NWR: Hosting Thanksgiving

lc07 · September 2014

As a guest, I would MUCH MUCH MUCH rather eat on a plate that didn't match the person's next to me than eat on paper or plastic. Buy a less expensive set and decorate the table as every other. Donate them to a shelter or something afterwards if you don't want to keep them. Happy Thanksgiving to all - and you made a lovely donation. Win.

ohmrs2014 · September 2014

Well, after all that discussion, my DH now says, well maybe we can get a 12 place setting from Ikea or Target or buy just a few extra pieces to make 12, even if they don't match. Square plates are still "in" so finding a few extra pieces wouldn't be hard.

I love him, but he drives me insane LOL. He said he realized that I wouldn't be happy or comfortable hosting if things weren't perfect, at least my definition of perfect.

DH said this weekend we can go look around, he doesn't want to spend all that money for the exact set we have right now, which is understandable.

ohmrs2014 · September 2014

@scribe95 I do. I have my own personal account for my personal purchases. Anything for us, comes out of the joint account, so we always clear it with each other when using that account to make purchases.

I figured with the extra set we can store them in the basement so we always have them because you never know.

levieenrose · September 2014

@scribe95, I think you are unfairly nitpicking the OP. I didn't read anything she wrote as being especially resistive to any ideas suggested, and I think it's fine that she wants them both to come to an agreement about how they spend their money and host.

To the OP, good luck with your decision. I wouldn't be offended at mismatched plates (provided they were all like material) or even at those white, silver-lined plastic plates you can pick up from the dollar store. But like you and others, I would be totally obsessing about it as the hostess and would also very selfishly want to show off my new plates. I would, like you, totally see this as the best excuse to finish out your collection, but if you can't swing it, you can't swing it. Besides, your guests will be too busy trying to figure out how many of your delectables they can cram on to their plates to pay much attention to the patterns.

ohmrs2014 · September 2014

@scribe95 I didn't think you were being nitpicky.

I appreciate everyone's opinions on these boards. I honestly didn't think DH would be open to purchasing a cheap set of dinnerware for when we have guests of that size. Since he brought it up, I was like well then, this might work afterall.

levieenrose · September 2014

My bad, sorry for jumping to conclusions!!

Ven&Radio · September 2014

We're hosting thanksgiving for the first time this year. We're going to be having 13 people. We bought the following quantities of stuff:

Dinner plates - 16
Salad plates - 16
Mugs, pasta bowls, cereal bowls - 6
Silverware (dinner fork, salad fork, soup spoon, tea spoon, butter knife) - 16
Platters - 2
Serving bowls - 2 medium, 1 large
Salad bowl/tongs - 1 set
S&P shakers - 3 sets
Butter dishes - 1 set
Serving utensils (meat fork, slotted spoon, sugar spoon, butter knife, something else?) - 2 sets
Wine glasses - 12
Beer glasses - 10
Gravy boat - 1

Our plans for thanksgiving don't involve anything that would be served in a small bowl, so we only got a few of those. We also don't have alot of coffee drinkers in our family, so we kept the mugs to a minimum also. Worst case scenario, we pull out a couple of non-matching mugs from our everyday dinnerware set. I bought everything on sale and got some really good deals (the silverware and serving pieces were like 60% off at Home Goods, all the plates/bowls/etc were 25% off at Macys + 10% cashback with my Discover card). We made sure to have extra plates because we know some are going to get broken eventually. The glasses are all super basic styles that were cheap. They'll be easy to replace and I won't be upset if someone breaks one by accident.

Our main dining table seats 8 comfortably. We bought a 6' folding table and 6 folding chairs from Amazon for ~$150. Once you put a table cloth on it, it looks fine. The second table will be in our living room. Dinner is going to be served buffet-style, so we only have to put the food out once (butter and S&P will be on the tables, though).

ShellD13 · September 2014

When my parents told me to pick my Pfaltzgraff pattern, I specifically picked a very "classic" solid white dish. They no longer make my pattern but because my dishes aren't overly ornate or patterned it makes it VERY EASY to add pieces from other lines on the cheap. I also prefer to "dress" my table through the use of linens, napkins, etc... so I much preferred the clean look of white dishes.

NWR: Hosting Thanksgiving

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