Tiny Diner Place mat - yay or nay

[janine]

This is for a 20 month old who now hates the high chair tray. Is this placemat recommended to protect the table and also for travel?

Also anyone know about the pink / green shades? Are they muted or bright (neon like)? Hard to tell from the photos..

thanks!

[truly scrumptious]

We have a green one and love it - DS has been using it for about 10 months now. It is a muted pastel green. It has been a lifesaver at restaurants etc. because he has a clean surface to eat off, and cleanup is a breeze.

It is made of rubber so sometimes the foods stain it, but the stains disappear after a few washes.

It has suction cups to attach to the table, but it is not very hard to remove, so if your DC is inclined to throw things, it doesn't necessarily prevent that. However, if your intent is to use it bring your DC to the table instead of eating off the high-chair tray, it should work for you.

HTH!

[arivecchi]

I don't have mine yet but I ordered the green one last week. DS2 loves to eat on his own and this way I can serve him food on the mat and not worry about him grabbing food from restaurant tables. I willlet you know what I think of it when it arrives.

[ohiomom1121]

I had one for each of my kids and absolutely loved them. They are a lifesaver in restaurants. I got asked about them pretty much every time I used them in public. I'm not sure where I put DS's so I'm planning on purchasing another one. The colors are basic pastels-I had a pink and a yellow one. BTW, I tried several of those stick on placemat things and these work so much better. The little thing that hangs off the table catches a good amount of food (in combo with Dex bibs that I also :heartbeat:!!) I buy these for people all the time as part of baby shower gifts.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I never remembered to actually take and use it so for us it was useless. Think about your style and whether you'll be like me and leave it at home or in the car when you need it (or even forget that it's in your diaper bag :)). I did like it but have been fine w/o it.

At home I would just use plates or a regular placemat.

Beth

[Minnifer]

For me it was a "nay" - I see it in the cabinet now and chuckle about what a waste it was (not like it's so expensive though of course). At home could just use a regular placemat or the table, and at restaurants we did either a plate or the table (I am not freaked out by germs) or a paper placemat or napkin at a diner-y kind of place. I also stopped remembering to carry it pretty quickly b/c it seemed so not necessary (plus *yuck* I didn't want to put it in my bag after use, even in a zip lock).

[wendibird22]

Didn't like it. Was gifted a green one and took it with us a few times, but it was a hassle. The suction cups never seemed to stick to the tables and it was one more thing to wipe up/clean. We have been using the plastic throw away placemats and love them. They have adhesive on the top and bottom so they stick to a table or high chair and we just wrap it up and put it with the rest of our meal garbage. It keeps the table clean, keeps DD2 from eating off gross tables, and we don't have to take the mess home with us.

[SM23Mama21]

Two thumbs WAY UP!! We love ours! It helps catch most of the food before it hits the ground. We also like that it is dishwasher safe. We have a blue one and a green one. The green is like a neon pastel. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[jerigirl]

Didn't like it. Was gifted a green one and took it with us a few times, but it was a hassle. The suction cups never seemed to stick to the tables and it was one more thing to wipe up/clean. We have been using the plastic throw away placemats and love them. They have adhesive on the top and bottom so they stick to a table or high chair and we just wrap it up and put it with the rest of our meal garbage. It keeps the table clean, keeps DD2 from eating off gross tables, and we don't have to take the mess home with us.

:yeahthat: I bought the adhesive ones and just threw them away. (Or picked up extras when at Chick-fil-A :bag)

[katydid1971]

For me it was a "nay" - I see it in the cabinet now and chuckle about what a waste it was (not like it's so expensive though of course). At home could just use a regular placemat or the table, and at restaurants we did either a plate or the table (I am not freaked out by germs) or a paper placemat or napkin at a diner-y kind of place. I also stopped remembering to carry it pretty quickly b/c it seemed so not necessary (plus *yuck* I didn't want to put it in my bag after use, even in a zip lock).

:yeahthat:
the colors are very pastel though

[wellyes]

I bought it & didn't ever use it.

[Kaylee31]

I just bought a green one from Amazon, and only used it once at a restaurant so far. But I love it already! It is a pastel-like green, and has a large surface. I love the crumb catcher on it. I wish I had ordered it a while ago, but its definitely going to come in handy when we eat out, so I don't have to worry too much about germs and DS making a huge mess on the floor. Its nice how it folds into itself, so I just roll it up and keep it in the diaper bag. I got the Baby Bjorn bib in green too, and its the exact same shade. http://www.amazon.com/BabyBj%C3%B6rn-046055US-BABYBJ%C3%96RN-Soft-Bib/dp/B000XDXD08/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1276538484&sr=8-2

[zag95]

Love ours! We primarily use it when we eat out- we have been using it since dd was about 7 mos old- she is almost 29 mos- I just like to have it be a clean space for her- just wipe it with a costco wipe and drop it back into our bag.

We have the green- it is a softer pastel green!

