Nothing says class like packing tape

You know it is Spring in my house when my Swedish Mexicana tablecloth is out!  But how can I have a tablecloth with two small children who have turned spilling into a competition, you ask?  Easy, packing tape!

My husband grew up in a tablecloth family.  Personally, we were place mat people, but my mother-in-law, a lover of all things fabric, always had and will have a tablecloth.   Wanting to follow this cozy tradition, I unpacked all my grandmothers tablecloths when we moved to the "country".  When I realized they would require laundering almost daily, I thought, #$(*%  this.
Then a friend introduced me to oilcloth.  It is totally wipe-able and comes in all kinds of kicky designs.  The problem is most of it is 45" width, which just doesn't cut it on my (and most) kitchen tables.   To make an oilcloth tablecloth would involve sewing, a skill I greatly admire but do not possess.
Months passed until I found myself at Ikea in the fabric section.  Well, talk about kicky designs!  But totally not wipe-able.  The solution, a $5.00 clear vinyl tablecloth from Wal-mart.  Thank goodness for my neighbors, the DePalmas, in 1982.  Mrs.DePalma had clear vinyl over EVERYTHING-the sofa, the carpet runner, the tablecloth-everything.  Taking a page from her book, I put a table pad under the Ikea fabric, the clear vinyl over, and then taped the hell out of it on the underside of the table so that there is absolutely no chance a child can pull the tablecloth out from under the dishes.  Once you go vinyl in your interior design scheme, it is a very small leap to packing tape.  Because nothing says class like packing tape...

Here are some other seasonal fabrics from Ikea: