I regularly host 25 for Christmas and for the past two years I've rented dinner and dessert plates as well as wine and water glasses and linens, all for $125 or so. Clean up is as easy as scrape and stack. Last year we were leaving the day after christmas so placed all the containers on the porch and paid extra for pick up, but it was worth it.

Before I discovered the ease of rental, I used the combination of 12 place settings each of everyday and formal china. I have extra forks and knives from Ikea.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all who have chimed in. We're hosting because the relative who typically hosts isn't able to this year (and may or may not in the future). This isn't a formal crowd. Just our parents, siblings, a couple of aunts and uncles, and a couple of friends who can't travel and don't have family nearby. Since this may end up being a regular or semi-regular thing for us, we may buy some cheap IKEA plates but do disposable for the kids and for dessert. We do have space in the garage to store a box of dishes, so that's not the issue. I'm just trying to think of ways to keep things somewhat organized since we don't have a huge kitchen. Not having dishes all over the counter until they get rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher would cut down on the mess.

NP here. I host 25-30 for thanksgiving and have gotten down a system that works well for me. I have one long table for adults, where I use one set of matching dishes/glasses/etc. At the kids' table, I use plain white dishes that I bought at crate and barrel on sale (and use for other dinner parties throughout the year). As soon as dinner is over, my kids help clear the tables, immediately scrape the dishes, and immediately put them in the dishwasher and run it. This keeps the mess in the kitchen somewhat under control.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen plenty of decent looking disposable plates that are strong at the party store, for a good price. And plastic ware that looks like the real stuff. I'm so happy my family isn't so fussy that they would have issue with disposable plates! I stopped using our china for holiday meals b/c that requires hand washing vs. the dishwasher. Our regular plates are white stoneware, so paired with some good decorations and nice table linens, it looks great. If I was hosting 25 ppl, I for sure would use disposable!

If you don't use your china for holidays, when do you use it? If you don't use it, why do you have it? I think it's sad that our society is ALWAYS placing comfort/convenience before taking the time and effort to make something truly special, like an elegant holiday meal.

What if you don't consider it an "elegant" holiday meal, but more of a family dinner, sans pretension?

So it is pretentious to use real plates?

I'm not after "elegant" for holidays, but real plates is kind of a bare minimum for me. It's a pretty low bar, actually.

Anonymous wrote:Costco has nice heavy plastic plates (look real) and silverware that is "silver" tone and heavy too that are both nice for big holiday/parties. You could recycle or wash them to re-use or just throw them away

That silver colored silverware does not last for even one washing (I was trying to get two uses out of it for a kid's friend party and then the family birthday party). Avoid.

We often combine china settings at HUGE dinners. I have service for 12 as do most all my relatives. Can you borrow someone's china?

Otherwise I think paper is fine. Those clear plastic plates are pretty fancy looking.

Anonymous wrote:All the large Thanksgivings I've been to use disposable plates and I use them, too, when I host. Just get the plastic kind and not the paper ones. You might want to splurge on real flatware for everyone, though. Nothing fancy, but it's nice to have a real fork.

+100

Costco has nice heavy plastic plates (look real) and silverware that is "silver" tone and heavy too that are both nice for big holiday/parties. You could recycle or wash them to re-use or just throw them away

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IKEA plates can be super cheap:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10057067/

$2.50 x 25 = $62.50 for plates. But actually you need 50 plates, because of dessert, so either $125 for plates, or somebody has to wash and dry 25 plates. And then OP either has to find a place to store 25 (or 50) plates, or OP has to give 25 (or 50) almost-brand-new plates to a thrift store.

Now you have made me intervene to clarify an important issue regarding large scale Thanksgiving entertaining. Although paper plates may not be used for the main course, it is perfectly acceptable to use paper plates for dessert. One may buy the festive Thanksgiving themed plates for this purpose. One usually finds these plates in the same store where your guests will purchase the plain white or cream colored note cards used to write thank you notes. It is all in the spirit of the holiday.

