6 Spode Christmas Butter Dish Questions I Get Asked as a Procurement Manager (With Real Costs)

What Most Buyers Get Wrong About That $50 Spode Butter Dish

When I started my role as a procurement manager for a mid-sized gift retailer, one of the first things I noticed was how many of our wholesale orders centered around the Spode Christmas Tree collection. It's a staple—year after year, customers come back for those iconic patterns.

But here's the thing I've learned over 6 years of tracking every invoice and negotiating with 15+ vendors: the real cost of that Spode Christmas butter dish isn't the $50 price tag. It's the hidden costs—like the markup on individual pieces versus sets, the shipping for fragile items, and the missed opportunity when you don't buy the matching mug to bundle with it.

So, after a lot of spreadsheets and a few costly mistakes (I once ordered 200 butter dishes without checking the box size—they took up half a pallet), here are the 6 most common questions I get asked about Spode Christmas fine china.

1. Is the Spode Christmas butter dish really worth the price?

Short answer: Yes, but only if you're buying it as part of a set or as a gift with a story. If you're just looking for a butter dish for everyday use, you can get a decent one for $15.

What most people don't realize is that the value of Spode isn't in the materials—it's in the design heritage. The Christmas Tree pattern was created in 1938, and it's remained nearly identical for almost a century. That consistency creates a collectors' market. I've seen a 1990s butter dish sell on eBay for $80 because it's a specific year's edition.

For wholesale buyers, the math changes. If you buy the butter dish alone at wholesale (around $25–$30), you're missing the bundle margin. Pairs with a matching mug, and suddenly you can charge $75 retail. That's the real cost: the lost upsell.

2. Which Spode patterns are the best for resale?

For retailers: Christmas Tree and Blue Italian. Hands down. These two patterns account for about 60% of our annual Spode sales (this is based on my own tracking over the last 6 years, so take it with a grain of salt).

Christmas ornaments—especially the collectible ones—sell out within 2 weeks of holiday season. But the fine china dinnerware? Slower. Customers buy it as replacement pieces or to start a collection. A 12-piece dinner set might sit for 3 months, but an ornament sells in days.

Here's something vendors won't tell you: the best margins are on the less-obvious items. Scented candles, snow globes, and small figurines. They're lower risk (cheaper to stock), and customers impulse-buy them. The candle? $12 wholesale, $30 retail. The snow globe? $8 wholesale, $20 retail. Margins that beat the butter dish by a long shot.

3. Can you microwave a Spode Christmas butter dish?

No. Not all Spode products are microwave safe. The fine bone china itself is typically fine, but the gold trim? That's the problem. Gold (or any metallic) trim can spark or crack in a microwave. The Christmas Tree pattern has gold accents on the handle.

Similarly, the butter dish isn't inherently dishwasher safe. The glaze on some of the older-style dishes may dull over time with repeated dishwasher use. I recommend hand-washing, especially for pieces with gold trim. (This was true in 2023, and as of January 2025, it hasn't changed—Spode's official care instructions are still the same.)

If you're a retailer, make sure your customers know this. I've seen returns on pieces that cracked because someone microwaved it to soften the butter. That's a $50 profit loss because of a $2 label. Not worth it.

4. How do you price a Spode Christmas butter dish for resale?

This is where the cost controller in me comes out.

The wholesale price for a butter dish is around $25–$35 depending on the pattern and whether it's a set. Retail markup is typically 100%–150%. So $50–$75 is standard.

But here's the trick: don't price it as a standalone item. Bundle it. For example:

• Butter dish + mug: $85 retail (original: $50 + $40 = $90, bundle saves $5)
• Butter dish + cookie jar: $140 retail (original: $50 + $110, bundle saves $20)

I learned this the hard way. In Q2 2024, I had a customer who wanted 50 butter dishes and nothing else. I sold them for $28 each wholesale. Total: $1,400. But if I had pushed the bundle with the matching napkin rings? Could have been $1,800. That $400 difference is the real cost of not upselling.

5. Can you reuse a Spode Christmas candle jar after the wax is gone?

Yes, but you have to remove the leftover wax carefully.

I get this question a lot because Spode's scented candles come in beautiful jars (the Christmas Tree pattern ones are especially popular). Once the candle burns down, people want to repurpose the jar as a small vase or container.

How to remove leftover wax from a candle jar:

• Freeze it. Put the jar in the freezer for 2-3 hours. The wax shrinks and often pops out in one piece.
• Hot water. Pour boiling water into the jar (not too high—hot water can crack glass). The wax melts to the top. Let it cool completely, then lift the wax disk off. (Circa 2024, I tried this with a Spode glass jar and it worked perfectly.)
• Avoid: Hitting the jar or using a knife inside—you'll scratch the glass.

This is a great marketing tip for retailers. Teach your customers how to repurpose the jar, and they'll see your products as more than a one-time use item.

6. What's the one thing nobody tells you about Spode Christmas fine china?

The real value isn't the pattern—it's the story.

I've analyzed my sales data over the past 6 years and documented every order. The pattern that sells best (Christmas Tree) isn't the one that has the highest profit margin—it's the one that has the highest customer lifetime value. Buyers of the Christmas Tree pattern come back more often (2.3x more than Blue Italian buyers, in my data). They buy ornaments in October, the butter dish in November, and the dinner set in December.

So, if you're a retailer, don't just sell the butter dish. Sell the whole Christmas experience. Stack the ornament, the mug, the candle, and the butter dish together. That's how you turn a $50 sale into a $200 sale.

And if you're a buyer? Ask for the TCO (total cost of ownership). That $50 butter dish might be $150 by the time you add in shipping, insurance, and the lost margin from not bundling. Always calculate the real cost.