One day I bopped into a local thift shop and found a set of six vintage bridge plates that are rectangular and even had little square separations for things like olives, chutneys and dried fruit. So fun! However, I had at least 35 guests attending. I initially thought that perhaps I could find more of these vintage style bridge plates, but in different patterns. So, off to the next thrift shop to see what I could find! Lo and behold, I found four more in the exact same pattern! Being a complete loon, I then decided that with a little more effort, I could probably find a set of 35 matching vintage bridge plates. These luncheon plates were popular in the 1950’s when it was common for ladies to lunch and play bridge or pinocle. One of the little square plate partitions has a little indent on the side. The groove may be there to place a small fork, but it’s so small and roundish. I had to do a little research, the mystery groove is for ladies to rest their stinky smoking ciggy! Eww! As if!
After I put out an emergency broadcast to friends that I frequently torture with odd requests, I had everyone looking through thrift stores high and low. It took me a little over a month, but I did end up finding 30 matching vintage plates, and I settled for 5 more that were pretty darn close in style. The plates were a huge hit at the party. Everyone loved the heavy quality look and feel of them, and yet they are so pretty and look upscale. Many of the guests also had fond flashbacks of how they, or their mothers used these plates for luncheons.
The best part is that these plates cost me about $1.50 each. Honestly…how great is that! I could have bought some junky plasticware for not much less.
After the big soiree, I ended up giving away sets of 10 to some friends, but I kept 12 for myself. I still love pulling them out when I have friends over. We make our fancy cheese plates and pretend like we have ciggies hanging over the edge.
