# Breakfast in bed - ever had it? Ever served it? Ever wanted it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180 "2014-07-02T11:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/21 "2014-07-02T20:25:53Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Never had it, never served it, never wanted it, and don’t really see the attraction. I’d rather sit outside with a bagel and a cup of coffee on our front porch on a warm summer morning. I wouldn’t object to being served a nice cup of coffee in bed, though. > Could someone clarify what a “Full English” breakfast is? We don’t have that term here, AFAIK. Egg, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, hash browns creep in these days or else fried bread would be more traditional over here or possibly fried potatoes if you had any cold boiled potatoes to use up, black pudding, maybe tomatoes or baked beans, a large cup of tea with toast and marmalade to follow. If you really want to lay the foundations with half a grapefruit first I doubt anyone would call you out on it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/22 "2014-07-02T20:40:07Z")
It’s pretty grand, even if its served to you in a hospital bed. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/23 "2014-07-02T21:12:30Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I’ve never had breakfast in bed - not on Mother’s Day, not on my birthday, not even when I was sick. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t consider it to be a treat. When I first wake up, I head to the bathroom to answer nature’s early call, so trapping me in bed with a tray table will not be welcome. > > Add to that the chance of crumbs or spills - no thanks. Plus if I’m too sick to get out of bed to eat, chances are, I’m too sick to eat. OK, I’ve had breakfast in bed in the hospital, but that really doesn’t count. > > Do you consider breakfast in bed to be a special event? Ha! Just dump the food directly on the bed, and things will go smoother. What need for a middleman? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/24 "2014-07-02T21:20:10Z")
When my then wife was pregnant, she used to love breakfast in bed. She would use her big giant belly as a table. Which always made me smile and made it well worth the effort of _making_ her breakfast in bed. I never really cared for it myself. Morning sex though, is the best! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/25 "2014-07-02T21:32:59Z")
If you mean trapping someone in bed, and not allowing them to get out until after they eat, no. Something more reasonable, yes. We used to bring each other breakfast, now we get up at different times (me usually earlier) and no one wants to wake the other. OTOH my wife almost always eats breakfast in bed with the paper and the dog ready to deal with crumbs. I do it to on the weekends for easy to eat food. I’m not as big a fan as she is. We stayed at a B&B in San Francisco which had no dining room and so delivered a nice breakfast on trays. That was fun - though we had to get out of bed to collect it outside the door. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/26 "2014-07-02T21:46:07Z")
Breakfast in bed isn’t a big deal for me. I would rather have breakfast on the patio on a nice morning. I do however love having my coffee in bed every morning. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/27 "2014-07-02T22:02:14Z")
My brothers and I made our Mom breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day a few times- she was always visibly touched, but I’m sure the food wasn’t great and she probably ended up cleaning up after us. I’ve only gotten breakfast in bed a few times in my life- always when I was sick, as a little kid. It was a treat to stay in bed and watch cartoons. I helped my son make my wife breakfast in bed exactly ONCE, for her birthday, a few years back. She loved it only because he was so cute and so earnest. But again, it’s not something she’s dying to have us do again. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/28 "2014-07-02T22:23:32Z")
I’ve never had breakfast in bed, but I did serve it to my mom once. I’m someone who feels sick listening to other people chew and swallow and that’s pretty much all that happens when you bring someone breakfast in bed. I felt vaguely guilty that my dear mom was making me feel icky. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/29 "2014-07-02T22:28:52Z")
I guess I was a 8 years old or so. I told my mom to stay in bed so I could server her breakfast in bed. I brought in a platter with a rose, and some orange juice and the plate was covered, when she took the cover off the plate a big toad frog leaped off the plate right on to her chest. She went ballistic! My dad thought it was funny but I had not anticipated her violent reaction. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/30 "2014-07-02T22:31:30Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Could someone clarify what a “Full English” breakfast is? We don’t have that term here, AFAIK. [words are not sufficient](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0pzwKzvSMbo/TCRbOtglDzI/AAAAAAAABIo/uK0joaDehtk/s1600/english-breakfast-blackpudding.jpg) (though its make-up seems to vary a bit). ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/31 "2014-07-02T22:46:43Z")
I don’t like to eat in bed. And the tray seems…well…it looks uncomfortable. I would be prefer to be served breakfast at the table. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/32 "2014-07-02T22:46:49Z")
