Cheapmommy Loves: Oil cloth
It's been a while since I posted on delicious but cheap kid-oriented gear, but LAWD knows when I'm not crabbing about motherhood, I love sourcing a cheap but beautiful and practical objet of design for your delectation. I also adore getting around those dull and pesky baby shower registries, and nothing says you care quite like the gift of oil cloth to a new mom. Oil cloth being that magnificently bright, sassy, and delightful material from which any spill, smear, smush, or otherwise unwanted substance may be cheerfully removed with the simple swipe of a damp cloth.
Now who wouldn't love a gift of gorgeous oil cloth bibs for baby, with that handy front pouch for catching stray food morsels? Land of Nod has a swell deal on them: 3 for $14.95 in floral or gingham. And then there are these lovely velcro-sealing reusable lunch sacks from Tatermash (for kids and adults), for $13:
For the ultimate in oil cloth, I don't think anything could be more beautiful or useful than a mat like this one, and HOT DAMN if this item isn't seriously gorgeous and useful and worth every penny of its $38 price. My mother-in-law gave me a mat exactly like it when I had Crabtot, and I used it every day for two years. It was my picnic mat, my under-the-highchair mat (indispensable when we lived in an apartment with a carpeted dining area); it was also a mat for painting on and doing smushy playdoh things...Genius.
And that, my friends, concludes what may well be one of my shortest posts ever because I've been quite wordy and heavy here lately, and so today I'll keep it short and sweet. May you shower yourselves and each other with oil cloth. It makes even a Crabmommy smile.
They are flashy and I love em!
I was just looking at oilcloth the other day at the fabric store and thinking about how wonderful it is. It's also about $9 a yard, so I think it would be mighty thrifty to pick some up raw, skip all the fancy edging, and save a few bucks!