It wouldn’t be a Rock My Family food week if we didn’t share a few of our favourite things to pretty up your little one’s dinner table. I’ve always been a sucker for cute plates and bibs and may or may not have a rather extensive collection. Besides, I reckon a fun plate can only encourage your little one to eat, right?

Plates & Bowls

First up I must admit to having a huge love affair with Bloomingville Mini. I have been coveting their table wear for some time and last Christmas I relented. My collection is growing vastly and I’m confident the girls love it as much as me. Honest. We have a range of the melamine ones for picnics and snacks and also some of the beautiful crockery for when the girls are being grown ups and eating properly at the table. They are the most beautiful shades and designs and although a bit more pricey I just could resist. However, if you like the style but not the budget I’ve just come across these amazing melamine sets from Mamas & Papas. Just gorgeous.

Melamine plates and bowls are essential and we have a selection of the Skip Hop animal face ones mainly as the girls found them so much fun. What’s not to love about a unicorn or giraffe plate? In a similar vein we have quite a few of the Buddy & Bear pieces (how cute is their new collection?) and the girls love identifying their own plates by the patterns.

I also love Bamboo plates and bowls at the moment and this circus set from Koko Kids is utterly adorable. Everything you need for happy dinnertimes.

For early stage weaning you can’t go far wrong with a big stack of the Ikea 90p coloured bowls. Cheap as chips and you will be using them for years to come. We still do. The Oxo Tot range are also excellent for small hands and you can’t go far wrong with some of the suction bowls to avoid any over zealous throwing off the high chair!

If you are fan of Bobo Chooses clothes then you might want to have a look at their range of tableware in some of their cutest fruit prints.

Cutlery

When you start weaning small spoons are a must. We had the Phillips Avent ones which were the perfect size for all that baby porridge and mushed apple. Also, hands up who uses the Ella’s pouches? Who knew you can get spoons that attach to them. These would have come in handy when out and about.

We then moved on to plastic cutlery and picked up many a set from Mothercare. This set of Bamboo spoons from Smallable is also utterly gorgeous.

We are now on mini versions of our own cutlery and have a range of sets from Skip Hop (to match the plates) to this Happy Jackson Messy set.

Last year we updated all our own cutlery to some fancy Robert Welch sets. It was one of those things we really should have put on our wedding gift list and never did. Whilst I was adding copious amounts of forks and spoons to my basket I decided I may as well add a set each for the girls as their mini sets are just lovely. They are more expensive but would make actually make a lovely Christening or birth gift.

Placemats

If you want to protect your table grab yourself a placemat. The kids will also love them if you choose fun prints or patterns. We have the Ketchup On Everything place mats which the girls adore. So much fun and super bright patterns.

I have been eyeing up these cute bear placemats on many an instagram account. I’m not sure mine would look so instagram friendly once they are covered in unwanted fish pie and crumbled biscuits but a girl can dream.

Bibs & Pinnies

Bibs are an essential. Full stop. In recent months I have stopped putting a pinnie on the girls and each and every mealtime I regret it. Be it a spoon of yoghurt or a dollop of bolognaise you can be sure it finds it’s way on to their clothes. This matter is not helped by the fact that Alice cannot stand to be dirty and so strips off the moment she spills anything. Does anyone else’s child love being naked?!

I digress. When you are starting weaning you definitely need a bib. Something soft and comfortable around their little necks. I opted for cotton one’s like these from John Lewis that could be thrown in the washing machine. Another option is just to place a muslin around their necks which seems to do the job.

As they got a bit bigger we moved on to wipe clean bibs and the girls loved the Skip Hop ones. Sorry, this honestly isn’t a Skip Hop post but we do have lots of their stuff! They fold up inside themselves as well which is great for when you are out and about. A lot of my friends had the old school plastic ones with the large pocket at the bottom to catch all the dropped food. If you are going for one of these can we please talk about how adorable this penguin one is?

I also found the complete bibs with arms and everything a complete god send for keeping clean. These from M&S are perfect or I bought quite a few of the Ikea painting bibs.

Now the girls are older we opt for an pinnie (when I remember) and I have to stop myself amassing a great collection. I have a couple of the little Cath Kidston ones as they are wipe clean but I may be purchasing this Ferm Living one too after coming across it during my searches for this post. You may already know I have a love affair with this brand’s wallpaper so if I can’t paper any more walls perhaps I can adorn the girls for dinnertime?

Finally, completely unrelated but whilst searching for things for this post I came across this super simple but oh so useful meal planner. I may have bought one.
 
Has anyone come across any super cute tableware that we need to see and what have been your mealtime essentials?

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