What do you do with used napkins during the meal?

ces

Sun, Apr 26 2015, 9:44 pm

rachelbg wrote:

I tuck my used napkins under my plate until I get up to throw them away.

same here - but I leave them there till the end of the meal

zaq

Sun, Apr 26 2015, 10:45 pm

I leave it at the side of my plate and remove it when I clear the table. Why should I hide it--it's not as if I blew my nose into it or spat into it. If I did, I would put it in the trash right away.

Fox

Mon, Apr 27 2015, 1:15 pm

I'm with Scrabble and Myself: napkins go on the lap. I will admit that at informal family meals during the week, they often get placed by the plate until used.

Cloth napkins always get washed before being used for another meal. I really only use cloth napkins on Shabbos and Yom Tov, though.

Here's an interesting historical tidbit:

Napkin rings were originally used to identify cloth napkins that would be re-used at a future meal. Before the widespread use of automatic washers and drivers (and paper napkins), cloth napkins would be used by family members repeatedly until they were actually soiled.

But since it was kind of gross to use someone else's napkin, each family member had his/her own unqique napkin ring. At the end of the meal, the napkin was threaded through the ring, thus identifying it for future use.

Sadly, this knowledge has ruined decorative napkin rings for me. Whenever I see them, all I can think about is all those dirty napkins re-appearing at each meal!

Ruchel

Mon, Apr 27 2015, 1:18 pm

My parents still have cloth napkins, but for everyone not personal. I never liked the idea we use http://01.wir.skyrock.net/wir/.....1.jpg
We do own cloth ones but would only take them out for a very fancy event. They're getting rare.

I personally don't like on the lap, it falls, it's cumbersome.