bearisgray

I do suppose it depends on the event, but in general -

Do you go for the disposables - plates, eating utensils, beverage holders

or

Do you like to get out the fine china, crystal beverage holders, and best eating utensils?

JanieW

I don't have any fine China or crystal anymore. We use our everyday dinner wear and cutlery when we have occasions. I don't want to put plastic cups, cutlery and paper plates into the land fill.

For our family part of the socializing and fun is in cleaning up after the feast. We have a dishwasher that takes most of the dishes. The rest is easy to do and I feel like we are doing our small part for the environment.

Goatmom

My husband really dislikes disposable plates, etc. So at our house, for a special meal I pull out my Fiesta Ware. I do have a nice china set that I bought before we got married but we've never used it.

cashs_mom

I dislike disposable dishes so they are rarely used in our house. Even when we used to have BBQ's for 30 or so people, we used real dishes and flatware. For anything special, it's china and silver.

Onebyone

It's disposables here every day at every meal and especially at big dinners. We don't want to mess with dirty plates, bowls, and cups after every meal. We do use real flatware for the most part. I have a set of made in England porcelain dishes that will probably go to thrift store or ebay as my kids do not want it. I'm not attached to it as I found the set about 45 years ago at an estate sale in Beverly Hills.

bearisgray

My Mom gave me a set of "good" china for my high school graduation. The ironic thing is that is had gray roses and gray seems to be (or was, recently) an in thing.

I think I may have used them maybe a dozen times during 65 years of marriage. They got "disappeared" when we moved.

Mkotch

We used to own a B&B, so we have lots of small dishes that I hate to part with. I get them out for gatherings at our house once or twice a year. I can run them through the dishwasher pretty easily. Forks and cups are usually plastic at our house as we don't have as many of them. I hate to throw them away, but it does make life easier.

Iceblossom

I am trying to make "new relationships with things" as part of my growth and change. I have tendencies to be a hoarder, things have been very emotionally bound to me. I'm working on things like a plate is a plate and not a history...

There is so much to say for family gatherings to use disposable, and there are all levels of disposable from plain white to eco-conscious to really pretty darn nice and fancy. Clean up is a breeze! A few more people, not much of a problem! And then there are the more... reusable but temporary? sort of cute things for holidays. Love snapping them up after the holiday at half or lower prices and use them the next time. Had a spot for a set of summer bbq dishes and plates, big colorful fish from Target or somewhere.

One concept I like is "let goodwill store it"! So many lovely things get donated (or at least in big cities). You can go out and get lovely center pieces or sets of dishes or whatever, bundles of stuff for $20 (the same I will spend on disposable). Yes, you still have to wash it but then just take it back and re-donate it. And yes, if you love something you might want to keep it. Likewise, if you do want to use real dishes, it is amazing what you can buy for cheap these days, thousands of dollars worth of 1960s formal wedding china, set for 12 for $40-100.

We moved one set of dishes with us, it had been our "good" dishes before the move. Thick Yorktown stoneware by Pfaltgraff it filled up the entire dishes with one meal (had to leave a space between each plate, etc.) for just the three of us and I didn't appreciate the disregard my son was showing them doing his only real chore of emptying the dishwasher. He would grab two bowls or plates at the same time out of the dishwasher and clack them together and suddenly I was getting chips and daily issues... Anyway, put them away and in a hutch and used thinner normal sized dishes for years.

We started getting the pieces in the 70s... the teapot is about to explode from all the crazing going on, one of these days it probably will just fall apart. It will be ok when it does, that piece does have a direct tie to my father who died when I was 15 but I've had it and used it for a long time, and basically a teapot isn't much good unused. It doesn't need to be kept as a tribute to my father, I just recognize that of all the things I have, I know he touched that.

Last month I went to a guild retreat and there was a potluck. I decided to make a quiche and I have a quiche dish in with my set that I have never used. I got it at the thrift store and believe it had never been used before I got it as well. I don't make quiches often and I thought about getting a cheap dish at the thrift store, but no -- I moved these dishes because I want them to be used. It made a beautiful quiche and survived the travel and potluck just fine. And is back in the hutch for who knows how long?

toverly

Oh how I love my fine china. But I never use it. I do look at it every once and a while. For us it's disposable. Entertaining is usually a BBQ or a shrimp boil.

peaceandjoy

Until last year, we had Corelle ware dishes. First set, 47 years ago, was the Old Town Blue pattern. I don't recall the name of the 2nd set.

DH wanted to get a set of China for me at one point, thinking that all women wanted should one. I asked him to please not get it. No place to store it in a small home, for it to be used once or twice a year? No. Now, we have Denby Pottery. Love it, but gosh, so heavy. Even a cereal bowl weighs over a pound. Might not have been my smartest choice...

Anyhow, we have a dishwasher, so rarely use anything other than regular dishes at our house. If we are at our daughter's, her kitchen is a galley kitchen with almost no counter space, so although I do not mind washing dishes, it's hard bc there is no place to stack them.

We were at a large gathering last year at the home of some very environmentally conscious friends and I learned about disposable bamboo dinnerware. All compostable.

There are things to be said for every option, so families should just do what makes sense for them.