Every so often I find myself adding a few dozen items to an Anthropologie cart. I rarely buy them but even the act of putting them in my cart gives me the dopamine hit.

On one of these recent deep dives into the Anthro Home section I came across a set of glass luncheon plates for a lot. They’re not on the site anymore so I forget exactly what they were listed for but Etsy has a whole bunch of them for a lot less!

Plus buying second hand is the more sustainable option. And glass is dishwasher safe!

I’ve gathered a collection of them for you to shop on Etsy.

The kids love these plates. We use them for breakfast, snack time, lunch and dinner. Even water tastes infinitely more appetizing to them when it’s in the little tea cup. There is also continuous debate over the right way to hold the cup.

When the kids were about five and a half and three and a half we switched to using “real” dishes. One I was ready to ditch the plastic ones. Two I didn’t want to reinvest in a set of stainless steel plates (although the Ahimsa Stainless Steel Snack Bowls the kids use are awesome and I’m more and more tempted to get another set). Three I thought it would help teach the kids to be more careful.

The “real” dishes we have are Grandma Bassett’s set of Arcoroc Fleur Clear Glass plates and bowls. A little bowl hit the dust this weekend inches from the veggie straw container. Impressively that was the first casualty since we made the switch to real glasses! The other dishes we use are two Lenox Luna dish sets, some low bowls from Crate and Barrel and some soup bowls from TR Pottery in Door County, WI.

If you’re wondering, no, I don’t really have a spot to store the new luncheon plates. And yes, that was a point of contention from Dan. Our Lenox Luna dish sets aren’t being stored as efficiently as they are designed to be stored so maybe I’ll shuffle those around and use the spot for the luncheon plates.

The Luna bowls and a few salad bowls are what food gets served in but my favorite way to serve a meal is on my big ole platter. It is like your favorite happy hour board meets family style meals and if done right will reduce the dishes needing to be washed at the end of the day!

I prefer using second hand dishes for a few reasons.

1. REUSE is the second R in the recycling motto
2. Older stuff seems to have been made better (and no one else will have something just like it)
3. Each piece has a story and you’re the next chapter

This last one is why I have worked to bring second-hand items into our home as much as possible. We use these items for ourselves and others have used them before us. And instead of sending these furniture pieces, dishes or clothing to the landfill a person took the time to make it available for sale.

Go ahead! Give some items a second life and add them into your life!