When it comes to mealtime priorities, our household focuses on eating meals together while learning from our dining experiences. Trying new foods is the most common way we bring education to the table, but last weekend we tried something new... and to my surprise, it was a HUGE success! We hosted our first-ever 3-course formal dining experience at home.
To kick things off, I printed out a formal table-setting guide and asked my kids to set the table just like the diagram.
I kept the meal really simple to highlight the learning experience. Our first course consisted of canned potato chowder plus some pre-made rolls we had in the freezer. The second course was a sheet-pan chicken and vegetable entree. For dessert, we each had a scoop of store-bought mint chocolate chip ice cream. As a little splurge, we filled the wine glasses with sparkling cherry cider.
Being only six and seven years old, my kids have never eaten at a white tablecloth establishment, so a formal place setting was completely foreign to them. My daughter was immediately encouraged by the challenge and asked lots of questions:
- Why are there so many spoons and forks?
- Does the size of each utensil matter?
- Which way does the knife face?
- How do you hold these kinds of glasses?
- Are we going to use ALL these things?
and at the end of the meal... When can we do this again?!
Click HERE to get your free printable Formal Table Setting Guide
Setting the table properly is just one way to bring etiquette to a family meal. Want more tips and tricks? We recommend watching "Kids Dining Etiquette 101" from WhatsUpMoms.