Why is it ok to use paper plates (with turkeys and cornucopias on them) for dessert, but not for the rest of the meal? Because people would feel bad eating turkey off plates with happy cartoon turkeys on them, but wouldn't feel bad eating pumpkin pie off plates with happy cartoon turkeys on them? Please explain?

Oh dear, now you are making my task difficult. Contrary to myth makers, the turkey ingested by the non-vegans, vegetarians, and Paleoists is not what makes one sleepy after Thanksginving. It is the devil carbs contained in mashed potates, sweet potatoes crowned with marshmallows, rolls, and the vegetables elevated to edibility with the addition of mushroom soup, canned onions and the controversial addition of bread crumbs. Those culprits render the host, hostess and any other people they can dragoon into service too sleepy to deal dessert plates.

It is not whether the pumpkin pie slathered with real whipped cream (please do not argue for Cool Whip) can be tossed on a plate with a Turkey cartoon versus a turkey dinner served on the same type of plate, it is the comfort of your guests. They will be dozing off over dessert and it would be terrible if they dropped a china dessert plate to the floor and it broke. Dropping a paper plate festooned with a turkey or pumpkin does not have the same effect. Although I would personally choose a post-Labor Day cream colored plate with a tasteful border of Pilgrims. The sight of Pilgrims could lead to a stimulating converstion about the Tea Party and rouse your guests from their stupor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen plenty of decent looking disposable plates that are strong at the party store, for a good price. And plastic ware that looks like the real stuff. I'm so happy my family isn't so fussy that they would have issue with disposable plates! I stopped using our china for holiday meals b/c that requires hand washing vs. the dishwasher. Our regular plates are white stoneware, so paired with some good decorations and nice table linens, it looks great. If I was hosting 25 ppl, I for sure would use disposable!

If you don't use your china for holidays, when do you use it? If you don't use it, why do you have it? I think it's sad that our society is ALWAYS placing comfort/convenience before taking the time and effort to make something truly special, like an elegant holiday meal.

+1

Carrying the logic of comfort and convenience to its logical conclusion, why not eat in our sweatpants or pajamas?

None of us are dining like the Granthams at Downton Abbey either. Thanksgiving can be more or less formal and still be a lovely meal. We use inexpensive white stoneware for large gatherings, but I certainly would not be offended if someone used nice plastic plates. I probably wouldn't even notice until I picked them up.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all who have chimed in. We're hosting because the relative who typically hosts isn't able to this year (and may or may not in the future). This isn't a formal crowd. Just our parents, siblings, a couple of aunts and uncles, and a couple of friends who can't travel and don't have family nearby. Since this may end up being a regular or semi-regular thing for us, we may buy some cheap IKEA plates but do disposable for the kids and for dessert. We do have space in the garage to store a box of dishes, so that's not the issue. I'm just trying to think of ways to keep things somewhat organized since we don't have a huge kitchen. Not having dishes all over the counter until they get rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher would cut down on the mess.

Or, if your family is anything like mine with that large of a group my guess is that 3 or 4 will run in the kitchen to help do the quick clean-up --- loading the dishwasher, squiring some soap and water into the pots and pans so they can soak, start the coffee pot for dessert, etc. I've found that sometimes my large parties end up with less cleanup for me than the small ones since people are usually happy to help.

FWIW, we are casual people so disposable wouldn't bother me. The only reason I'd think twice at Thanksgiving is that there tends to be a lot of heavy food, and unless it's a sitdown meal with dishes passed family style, it could be hard to fill plates and carry them or stand and talk with them.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all who have chimed in. We're hosting because the relative who typically hosts isn't able to this year (and may or may not in the future). This isn't a formal crowd. Just our parents, siblings, a couple of aunts and uncles, and a couple of friends who can't travel and don't have family nearby. Since this may end up being a regular or semi-regular thing for us, we may buy some cheap IKEA plates but do disposable for the kids and for dessert. We do have space in the garage to store a box of dishes, so that's not the issue. I'm just trying to think of ways to keep things somewhat organized since we don't have a huge kitchen. Not having dishes all over the counter until they get rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher would cut down on the mess.

