Melamine Plates: Not Just for The Kitchen Table Anymore!
Among reusable dishes, melamine plates are valued for their lightweight design, vibrant colors, and durability. While they’re commonly used when serving and enjoying food, these strong, versatile plates are useful in other areas. If you’ve stocked up on melamine plates and need to find inventive uses for them, check out these practical, creative tips.
Decorating Indoor Spaces
Melamine dishes come in hundreds of beautiful designs, making them ideal for decorative use. These lightweight plates are the perfect wall hangers! Use adhesive hangers to arrange a matching set on the wall or mix and match for a unique look—no china cabinet needed!
Serving Drinks and Snacks in Style
While melamine platters, plates, and bowls are meant for the table, that’s not where their usefulness ends. Use food-safe glue to attach small knobs or handles to larger pieces. You’ll make these dishes even more versatile, and your table setting will look stylish.
Safe, Kid-Friendly Arts and Crafts
Once lunch is over, there are plenty of ways to use melamine plates. These durable, easy-to-clean plates make great paint palettes and supply storage containers. The smooth surface makes paint mixing easy, and the scratch resistance of melamine will help your dishes last through hundreds of projects.
Chic, Elegant Jewelry Organization
As we’ve touched on before, melamine plates have uses that extend beyond the kitchen and dining room. Shallow bowls and plates, for example, can be used to display and store jewelry. Stack dishes of various sizes to create a tiered stand or put a single saucer on your vanity to hold bracelets, rings, and earrings. The choice is yours!
Pet Care
Our furry and feathered friends deserve the best, and there’s no better way to give it to them than on a melamine plate. Turn extra pieces into cute, functional pet food dishes; they won’t tip over, and they’re a breeze to clean.
Table Décor
Well-placed melamine dishes can give everyday table settings a touch of class. Use colorful platters and bowls as a base, adding flowers, candles, and seasonal touches to create memorable, stylish centerpieces. Melamine dishware truly lets your creativity shine!
Outdoor Dining and Camping
There’s nothing better than enjoying a meal in the great outdoors, and melamine plates let you do it in comfort, cleanliness, and style. Our dishes aren’t just lightweight; they’re nearly unbreakable, which makes them the perfect waste-free accompaniment to a camping trip or a picnic.
Event Signage
Not only are melamine dishes a great way to jazz up the table, but they can also serve as signage for events. Use chalkboard paint on a platter for an easy menu board or put vinyl lettering on a welcome sign for your wedding, dinner party, or baby shower.
Gardening and Planting
Melamine plates are great on the dinner table, but they’re equally effective for gardeners. Put a plate under a potted plant to prevent spills whether you’re growing food on the patio or outdoors.
Easy, Mess-Free Beadwork
Whether using a loom or beading by hand, melamine bowls and plates make the job easier. Their smooth surfaces simplify the organization of buttons, beads, and needles, while their durability helps them stand up to years of constant use.
DIY Personalized Gifts
Melamine plates, pitchers, platters, and bowls are so versatile that it’s easy to create something unique. Decorate these dishes with vinyl stickers, paint, or other materials to create memorable personalized gifts for holidays, birthdays, and other occasions.
Home Office Organization
Now that most of us are working from home, it’s easy to get lost in the mess. Keep your home workspace neat using melamine cups, bowls, and plates to store paper clips, pens, sticky notes, and important supplies. Not only will it give your desk a pop of color, but it will also cut down on clutter.
Imaginative Play
Melamine dishes are durable enough to endure years of use, and they’re safe for kids, too. Use them to store small toys or in play kitchens. With the dishes’ bright colors and lightweight construction, it’s easy for kids to make melamine part of playtime.
Creating a Festive Home for the Holidays
Melamine dishes can be used year-round, and they make a fine addition to your holiday décor. Arrange candles, ornaments, and greenery on a platter for a festive touch, or put seasonal fruits in a bowl for an edible centerpiece.
Feeding the Birds
Birdwatching is a popular pastime, and our melamine dishes will have all kinds of feathered friends flocking to your yard. Use a plate or a bowl as a feeder by drilling holes, adding rope, and hanging it from a tree. Fill it with seed, and the birds will have a safe place to enjoy a meal.
Decorative Coasters for Pitchers and Glasses
Melamine plates of various sizes can serve as coasters for mugs, cups, and pitchers. These versatile dishes will protect surfaces, prevent spills, and reduce the risk of condensation damage.
Cake Stands
When you want to make a truly special cake, put it on a cheery melamine plate. Alternatively, turn a platter into a cake stand by gluing it onto a sturdy, stable base.
Tablet and Laptop Holders
Melamine dishes are useful in the office, but they can come in handy during downtime, too. Use a sturdy platter or plate as a lightweight, stable cooling stand for your tablet or laptop.
Effortless Charcuterie Boards
Charcuterie is trendy, and melamine platters make it even better. Arrange your favorite fruits, nuts, meats, crackers, and cheeses on one of our plates to create an easy-to-clean, portable, and stylish appetizer.
Keeping Time
It’s easy to lose track of time when having fun, but a melamine plate (and a little imagination) can help. Turn your favorite dish into a timer by installing a clock mechanism, and hang it on the wall for a unique, accurate way to tell time.
A Catch-All Tray
Everyone has a few must-haves for when they leave the house, and a melamine tray is a great place to put them. Put a platter, plate, or bowl in the entryway and use it as a catch-all for wallets, keys, and other essentials. You’ll always know where to look for them, and your space will be more organized.
Make Life Better With Melamine Dishes
Melamine plates aren’t just for the dinner table; they can be used in countless innovative ways. Whether upcycling extra pieces or using new place settings in unique ways, these suggestions will help you maximize the value of your melamine dishes. Try one—or all—of these projects and give your plates and your life a new purpose.
