Ordering Spode Fine China and Blue Christmas Plates Wholesale: A Five-Step Checklist from Someone Who's Made the Mistakes

I started ordering Spode for resale in 2018, and I have made almost every mistake on this list. The $1,200 Blue Christmas plate mix-up. The snow globe shipment that arrived with cracked bases. The trinket dish I almost listed as a soap dish. This checklist is the one I hand to new buyers on our team, and the one I wish someone had handed to me.

If you're here because you typed 'what is trinket dish' into a search bar, here's the answer: it's a small decorative dish for rings, keys, and loose change. Spode makes them in bone china and earthenware, usually in classic patterns like Blue Christmas and Blue Italian. They're a steady seller for gift shops — and a sneaky source of inventory confusion.

This walkthrough works best if you're ordering cartons of Spode for a retail shop, online store, or corporate gifting program. There are five steps in this checklist, and step three is the one most people skip.

Who Should Use This Checklist

If you're a business owner stocking spode fine china, Blue Christmas plates, snow globes, figurines, or trinket dishes, this is for you. If you're buying a single plate for your own kitchen, you can ignore half of it. The process assumes you plan to resell, which means the small details matter twice: once for your order, and again for your own customer's trust.

I'll say this plainly: I've never been the biggest customer on a Spode order. My early orders were around $250. To be fair, some suppliers don't want orders that small, and I get it — warehouse operations are expensive. But the people who took those small orders seriously are the same people I still call when the order is $8,000. Small accounts grow. It's just how wholesale actually works.

The Five-Step Ordering Checklist

Step 1: Know exactly which Spode you're ordering

Spode fine china is a specific product category. It's bone china, made with bone ash, and it's known for its translucency. But not every Spode item is bone china — there are also earthenware and stoneware pieces. If you're listing a Spode figurine on your site, the material matters. Get it wrong, and you'll be having a conversation with a customer that you don't want to have.

The same goes for patterns. Spode Blue Christmas plates get a lot of attention, and for good reason — the Christmas Tree pattern has been around since 1938, if I remember the history correctly. But Blue Italian is a different pattern, with a different look and a different fan base. Don't send a photo of Blue Italian to someone asking about Blue Christmas. That's a mistake I made on a 40-piece order. It was not a fun week.

Checklist: product name, pattern name, material, size, and shape. Write all five on the purchase order. This sounds like overkill until the wrong cartons arrive.

Step 2: Verify every claim before you publish a listing

Per FTC guidelines (ftc.gov), advertising claims need to be truthful and substantiated. That applies to product titles, description copy, and care labels. If you write 'dishwasher safe' and haven't checked that specific item, you're putting the responsibility on the supplier and hoping. Hope is not a system.

I once listed a Spode trinket dish with gold trim as dishwasher safe. It came back at me from a customer — not angry, just confused. I checked with the supplier, and the metallic trim meant the piece was better hand-washed. The dish didn't break. The trust took a hit anyway.

Here's the nuance: fine bone china is a durable material, but 'durable' doesn't automatically mean 'microwave safe' or 'dishwasher safe in every pattern.' Verify per piece, per pattern, and per finish. This has worked for us, but our experience is mainly with holiday and classic patterns. If you're sourcing a limited edition with a different finish, do not assume.

Step 3: Take snow globes seriously before you order

Snow globes are the hidden trap of the Spode decor line. They're made of glass, they contain liquid, and they have a base that doesn't like shock. If you're ordering snow globes for a retail shelf, you also need to think about how you'll get them from your warehouse to your customer without turning the delivery into a puddle.

According to USPS (usps.com), as of January 2025, a First-Class Mail letter costs $0.73 per ounce. You will not be shipping snow globes with a letter stamp. They're parcels, and parcel shipping has its own weight and packaging rules. If you're packing a small trinket dish in a large envelope, be aware that USPS large envelopes have a maximum thickness of 0.75 inches (Source: USPS Business Mail 101). A wrapped dish is usually thicker. Use a box.

I don't have hard data on how many snow globes break in transit industry-wide. I can tell you about my own 30-globe order that showed up with two cracked bases, a lesson that cost me about $460. I stopped being clever and started double-boxing. Snow globes are not the place to get creative with packaging. Even after the replacement order shipped, I kept second-guessing whether I should have switched to ceramic figurines instead. The wait was stressful. The double-boxed snow globes arrived intact.

If you're new to the category, test one shipment to yourself before selling to customers. It's the cheapest insurance you can buy.

Step 4: Confirm the set contents — every time

Spode Blue Christmas plates come in multiple sizes: dinner, salad, bread, dessert, and wall decor. A 'set of 4' can mean four dinner plates or four bread plates. If the SKU says '7-inch plate', don't assume that's a dinner plate. Check the actual dimensions before you count it into your inventory value.

I once approved an order for what I thought was 12 Blue Christmas dinner plates and got bread plates instead. Not a huge amount of money, but a huge amount of time. That order turned into a very awkward season of 'item not as described' before I reordered correctly.

When you're planning quantities, think about how you're selling. I went back and forth between buying full sets and open stock. Full sets have higher basket values. Open stock lets customers replace one broken piece without buying a whole setting. I ended up carrying both because Spode customers are often trying to do two different things: build a tradition or replace an old favorite.

Step 5: Treat every order like a relationship, not a transaction

This is the step that doesn't show up on a purchase order, but it matters. Spode is not a one-off commodity. It's a heritage brand with serious customer loyalty. A customer buying a Spode figurine for their mother is not the same as buying a generic candle. They care. That's why your product descriptions need to be right, your images need to match, and your small orders need to be handled with the same care as the large ones.

Small doesn't mean unimportant. It means potential. I remember the $300 orders I placed when I was starting out. The vendors who treated those orders with respect are the ones who got my later $2,000 and $8,000 orders. If you work in wholesale, you've seen this cycle. It's not a policy; it's just how business actually grows.

At the same time, I'll be honest: if you're a small retailer, don't demand the same per-unit price as a national chain. That's not how economics works. What you can expect is straight answers, transparent lead times, and a supplier who doesn't make you feel like a nuisance for asking questions.

Common Mistakes I Still See

• Calling every small decorated plate a trinket dish. A soap dish and a trinket dish look similar, but not to the customer who knows the difference. Use precise names.
• Putting Blue Christmas and Blue Italian in the same category for the sake of 'holiday décor.' Different patterns, different collectors. Respect the difference.
• Assuming all Spode fine china is dishwasher safe. It is not a universal yes. Check the finish.
• Skipping the double-box test for snow globes. The extra box is cheap. The refunds are not.
• Being afraid of the word 'small'. Small trial orders are sensible. They are not insults to your business.

I still make mistakes. Last order, I underestimated how many Blue Christmas plates we'd sell in January — January, of all months. But the expensive ones are now caught by this checklist. I don't have a complete record of every order I've placed, and I wish I had tracked packaging incidents more carefully. What I can say anecdotally is that for us, the checklist has stopped at least seven noticeably expensive errors in the last three years.

If you're getting ready to place a Spode order, take the time to match three things: the pattern, the material, and the piece name. Then think about how it gets to your customer. That's the whole job. It's not glamorous. It beats a carton full of surprises.