You might also look at TJMaxx or HomeGoods or similar. They often have "entertainment" sets of dishes and flatware.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all who have chimed in. We're hosting because the relative who typically hosts isn't able to this year (and may or may not in the future). This isn't a formal crowd. Just our parents, siblings, a couple of aunts and uncles, and a couple of friends who can't travel and don't have family nearby. Since this may end up being a regular or semi-regular thing for us, we may buy some cheap IKEA plates but do disposable for the kids and for dessert. We do have space in the garage to store a box of dishes, so that's not the issue. I'm just trying to think of ways to keep things somewhat organized since we don't have a huge kitchen. Not having dishes all over the counter until they get rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher would cut down on the mess.

Get a good sized dish tub, put some soapy water in, drop the dishes in there, and then load the dishwasher whenever you get around to it. Then you can store the plates in it for next year.

http://www.amazon.com/United-Solutions-BA0006-Eighteen-Dishpan-18/dp/B0076HMBXO/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1443107973&sr=8-10&keywords=dishpan

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen plenty of decent looking disposable plates that are strong at the party store, for a good price. And plastic ware that looks like the real stuff. I'm so happy my family isn't so fussy that they would have issue with disposable plates! I stopped using our china for holiday meals b/c that requires hand washing vs. the dishwasher. Our regular plates are white stoneware, so paired with some good decorations and nice table linens, it looks great. If I was hosting 25 ppl, I for sure would use disposable!

If you don't use your china for holidays, when do you use it? If you don't use it, why do you have it? I think it's sad that our society is ALWAYS placing comfort/convenience before taking the time and effort to make something truly special, like an elegant holiday meal.

+1

Carrying the logic of comfort and convenience to its logical conclusion, why not eat in our sweatpants or pajamas?

I don't find it comfortable or convenient to eat dinner in my pajamas.

OP here. Thanks to all who have chimed in. We're hosting because the relative who typically hosts isn't able to this year (and may or may not in the future). This isn't a formal crowd. Just our parents, siblings, a couple of aunts and uncles, and a couple of friends who can't travel and don't have family nearby. Since this may end up being a regular or semi-regular thing for us, we may buy some cheap IKEA plates but do disposable for the kids and for dessert. We do have space in the garage to store a box of dishes, so that's not the issue. I'm just trying to think of ways to keep things somewhat organized since we don't have a huge kitchen. Not having dishes all over the counter until they get rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher would cut down on the mess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen plenty of decent looking disposable plates that are strong at the party store, for a good price. And plastic ware that looks like the real stuff. I'm so happy my family isn't so fussy that they would have issue with disposable plates! I stopped using our china for holiday meals b/c that requires hand washing vs. the dishwasher. Our regular plates are white stoneware, so paired with some good decorations and nice table linens, it looks great. If I was hosting 25 ppl, I for sure would use disposable!

If you don't use your china for holidays, when do you use it? If you don't use it, why do you have it? I think it's sad that our society is ALWAYS placing comfort/convenience before taking the time and effort to make something truly special, like an elegant holiday meal.

I use my china for smaller formal dinners. I don't have china for 25-30. If I wanted to have a full-on elegant, up-scale Thanksgiving dinner, I'd leave out of the extended family and just invite the grandparents. But our family values togetherness more than formality and has always been "the more the merrier" types. We truly don't care about the formality of the tableware and long as the food and company are good and everyone is comfortable.

Hardly anyone has china for 30 people, but many people have 8 place settings of regular dishes and 8 of china...if you get a box of 12 plain white plates, you can serve everyone off real dishes.

If we're going for "elegant," I don't think 8 settings of china, 8 settings of every day, and then 12 plain white all mixed together really do it.

Most people can't seat 25 people at one table, either. You can make it work. I don't know if OP was asking "Am I nuts for wanting to get real plates for this huge dinner I'm hosting" or "Please tell me I don't have to go buy a bunch of real plates for this huge dinner I'm hosting." If it's "A," there are ways you can make it work.