Should I use table place mats?

[macandcheesewithbaconbits]

FIL came over and asked where they were at dinner. We did have some naff bamboo style ones but with 3 DCs it's never really something that was important when getting food onto the table.
So do people use them regularly? Special meals? What ones should I get?

I think it depends on whether you warm your plates and/or have a nice table that you want to protect.

I find them easier to clean than cleaning the table. I mean I do clean the table but I find the food mess comes off easier from a place mat than on the table. I can shake it off into a plate if I need to etc. But only the dcs use them, they have cool kiddies ones, the adults in our house don't use them

No, far too faffy. I have a (nice) plastic tablecloth and use a hotstand for anything just out of the oven. For posh, I take the tablecloth off and use mats (mine were from a charity shop and cost about £2 - proper shop bought ones are stupidly expensive for what they are. Ikea do cheap ones that are quite fun though)