Proper breakfast in bed means tea/coffee/juice and a snack like bagels so that the two of you can rehydrate and get back to wild animal sex. Seriously, the person who thought kids should be involved needs an adults-only vacation. In the more traditional family-style event with kids and a serious shortage of nudity, I have never had it served to me, but I did it as a kid for my mother and a couple of times for my wife. When I’ve done it, we always bring food and trays for everyone - it’s not about standing around watching someone eat, or about trapping them in bed, but about the family all lounging around in bed together. (So as a kid, we only did it when my brothers and I were at ages where we’d have been getting into bed with the parents anyway.) Another thing I’ve always done to make it more practical - the orange juice and coffee are served 10 minutes before the pancakes and eggs. This gives the recipient 10 minutes to use the bathroom, brush their teeth, manage their hair, etc. so that they’re ready to be the center of attention when the main course and the rest of the family arrives. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/33 "2014-07-02T22:49:37Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Just a note to add I mean a full breakfast here - Full English, for preference. I have coffee and porridge or an egg butty in bed _much_ more regularly, like, twice a week. Does that include a toast rack? (I had breakfast at the Savoy once. Marvelous, but quite a production. And not in bed.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/34 "2014-07-02T23:28:51Z")
For the first twenty-one years of marriage, what we had was a waterbed. It just doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/35 "2014-07-03T00:02:48Z")
This topic always brings to mind the following article from the Onion (mildly NSFW language): [Breakfast In Bed Served To Mom Who Just Got Eaten Out](http://www.theonion.com/articles/breakfast-in-bed-served-to-mom-who-just-got-eaten,32401/) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/36 "2014-07-03T00:53:24Z")
The only food I ever make myself to eat in bed is popcorn, and that’s because the dog takes care of any scragglers. Otherwise, food and beds don’t mix. I’ll submit to a Mother’s Day breakfast in bed, but frankly I’d much rather eat at the table. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/37 "2014-07-03T02:51:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > My brothers and I made our Mom breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day a few times- she was always visibly touched, but I’m sure the food wasn’t great and she probably ended up cleaning up after us. > > I’ve only gotten breakfast in bed a few times in my life- always when I was sick, as a little kid. It was a treat to stay in bed and watch cartoons. > > I helped my son make my wife breakfast in bed exactly ONCE, for her birthday, a few years back. She loved it only because he was so cute and so earnest. But again, it’s not something she’s dying to have us do again. That’s sort of it. As a Mom, at home, its an “its the thought that counts” sort of activity - they are so earnest. Breakfast in my bed isn’t the most comfortable thing (as someone said upthread, coffee in bed is wonderful), but its a meaningful thing when done by a seven year old who made scrambled eggs and toast and coffee by herself (especially if her Dad helps with cleanup). Now that they are teenagers, I’m not likely to get it again, and won’t miss it. (Breakfast at a bed and breakfast where they bring a basket of breakfast to your room and you have a small table - so its “breakfast in jammies next to your bed” is COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY WORTH IT, No trapped by a tray - no yoga eating position (I’ve never had the most flexible hamstrings, so sitting up in bed with a tray over my legs is not easy - you can visit the bathroom - and you can roll right back into bed.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/38 "2014-07-03T03:01:34Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Never had it, never wanted it. I like to eat breakfast sitting up, and I don’t find sitting upright in bed to be especially comfortable. Maybe I need more pillows or something. Ditto here. Even when I sit up to read in bed, I’m really leaning back about 20 degrees from the vertical. I can’t safely drink anything while tilted back that far, and I’d find it quite uncomfortable to sit up enough so I could. Even eating a piece of toast would be more work than it would be worth. My wife feels the same, so neither of us has ever fixed breakfast in bed for the other. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/39 "2014-07-03T03:02:08Z")
Does being sick count? Because other than that, nope: never had it, never served it. We would sometimes prepare a special breakfast\*, served at the usual table. - Toast soldiers rather than churros prove that non-morning-people can move real fast in the presence of chocolate of the liquid, extremely thick variety. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180/40 "2014-07-03T03:07:45Z")
No, and I’ve never seen the appeal. Looks like it would be damned impractical. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breakfast-in-bed-ever-had-it-ever-served-it-ever-wanted-it/692180.md?page=3)