RE: What covers your dining room table?
I had the same issue. I bought a $3 Walmart vinyl tablecloth backed with thin batting (which is useless). The theory is that it's easy to wipe, but somehow the tablecloth makes me notice the mess we all make while eating and I frankly wipe it down less now than I did the bare table. My 3 year old does not yank the tablecloth.
Kmart also had extremely cheap vinyl placemats (vinyl to be wipable), which are on our table now. But DD tends to spill beyond the placemat.
If you're like me, you'll quickly graduate to the next three questions. 1) Put a clear vinyl sheet under your child's chair to protect the carpet and 2) if you have fabric covered chairs, wrap that in clear vinyl. Both thick vinyl for the floor and thin for wrapping the chair cover were sold in the fabric dept. at my local Walmart. 3) If you don't have a cordless hand vaccuum, buy the 12 volt Black and Decker one for about $40 and it will quickly suck up crumbs and stuff that were just getting ground into the carpet under the table.
Vinyl has been our friend lately, hasn't it? Not sure that's good.
Advice and commentary on living overseas
DD1 15, DD2 12, and DS 9