Entertaining, paper or china?

[Aeress]

Is it more frugal to purchase plain white paper plates or plain white china plates? We entertain 10 or more times a year and usually do paper becuase we don't have enough plates but I am happy to slowly purchase china plates, even if they don't match.

[grniys]

Wow, those are two very different ends of the spectrum on plates.

Why not just a really big set of corelle or something in that price range? It's cheaper than fine china, and it's not paper.

[Ruthiegirl]

Um...nice second-hand plates? I see beautiful sets of china in the resale shops. More and more of them lately as people are selling things off to keep financially afloat. I have been tempted by a few sets, but live with buffalo people who break plates daily.

[lolar2]

Secondhand china.

[annethcz]

We use 2 different sets of not-quite-matching Correlle when we entertain. But then again, we're not that fancy.

[cappuccinosmom]

Corelle.

Our guests eat off our regular dining set. I have seen sets of eight of off-brand dishes for under $10. If you regularly have lots of guests, you could still seat 16 for $20 or less.

If you don't care about matching, start collecting neat china from thift stores. Our store prices individual pieces at .49c. Pretty cheap.

[orangefoot]

If you have the space to store it, buy some china piece by piece. I haven't bought any china new for years! I buy anything white in bowls and plates from charity shops for us to use daily. There are 6 of us and we go through phases of breaking stuff so this keeps me from panicking over breakages.

I did inherit a set of blue and white Willow pattern style china from my Nan. IT has 3 large serving plates, 14 large plates and 13 side plates. This is what we get out when we are entertaining and it is what my Nan always used if she was having a do.

[BetsyS]

If by "china", you mean real dishes (that's what I mean when I say china), then the china by sure.

You can get plates here and there for a decent price. Craigslist, antique shops (though these tend to be thinner and more fragile than my style), thrift shops, Target, even the dreaded Walmart sometimes have them. Oh, I've also gotten stuff from the clearance rack in the china/housewares section of department stores. I have an entire set (of white, ironically) that I got from the clearance rack. It's great stuff.

I think a whole tableful of white china, all different, but all white, would be absolutely beautiful.

[Aeress]

Yes, I mean real dishes. I have Corelle for everyday and fine china that we got as a wedding gift but would like something between Corelle and fine china.

I think i will go to the thrift store and see what I can find, as well as keeping an eye out when shopping.

[Ola_]

I would get some plain white (real) plates also. Thrift store is a great idea, I was also thinking somewhere like IKEA would have them for a good price. By getting white you could dress them up with a coloured tablecloth or other accessories on the table, they would go with pretty much everything which gives you more bang for your buck.

[Thalia the Muse]

Restaurant supply stores often sell plain heavy white china plates -- they look very stylish, actually! And they're cheap and tough.

[lolar2]

Oh heck, if you have fine wedding china, use that! It's meant to be used! And it's sturdier than the earthenware you'd get that's "between" fine china and Corelle.

[Contrariety]

Originally Posted by lolar2

Oh heck, if you have fine wedding china, use that! It's meant to be used! And it's sturdier than the earthenware you'd get that's "between" fine china and Corelle.

Yup.

[Purple*Lotus]

I agree, if you have wedding china, use it.

I inherited my Gramother's and we use it every day. In fact, we have three very spoiled furry people in our house that DH insists on serving their dinner in three of the side bowls from said Grandmother's china :

[elephantmargaret]

we always use our regular plates. Does it have to be china? We have corelle that we stock up on plates at the outlet stores so we have tons of plates and bowls and less of the other stuff (like coffee cups). You can also often walk into whole sets at second hand stores for cheap.