[wallawala]

Love ours for use at home. We have a Tripp Trapp, so this cushions and protects our nice wood table as DD bangs and bangs (and bangs) her sippy cup. No dings yet! Thinking of getting a second for travel or just so we can throw this in diswasher. I've just been scrubbing molten puffs off it in sink, which has been fine so far. The suction cups work fine, but DD is just becoming very interested in them, and is able to pull them off with some effort. WAAAAY better than just a placemat or plate for us at this age though.. .those are on the floor in less than 10 sec! It's been worth the $10 for sure. We've used just one daily for 5months now.

DD is 11 months.

[Wondermom]

We had one that we used frequently when DS1 was about 1, but then stopped because pulling it up (separating the suction cups from the table) became a game for him, and it was more mess to clean up than it was worth.

I had not thought about it being a table dent saver, which it could've been if DS would stop playing with it. We just figured that since he sits where we currently have a table leaf that one day we'd just take the leaf out of this old table, and it'd still look okay.

Will try to use it with DS2 when the time comes. He's a much more placid child.

[MamaMolly]

I'm another vote for useless. :) It just seemed like another thing to haul around that I didn't really need.

[DietCokeLover]

I'm another vote for useless. :) It just seemed like another thing to haul around that I didn't really need.

:yeahthat:

[Melaine]

I loooooooved them for eating out. I wouldn't use them at home though...

ETA: Using it at home isn't such a bad idea, but it wouldn't stick to our kind of odd tile and wood table.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We have 4-5 of them and use them at home with the older 2 for every meal.

[MizMojoLaveau]

:thumbsup: Use it with Tripp Trapp at home and at restaurants. I would call green pastel, not bright. Cleanup a little bit of a pain, but would rather cleanup a large placemat than more food on the floor. Also like the disposables but for some reason my kid loves to just rip those off and doesn't try as much with the tiny diner.

[MomToOne]

I liked it ok but would have been fine without it as well. It served it's purpose. It's not perfect - as previously mentioned the suction starts coming off/becoming a game, it's yucky to put back in your bag - but it was good in the beginning of solid food eating when I was still concerned about germs :rotflmao:

Now I just use WetOnes or in a pinch plain wipes and wipe down the portion of the table where she's eating.

The pink was not neon.

[DrSally]

I bought it & didn't ever use it.

:yeahthat: That's what happened to us.

[lchang25000]

I bought it & didn't ever use it.

:yeahthat: Still sitting in the cabinet. I just know my DS would enjoy pulling it off the table. We just take out FP booster seat (with tray) wherever we go and it works great!

[essnce629]

:yeahthat: Still sitting in the cabinet. I just know my DS would enjoy pulling it off the table. We just take out FP booster seat (with tray) wherever we go and it works great!

I know DS2 would have fun pulling it off and throwing food all over the floor as well! We also use our FP booster when out. I have a 2nd one that I keep in the car at all times and it's great since it has it's own tray. I just carry a small travel size pack of clorox wipes in my diaper bag and wipe it down when we're done or DBF takes the tray to the bathroom and washes it off. I love having it in the car and it's great when having a picnic at the park as well-- we just set it down on our blanket and it keeps DS2 contained and prevents him from getting food everywhere!

[jerigirl]

I found the Tiny Diner didn't stick to some tables and definitely won't work if there is a table cloth on the table. (Obviously the adhesive ones won't work with a table cloth either :) )

[foodiezen]

Initially, DC hated it and would peel it off during every meal when we went out. Now that he is older, we use it all the time. Hence, when I first bought it, I was regretful. Now I love it!

[AnnieW625]

It was a yay for us, and we used it a lot at home or at Grandma's house as a placemat because it was more economical than buying those mats you just throw away after each use. Restaurant wise it was nice for places that didn't have a cloth or paper table cloth.

[MontrealMum]

I think it depends on your kid. It's a nice idea, in theory :) My DS was more interested in pulling it up off the table than eating, and it was very easy for him to do so. And then food would end up all over the place. To give you an idea of the rest of our "dining experience" with DS...we have large plastic tablecloths (think picnic) that we have CLAMPED down to our kitchen table (he eats in a Tripp Trapp) so he doesn't jerk the tablecloth off either. Dining with DS is kind of like being in a war zone of constant potential food disasters. Luckily, it's getting better as he gets older.

We have the yellow and the green one and they're both very pastel. It stuck better to the table than the Baby Einstein placemat that someone bought us.

[KHF]

It's a :thumbsup: from us. Ours is on the second kid. We tried the plastic disposable ones with DD, but she just pulled them off the table. For some reason, she pretty much left this alone. DS has been the same...though he does start peeling it up when he's done. We only use it at restaurants. At home we're working on plate usage (though his idea of proper usage and mine are pretty different), but at restaurants I'm not up for catching him before he uses a plate as a catapult and showers the other patrons with bits of food.

I also love the crumb catcher part...helps when he starts trying to scrape his food into his lap. For partial cleanup, we dump the remaining food onto one of our plates, then wipe it down with a wipe. Roll it back up and no mess in the diaper bag.