Cute Melamine Plates, Cups & Serveware for Outdoor Dining

Entertain in style this summer without breaking your inside dishes!
Dine Outside All Summer Long with These Cute Melamine Plates, Cups & Serveware — perfect for summer entertaining, dinner parties, eating outside al fresco and more

It’s finally time to eat every meal outside and I am HERE FOR IT! I love dining al fresco on our patio. But we have one rule: no glass outdoors. No one needs a pet or person stepping on broken glass! So with that in mind, I recently invested in a full set of reusable outdoor dinnerware, drinkware and serveware so that we are fully prepared for summer entertaining. Ready to do the same? Here are some super cute melamine plates, cups, and more to get you inspired!

Dine Outside All Summer Long with These Cute Melamine Plates, Cups & Serveware

Melamine is honestly the ultimate material to use for outdoor dining and entertaining. Not only is it lightweight, but it’s also easy-to-clean and shatter-resistant. I’m incredibly clumsy, so we have a house rule that ceramic and glass aren’t allowed on our patio… especially since I’m usually barefoot, too. Having a specific set of outdoor dinner plates and cups eases our worry over broken dishes and glasses outside. I also love melamine because it’s the perfect canvas for some really awesome bright and cheerful summer prints. Personally, I mix and match my outdoor plates and cups so that it’s more of an eclectic mix, but you can also get matching everything.

BTW if anything from the lead image on this post strikes your fancy, it’s all linked in our patio makeover post!

Dine Outside All Summer Long with These Cute Melamine Plates, Cups & Serveware — perfect for summer entertaining, dinner parties, eating outside al fresco and more

Melamine plates, bowls, and dinnerware

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Dine Outside All Summer Long with These Cute Melamine Plates, Cups & Serveware — perfect for summer entertaining, dinner parties, eating outside al fresco and more

Melamine drinkware

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Dine Outside All Summer Long with These Cute Melamine Plates, Cups & Serveware — perfect for summer entertaining, dinner parties, eating outside al fresco and more

Melamine serveware

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A few things to keep in mind when buying melamine:

  • You can also score some amazing vintage melamine pieces! Typically I keep this to a minimum as I’m always worried about BPA and other toxins that were used at one point, but it’s always an option worth exploring if you’re interested. For what it’s worth, the FDA has deemed vintage melamine safe.
  • Shop around for durability & invest in a print or color combo you love — after all, melamine is technically a plastic and we should all be trying to use less plastic on a daily basis. If you love the set you get, you’ll be less likely to want to replace it next summer!
  • Look for NSF certification which guarantees only pure melamine has been used and that the piece does not harbor bacteria.
  • Don’t microwave your melamine as toxins can leech into your food once heated.
  • Melamine dinnerware is typically only dishwasher safe on the top rack.

Do you have special outdoor dishes and cups that you use? Or am I nuts? Let me know!

Lead image photography & styling by Jojotastic.

Behind The Blog

Joanna Hawley-McBride is a Pacific Northwest-based social media strategist, content creator, and former textile designer. Joanna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Jojotastic, a lifestyle blog focused on Joanna’s work-in-progress cabin, finding the best pair of underwear through #UnderwearThesis, and empowering women to explore nature — all in her signature unfiltered style. Her work has been featured in Domino, CNBC, and Eating Well.

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