 2016

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.