UAE National Day Breakfast in Dubai: Planning the Morning Table

Eid Al Etihad falls on 2 December and marks the formation of the UAE in 1971. In 2026 it is the 55th, officially Eid Al Etihad 55, and 2 December falls on a Wednesday. It is a day for gathering family, friends and colleagues, and breakfast is an easy way to host one.

This guide builds a National Day breakfast in Dubai from what we bake every week (a date loaf beside the gahwa, croissants, focaccia and a cake loaf), with how much to order and how to time delivery around the holiday. We bake everything to order in our Dubai Silicon Oasis kitchen. For the office side, our guide to office breakfast catering goes deeper; this page concentrates on the gahwa and dates, the holiday timing and the longer table at home.

Eid Al Etihad: the day and the holiday

National Day is still the name used in the official list of public holidays, and the day is now officially celebrated as Eid Al Etihad, which means Celebration of the Union.

The official public holiday days are announced by the UAE government closer to the date, so wait for that announcement before you fix your delivery.

Two customs shape the table. Homes and workplaces are decorated in the flag's colours, red, green, white and black. And Emirati hospitality has its own ritual: Arabic coffee (gahwa), traditionally served with dates. Offering gahwa to guests is a sign of warmth and generosity, and Arabic coffee was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2015, in a joint nomination by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. We do not sell coffee or dates, so those come from you.

What to order for a National Day breakfast

Bread to sit beside the dates. Our Date, Walnut & Honey Sourdough at 30 AED combines dates, toasted walnuts and a touch of honey in a dough naturally fermented for over 24 hours; our date bread guide explains what to serve with it. It contains walnuts. For a plainer loaf, the Country Sourdough Loaf at 25 AED is slow-fermented for over 24 hours.

Soft loaves for toast. The Japanese Milk Bread Loaf is 18 AED, the Brioche Toast Bread, made with butter and fresh eggs, is 35 AED and the White Toast Bread is 10 AED.

Croissants for the first round. A Croissant is 14 AED, and a Chocolate Croissant or Cookie Croissant 16 AED. The Almond Cream Croissant at 18 AED and the Pistachio Croissant at 19 AED contain nuts, so they go on the nut plate.

Focaccia for the savoury side. Our focaccias are 12 AED each: Rosemary & Olive Oil, Cherry Tomato, topped with roasted cherry tomatoes, and Mushroom.

Sandwiches, once you have asked us. Every sandwich we sell contains meat, whether chicken, turkey or ham. Our product descriptions do not say how the meat is sourced, so ask us before you put sandwiches on a National Day table. The Ciabatta Turkey & Cheese Sandwich at 12 AED and the Focaccia Smoked Turkey Sandwich at 17 AED hold up best if they have to wait in the fridge.

Cake loaves to slice with coffee. Our four cake loaves are 35 AED each: Marble, Classic Lemon Butter, Banana & Pecan, which contains pecans, and Double Chocolate & Coconut, which contains coconut; both go on the nut plate. Our cake loaf guide compares the four.

A chilled cup. The Granola Parfait with Greek Yogurt at 25 AED is Greek yoghurt layered with crunchy granola and topped with strawberries, blueberries and mango.

How much to order per person

This is planning guidance, not a fixed portion.

• At the office, use the one-main-per-person rule from our office breakfast guide, then add a focaccia and a cake loaf.
• At home, where the morning is longer, plan on about one pastry per person, then add loaves to slice and a cake loaf. If unsure, add a sourdough loaf rather than more pastries, because it waits and freezes well.
• Round up by one or two for the unexpected guest.

Two worked examples, at shop prices on 20 September 2026. A home table for six: a Date, Walnut & Honey Sourdough (30 AED), a Japanese Milk Bread Loaf (18 AED), three Croissants (42 AED), three Chocolate Croissants (48 AED), a Cherry Tomato focaccia (12 AED) and a Classic Lemon Butter Cake Loaf (35 AED) come to 185 AED. An office for ten: ten Granola Parfaits (250 AED), two Rosemary & Olive Oil focaccias (24 AED) and a Marble Cake Loaf (35 AED) come to 309 AED; once we have answered your question about the meat, swapping five parfaits for Ciabatta Turkey & Cheese Sandwiches (60 AED) brings it to 244 AED. Totals are what the bag charges.

All of these clear 150 AED, so delivery is free; below that it is a flat 20 AED, and the 150 AED is counted before any discount code.

Ordering around the National Day holiday

There is no same-day delivery. Checkout offers four windows, each three hours long: tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon, the morning of the day after tomorrow, and the next Saturday morning.

The windows count from the day you order, so a morning delivery can only be booked one or two days before: the next morning, or the morning after that. The one exception is a Saturday breakfast, which the next-Saturday window reaches from any day in the week before. For delivery the afternoon before your breakfast, order two days before and pick the tomorrow-afternoon window. Choose from the delivery windows shown at checkout, and if your breakfast falls on or around the holiday, ask us before you order.

