Meals/snacks strategies?

[twowhat?]

For those who have kiddos eating meals and snacks, what's your strategy? Do you serve meals and snacks in high chairs? Only meals in high chairs? Or something else? I'm trying to figure out the best way to do snacks with twins. I serve breakfast, lunch, dinner in high chairs (can't think of any other way to do it with 14-month-old messy monsters!). But for snacks so far I've either been nursing for a snack, or serving finger food snacks in their play area. But even this starts to get messy. I just feel like they're in their high chairs so much to get through the main meals and cleanup that I didn't want to put them back in high chairs for snacks too.

A sort of related question - do your kids get snacks before bedtime? Ours eat dinner around 5:30 or 6 and go to bed around 8pm. They nurse at bedtime for now, but I'm curious once I wean them from that nursing session whether they need a snack to make up for it.

[NN317]

We put them in their highchairs for meals & snacks. Occasionally, we give them a few bites of something non-messy (yogurt melts, small piece of cereal bar) while they are playing on the floor, but not a full snack. They are in their cribs for the night at 6:30pm, so we have not had the issue of an evening snack yet since dinner is at 5:30pm.

[Melaine]

Gosh, I have trouble remembering at what age we did what. We usually let them eat snacks at the picnic table in the living room. Yes, I have a little tikes picnic table permanently in the living room. They have to sit at that table. I didn't want to bring them back in the kitchen and strap them in the high chairs, but I also didn't want them roaming free.

[TwinFoxes]

They get strapped in for everything. We don't do a lot of snacks, but when we do, they are in the highchairs. If nothing else, it's an excuse to contain them for a few minutes. While they're snacking/eating, I'm unloading the dishwasher or something.

The girls eat around 5:30-6:00 and are in bed by 7:00. No snack needed. I used to nurse before bedtime, but once I weaned them, they didn't seem to care about snacks or water or anything before bed. Plus if you give them a snack you'd have to brush their teeth after wouldn't you? That would get my kids all riled up again.