Noodad Product Test Drive: Table Toppers Disposable Placemats

We’re guys.  For most of us, germs aren’t something we worry that much about…especially when it comes to food.  We relish “unusual” dining experiences – the “street meat” after the ballgame, a big burrito from the authentic Mexican place where nobody speaks English, Dim Sum from that place in Chinatown where the fish tanks give you the impression that it hasn’t been visited by the Health Inspector…well, ever.  We dine in this way and with little care because we believe devoutly in the power of the human immune system.  That and Imodium.

But germs became something to think (and to worry about) when our kids arrived and now you’re eyeing that high-chair at Denny’s with abject suspicion.  That’s why we pack Purell in our diaper bags, own a Clean Shopper and give willing consideration to just about any product that plays to our germ-phobias and promises to keep our little ones clean and thereby healthier.

That was the case when Mrs. ReviewDad and I came across Table Toppers from Neat Solutions on a recent trip to Babies-r-us.

Table Toppers are disposable placemats that have adhesive strips on the back to stick them to tables.   Seemed like a good idea to us…never feeling like a baby wipe did much to “sanitize” a restaurant table and tired of picking the paper placemat up off the floor 30 times during a 20 minute meal.   At a few dollars per pack, we thought we were on to something but Table Toppers proved to be fundamentally flawed in testing rendering them basically useless.

Table Toppers look legit enough emblazoned with familiar (and trusted) characters from Sesame Street to Dora.  You think – “if it’s good enough for Sesame Street Workshop and Nick Jr., it’s good enough for us”…but they are critically deficient in two ways…such that it begs the question of whether these entities knew what they were signing on for or just blindly licensed their characters. 

First, the adhesive strips on the underside of the mat are only on the long sides.  Anyone with a curious baby knows that this is a problem.  Junior will, within a nanosecond of having this thing placed in front of him, locate the “free” edges and yank on them as hard as possible. 

This action reveals the second flaw – the placemat is made of thin plastic which when pulled with force equivalent to the PSI generated by an 8 month old, stretches and then eventually fails.

Good idea…piss poor execution.   Noodads – don’t waste your money!

But since at Noodad.com, we’re all about solutions and sharing, I won’t just leave you to fight the germ battle on your own…  

A little digging - spurred by the belief that a) this is a good idea that has to have been had by folks other than those at Neat Solutions, b) this is not rocket science and c) at least someone must have thought to put adhesive strips on all sides revealed a similar yet vastly superior product by Classy Kid Inc. 

Their Wrap Around Placemats have adhesive strips on all four sides, cotton backing for strength and are designed large enough (14×17 vs. 7×11 for Table Toppers) so you can wrap them around the underside of the table (where all kinds of nasty nasties live).  At about $0.30 each (sold in packs of 20; available at Target.com), they’re comparably priced to Table Toppers. THIS is a product worth stocking up on and keeping in the diaper bag.

 
Noodad Test Labs Rating:  Table Toppers = 0 noos out of a possible 5 (it blows)

Editor’s Note – Here’s a lesson in why to mistrust product awards badges and seals of approval.  Table Toppers web site and packaging boast an “iParenting Media Winner Award” and the National Parenting Center “Seal of Approval 2005.”  Not sure what their evaluative criteria are but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that no actual children were involved in their testing lest they would not have chosen to bestow these impressive looking endorsements on this product.