We cannot promise delivery on the public holiday days themselves. A morning window lasts three hours and can still be running when your first guests arrive. On an ordinary working day, delivery the afternoon before avoids that, but a table built on parfaits needs the morning window on the day itself, so set the breakfast for after it closes.

If your breakfast is on one of the holiday days, plan for delivery on the last day before the holiday that is not itself a day off, which you will know once the days off are announced, and build the table around food that waits. Sourdough loaves still slice well for a few days, a cake loaf keeps in a tin, and plain croissants can be frozen the day they arrive and revived in the oven, as our guide to storing bread in Dubai explains. Sandwiches and parfaits are for the day they arrive, so leave them off a holiday-morning table unless we have confirmed the delivery.

Someone has to receive the order, because we cannot replace fresh items left uncollected or unrefrigerated. Our fresh bread delivery guide walks through checkout step by step.

Building the table around gahwa and dates

Start with what you bring: set the gahwa and the dates where guests arrive, and build the bread around them.

The date loaf goes closest, on its own board with its own knife, because it contains walnuts. The country loaf sits beside it for anyone who wants something plain with their coffee, and a cake loaf comes next. Slice loaves as they are eaten rather than all at once, and stand a cut sourdough loaf cut side down between rounds.

Keep croissants and focaccia on a second board, away from the coffee cups, and cover the pastries loosely with paper between guests.

A longer breakfast at home

A home breakfast often has no fixed start or end, so plan it in rounds rather than setting everything out at once.

• First round: croissants and a focaccia. If they arrived the day before, our product pages suggest reheating at 160°C for 4 minutes.
• Second round: toast from the milk bread or brioche, with the date loaf and country loaf sliced as people ask.
• Last: the cake loaf, with a fresh pot of coffee for the guests who stay.

Decorating in the flag's colours

Decorate in the flag's four colours rather than recreating the flag itself: give each colour its own zone of the table, and keep flags and flag bunting off the food itself.

• Red: the Cherry Tomato focaccia and fresh strawberries you add.
• Green: the Rosemary & Olive Oil focaccia, green grapes and herbs.
• White: linen, white plates and sliced White Toast Bread or Japanese Milk Bread.
• Black: a dark slate or board, the dates beside the gahwa, and blueberries.

Parfaits and sandwiches come to the table from the fridge in the last few minutes, not as decoration. The fruit, herbs, linen and plates come from you; our grazing table guide shows how to build height so the table still looks full an hour in.

Keeping it safe on the table

Sandwiches and parfaits stay in the fridge until a few minutes before they are eaten, and anything perishable that has sat out goes in the bin, not back in the fridge. How long each item holds in an air-conditioned room is set out in our office breakfast guide.

Allergies, and a separate nut plate

Our kitchen handles wheat, gluten, eggs, dairy, nuts, peanuts, soy, sesame and seeds, and we cannot guarantee that any item is free from traces of these; our terms set this out in full. If anyone at your breakfast has a food allergy or intolerance, ask us before ordering.

Give the date loaf (walnuts) its own board and knife, and put the almond and pistachio croissants and the Banana & Pecan and Double Chocolate & Coconut cake loaves on a nut plate with its own tongs. That does not make the other plates safe for anyone who avoids nuts, so ask us first.

A bigger gathering: use the events form

For a whole floor or a large family gathering, use the Bring Farah to your event form instead of the shop, with the date, guest numbers, venue, arrival time and any allergies. We reply within one working day and tell you honestly whether we can do your date, including the holiday days; if we can, we come back with a menu shaped to the occasion and a clear quote.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is UAE National Day in 2026?

On Wednesday 2 December 2026, the 55th Eid Al Etihad. The official public holiday days are announced by the UAE government closer to the date, so wait for the announcement before you fix your delivery.

What does Eid Al Etihad mean?

Celebration of the Union. It marks the union of 2 December 1971, when six emirates formed the UAE, with Ras Al Khaimah joining on 10 February 1972.

What goes on a National Day breakfast table?

Arabic coffee (gahwa) served with dates is the Emirati hospitality custom, so start there; we do not sell coffee or dates, so those come from you. Around them, add bread and pastry from us: a date loaf, croissants, a focaccia and a cake loaf.

Can you deliver a National Day breakfast on 2 December?

We cannot promise delivery on the public holiday days themselves, and the official days off are announced closer to the date. Plan for delivery on the last day before the holiday that is not a day off, and contact us before ordering if the timing matters.

Do you make a special National Day box or flag-coloured bakes?

No. We have no National Day products, boxes, offers or special packaging. Everything in this guide is from our regular range at its usual price, and the flag's colours come from how you decorate the table.

Plan your National Day breakfast with us

Check the holiday days once they are announced, then order the table from our shop one or two days before the delivery you want: a date loaf beside the gahwa, croissants, a focaccia and a cake loaf. For a bigger morning, use the Bring Farah to your event form.