By Joy Kraft
The Cincinnati Enquirer

We shopped to find complementary pieces to Heather and Eric Loyall's Mikasa Crown Jewel Platinum china and crystal by Waterford. (Brandi Stafford photos)

The gobbler's on order, the invitations are out and the shopping list is itemized for your Thanksgiving feast ...

Except, you are feeding 23 and you have 11 dinner plates, six salad plates and four coffee cups and saucers.

Rest easy. Some savvy shopping can help you set a smart table on a limited budget, especially with today's trend of mixing china and crystal patterns with pottery and glassware.

To prove it, we asked Heather and Eric Loyall of Fort Thomas to trust us with a place setting of their wedding china and crystal - Mikasa's Crown Jewel Platinum, a creamy-colored plate with a rim of scrolled platinum, and Waterford's Marquis crystal.

Married in February 2002, the couple made the transition from apartment to first house "with plenty of storage," says Heather, who plans to move her china out of the storage boxes and onto the table soon for her monthly dinner with girlfriends.

She and Eric chose the classic china design after visiting many stores.

"We kept coming back to this one. It's easy. It's classic. I think I'll like it for a long time," she says.

Black-and-white toile charger ($2.99 Tuesday Morning) and toile salad plate ($2.99 Tuesday Morning) on black tablecloth.

Gold charger ($1.99) and silver runner ($7.99, both from Old Time Pottery) with plaid napkin ($1.99, Target) jingle bell ring ($1.99 Target).

To stretch the couple's few pieces of formal tableware, we set out to find tableware and accessories to complement the patterns and give them different looks - for casual or dressy entertaining - without spending more than $5 on any one piece.

Here are tips from our trip:

To shop, take along a well-padded china plate and a wine glass (a grocery cart can damage unwrapped china.).

Clear glass or white plates are the easiest "match" and can cost as little as 68-99 cents each (at Old Time Pottery). Or try glass salad plates in colors - layering delicately tinted amber, red or green over your china, $1.99-$2.49. Caution: Many glass plates are not dishwasher-safe. One shopper we encountered told a harrowing story about a discount glass plate bursting in the dishwasher. She recounted the story as she loaded up a stack in her cart for this year's festivities.

When mixing patterns, stick to the same background china color - white or ivory - but not both.

If the china has a pattern, pick one color to accent and stick with it. If it has a band, look for the band color or a pattern in the band in accent plates.

The least expensive accent plates are salad or dessert plates centered on dinner plates.

Silver charger (4/$9.99, Target) plaid napkin ($1.99 Garden Ridge), snowman salad ($1.49 Garden Ridge) over felt mat (69 cents, Garden Ridge).

Don't be afraid to mix more than one pattern if your china pieces are limited ... just keep the colors and patterns consistent.

Pick a dominant color in your china and use varying shades in accent plates.

Look for complementary colors of the same pattern.

When mixing china patterns and accent plates, keep table linens solid or consider a table runner in a complementary color or muted pattern.

Hesitant to mix colors and patterns? Keep to the same color and mix plate shapes. Dinner plates come in ovals, circles, squares and rounded rectangles, very dramatic set against a dark tablecloth.

FIND A BARGAIN

Bed, Bath & Beyond: Tri-County, Eastgate, Norwood. Old Time Pottery: Forest Park, Florence. Big Lots, multiple locations. Garden Ridge: Eastgate. Tuesday Morning: multiple locations. Linens 'N Things: Kenwood, Symmes Township, Springdale. HomeGoods: multiple locations. Glass Barn, Reading. Target: multiple locations. Second-hand stores.

Crystal patterns can be mixed as well. Choose a lighter cut crystal to play up heavy cut glasses. If you have gold or silver trim crystal, look for the same on accent pieces. We saw plain wine glasses for as little as 68 cents (Old Time Pottery) and leaded crystal wine and champagne glasses for $1.99 each (Big Lots).

Bright solid or printed bandanas (red calico print especially) masquerade as nifty napkins, right. Find them in craft and hobby stores for as little as 50 cents each.

Ribbon or yarn makes inexpensive napkin rings. Tuck in a candy cane or tie on a tiny ornament or jingley bell. (Check Martha Stewart's Holiday Party Foods issue for penny-pinching decorating.)

Forget expensive placemats. Look in craft and hobby stores for pre-cut mats or fancy paper mats that complement your china pattern and use them with a solid color cloth. We found a red, 12-by-18-inch, sturdy felt mat for 69 cents and 14-by-14-inch paper mat for 50 cents. Pre-cut mirrors, $3.48, work well, but cost more.

Charger plates, under dinner plates, can change the look of the table. Most stores had silver and gold plastic versions, four for $9.99. (Old Time Pottery had the cheapest: $1.99 each). We found a smart black-and-white toile-pattern at Tuesday Morning for $2.99. For a winter-ice version, pick up flat circular mirrors in hobby and craft stores ($3.48 at Garden Ridge).

Refurbish old bamboo or woven placemats by painting them silver or gold for an elegant table.

Place silver, gold or holiday-color votive candles in contrasting shapes at each plate.

Cut place cards from art paper and decorate with glitter glue or fancy buttons from craft and hobby stores.

Sprinkle mini-bags of confetti in coordinating colors on the table for a festive finish.

What's in a plate?

Bone china: Considered the best quality. Made from finely ground clay that includes bone ash and is fired at extremely high heat. Adding bone ash creates its bright white color. Best to wash by hand.

Porcelain: Strong, glasslike and translucent. High-quality china made from the same clay mixture in bone china but without the bone ash. It may look delicate, but is extremely durable and chip-resistant. Best to wash by hand.

Casual china: Everyday dinnerware, less expensive and less durable than fine china, usually sold in four-piece settings.

Stoneware: Heavy, non-porous and very strong with ground stone added to the clay. It has a glassy surface but may feel rough. Stronger and heavier that earthenware.

Earthenware: Heavy, slightly porous ceramic, used for everyday, often glazed and not as heavy as stoneware.

Ironstone: Hard, heavy, durable earthenware with white porcelain-like appearance. Also called Masonware.

Four-piece place setting: Typical in casual everyday china, it's usually a dinner plate, salad/dessert plate, bread and butter plate and mug.

Five-piece setting: Typical in fine china, it includes dinner plate, salad/dessert plate, bread and butter plate, cup and saucer.

E-mail jkraft@enquirer.com