Ideas for an Off-to-College Breakfast Table Setting

In August, our twins started college, which is impossible, since it was just a few years ago that they were neck-less wonders toddling around with socks on their hands like it was the funniest. thing. ever. (Seriously, these girls were neck-free for years. It was like their heads were attached directly to their shoulders.)

So after years of “welcome home from the first day of school” parties, I knew I wanted to mark their last meals at home before we caravanned to college.

By the way, I usually did after-school parties rather than first day of school breakfasts because it was just easier — less of a time crunch. This retro back to school dessert table was my favorite.

Anyway, I let the girls pick what they wanted for breakfast and focused on setting a cute table in their college colors. My girls are at the same college, but had different move-in days, so we actually did two breakfast table settings with small variations.

All of our table settings came from my party stash, which is why I always recommend investing in reusable items, like fabric tablecloths and napkins and melamine plates, It’s not much more expensive than disposables and it’s a more sustainable choice.

If you want to create a similar look, I’ve linked the party supplies throughout this post.

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Both tables started with a white fabric tablecloth. I added a floral centerpiece I had custom-made with red and white flowers in a black vase. (Go Dawgs!) To anchor the centerpiece a bit, I placed it on a round, gold tone tray.

Baby B’s was the first breakfast, so I chose a black woven placemat, then layered my Johnson Brothers ironstone china with red plates. We used gold tone flatware and UGA jersey paper napkins that I’ve had since this Football Dessert Table.

And for a little more fun, I added a mini pennant banner to each place setting. These were part of the flower arrangements at my girls’ high school graduation party, which we also styled in their college colors.

(And if it looks dark out in these photos, yes, yes, it was. We had an early arrival window. Oof.)

Two days later, the flowers were still going strong. I just switched the black placemats for red placemats and layered black melamine plates with my white china. I changed out the jersey napkins for red and white stripe fabric napkins.

It was an easy update to the table, but it made Baby A feel like she also had a special table created just for her.