placemats - Stuff Parents Need

This post brought to you by Duck Brand. All opinions are 100% mine.

Earlier this week I was cleaning the kitchen table after dinner. I had also cleaned it up that day after breakfast and after lunch. My family gets to eat most meals together, at our table. Yes we are lucky. Most definitely. We are also MESSY. After spraying down my kids’ eatig area it occurred to me to take a picture for you so you can see what I’m working with 3 times a day, every day.

Obviously I need to start using some placemats. I’ve actually tried placemats before. And guess what? They pretty much fly right off the table because they move so easily. FAIL. I needed something with staying power that would also rinse off really easy (the last thing I need is one more thing to hand wash 3 times a day!). And that’s when I turned to Duck Brand’s Shelf Liner.

That’s right, friends. I made placemats out of shelf liner! And it was the absolute perfect choice for several reasons, not the least of which is that it didn’t involve anything harder than drawing a straight line and using a pair of scissors. That’s my kind of craft! I also love that they come in a variety of colors and patterns, so you can keep your design as simple as you like, or customize it to your color scheme already in place.

I did do a little bit of research (which really just means Googling) to find out standard placemat dimensions. My key takeaway is to pay close attention to the space you have on your table and go from there. My girls sit super close to each other. Their chairs touch, as a matter of fact. So they actually have a pretty small area for their personal space. The smaller Duck® brand shelf liner in the picture above was12 inches wide, so I kept thing easy and went with that for my width. And for length, 16 inches was plenty. You may feel that you need a little bit more for your space, so just measure it out and see what you think!

Once you’ve determined how long you want the placemats, turn them over and grab some sort of a ruler. There are grooves on the back of the placemat, but I can tell you from experience that if you cut along those grooves, you will realized when you flip your placemat back over that they actually weren’t straight lines. So just trust me…get a ruler and make your own straight line!

Once your first placemat is finished, you can use it as the measuring guide for your other placemats. I made 4 to start with, and I’m actually going to go back and make 3 more. If I hadn’t screwed up the first placemat I could have made 8 placemats with one small roll, but I’ll settle for 7.

And I’m happy to report that I was able to wash these on the gentle cycle of my HE washing machine without incident. Maybe you are not as lazy as me and will hand wash yours. That is a great idea, and one that I aspire to, but for now, I’ll just throw it in the laundry pile, thankyouverymuch.

Duck® brand’s Shelf Liners are saving me time (and LOTS of all-purpose cleaner) every day. The girls love them and they stay in place nicely. If you have little ones at home, or even just messy eaters of any age, this is a great hack for making truly functional placemats.

Want more great shelf liner ideas? Check out and follow Duck® brand’s pages on Pinterest and Facebook. After checking those out, did you see any ideas you’d like to try with Duck® brand shelf liner?

As you prepare for Thanksgiving, I’ve got a wonderful guest post for you today, courtesy of My Baby Clothes Boutique. This should be a breath of fresh air for all of you, because yours truly doesn’t have a crafty bone in her body! Thank goodness other people do!!
Perfect Place Settings: Easy Thanksgiving Placemats for Children

Do you like to set a beautiful table for your family’s Thanksgiving celebration? Though I am not graced with the creativity or vision to create designer tables, I am blessed with two children who love to make art, so when it comes to table décor, I am usually in pretty good shape.

This holiday, my children’s places will be set with homemade placements that remind them—and me—of all the people for whom they give thanks. Here’s a simple “recipe” for making Thanksgiving placemats:

Materials Needed:

Photographs of family members

11” x 14” construction paper in a Fall Color of your choice

Scissors

Glue

Pre-Printed letters or words spelling out “Happy Thanksgiving” or other holiday message.

Contact paper or access to a laminating machine

Instructions:

Tell your child that he will be making a Thanksgiving placement that represents the family members and loved ones for whom he is grateful. Allow him to select 6-7 photos of people that he wants to include on his placemat. The photos will be laminated, so be sure to give your kids prints you don’t mind parting with or ones of which you can easily print or get doubles.

Have your child select construction paper in the color of his choice. If you have access to it, use legal size (11” x 14”) sheets. If not, consider taping together two regular-sized sheets of paper to create an 11” x 14” mat.

Allow your child to lay out the photos on the construction paper. You may want to cut the papers into interesting shapes in order to arrange them in visually interesting layouts. Scrapbookers: go wild!

Affix the photos with glue to hold them in their desired spots

Add your holiday message to a desired spot on the mat.

If you have access to a laminating machine, laminate your entire placemat, leaving a ¼” border around all of the sides. If you do not have access to a laminator, contact paper will work fine to cover and seal your child’s placemat, though your creation may enjoy a shorter overall life-span.

That’s it! I made these placemats with my daughters when they were both two years old. Now, five and three Thanksgivings later respectively, I still have two adorable placemats that are the crowning glory of my child-friendly table and a keepsake I plan to have around for my grandchildren to eat on someday.

Signe Whitson is a licensed social worker and co-author of The Angry Smile: The Psychology of Passive Aggressive Behavior in Families, Schools, and Workplaces, 2nd, ed. As a mom of two girls she has been able to come up with some creative ways to handle many of the common issues facing parents today. My Baby Clothes Boutique partnered with her to increase her audience and give back to the parenting community. The holidays are upon us, now is the perfect time to find the perfect outfit for you little ones. They carry everything you need from baby dresses, coordinating baby headbands, fashionably warm baby hats and so much more.

Shelf Liner Hack: How to Make Slip-Resistant, Washable Placemats!

Easy Craft with Your Kids: Thanksgiving Placemats!