Register for serving settings or individual pieces of china?

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

So, when you register for china, do you do a 4 or 5 piece setting or register for pieces individually? The individual pieces are obviously more budget-friendly for guests, but I think I'd have a better chance of getting full sets if we register for the sets.

I'm hoping to get 12 sets to use for everyday dinner wear. This is the one thing we actually NEED, so we'll use our completion discount to round it off. Just hoping not to, of course.

Oh, and some of the china we are looking at comes in boxes with 4 place settings, but those are pricey. I don't think anyone but our parents would go for that.

MyNameIsNot

I prefer to buy it by the place setting, assuming the setting is at a good price point.  When I go to a shower, that's usually the first gift I look for.  

SuMmErKuTiE

We registered for them as sets and I think it's a better deal that way instead of buying them individually. We did this for both our every day dishes and the fine dining. 

jessNlane52804

This is one where we tried to pick a setting at a price point that guests were likely to buy. Personally, I would rather have something than nothing. We did choose nice cookware, but broke it up so that we're more likely to receive it.

berrytr

I think it's easier to work with sets.

Acrosthec

We registered for everyday dishes individually because the pattern we liked didn't come in place settings.  But for china we registered for the 5-piece place settings. It's a larger number than looking at say, a plate, but if someone wants to get you a full place setting and the only thing you've registered for is the individual pieces, they may get upset that they're paying more by buying them individually. 

If you think you may have some guests that would prefer to buy just a piece of a setting, and others that would prefer to buy the whole setting, or you're just unsure, I would register for 6 complete place settings and then 6 other place settings piece by piece (6 plates, 6 bowls, etc.)  You can always check the registry to see what your guests are preferring and change to add more of the complete place settings, or take some away and add more piecemeal options.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Thanks! I think I'll go with the whole place settings and try to register for a lot of things that are in the under-$30 category for people who want to spend less than what a setting costs.

stefani103

We did 12- 4 piece sets (Macy's let us pick which dishes we wanted in our sets!).

We then registered for an additional 12 of the bowls not in the set and then various serving plates. Macy's had a fantastic sale on their china sets, so it was definitely better price-wise. Besides, I'd rather end up with 4 complete sets than 12 dinner plates. We plan to use our discount afterwards to fill in the sets, but if we get 8 of the 12 sets we want, there will be less pressure to HAVE to buy more.

aharris114196

I would definitely suggest registering for placesettings. Individual pieces can be wallet friendly (especially for cookware and cutlery), but for your china, it could result in getting a lot of mixed and unmatched pieces. The main concern though should really be the availability of open stock pieces. Most placesettings are Active items, a lot of individual pieces aren't active for most retailers and will have to be ordered from the vendor. This could add a significant amount of time that it would take to order your pieces. Since most people don't like to hear that it will take 6-8 weeks for you to get your china, it can often keep them from purchasing it. Also keep your eyes peeled for china patterns that come in sets. Some patterns come in 16 piece sets (service for 4). Those are usually a great deal.