• I'm hosting a dinner party and thrifted vintage china to add a stylish touch to the event.
• I paid $65 at a secondhand store for 11 dinner plates, 12 salad plates, teacups, and more.
• I later figured out the pieces were from a discontinued collection and valued at nearly $1,000.

I almost gave up on celebrating my birthday this year.

Then, while doom-scrolling through Instagram, I saw a video from Toronto-based influencer Isabelle Heikens, who hosts a multi-course dinner at her home each month. Heikens — who has more than 300,000 followers — prepped for her "winter citrus-themed" dinner party by making basil-infused olive oil, gutting grapefruits, whisking eggs, and setting her table with elegant plates.

In a separate video, her guests enjoy cocktails while Heikens puts the final touches on the meal. They all sit around the table, devouring the food, as Heikens beams with pride.

I was sold. For my birthday in March, I've decided to host a three-course dinner at home, inviting my closest friends. I'll be the chef, and my husband will be the sous chef.

To set the mood, I needed place settings — but I was on a budget. I ended up thrifting a 61-piece set that I later figured out was worth close to $1,000. Here's how it happened.

I was on the hunt for the perfect dinnerware

Fine china is a must to make my vision come true.

However, with half a dozen guests to feed, I couldn't splurge on high-end dinnerware. I decided to visit Thrift Giant, a secondhand store in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, hoping to find affordable pieces that would work beautifully together.

Thrift Giant was overflowing with pre-loved clothing, furniture, and electronics. Dishware made up the smallest section of the store, so I wasn't expecting much. To my surprise, I hit the jackpot.

On a dusty bottom shelf, I found two bundles with 61 pieces of porcelain bone china, each stamped with "Oxford" on the bottom. Each bundle was $29.92.

The collection included 11 dinner plates, 12 salad plates, 12 bread and butter plates, 12 teacups with saucers, and a vegetable bowl with an attached underplate. The total cost at checkout was just $64.78 after tax.

I later learned that Oxford was a division of the Lenox Corporation, which produced fine china from the late 1920s to the early 1990s.

I found pieces with my exact pattern, called Spring, on Replacements, Ltd., a North Carolina-based online marketplace for fine china, crystal, silverware, and collectibles, both still in production and retired.

On Replacements, each dinner plate was $24, salad plates $14, bread and butter plates $10, teacups with saucers $10, the vegetable bowl $80, and the gravy boat with an underplate $190. Overall, my thrifted set seemed to be valued at about $950.

What's more, the items I saw on Replacements were discounted by 25% due to imperfections — so it appears the set may actually be worth even more.

I'm not the only millennial into thrifting and dinner parties

Let my millennial friends and I be the first to tell you: The dinner party is making a comeback — and I'm not talking about potlucks.

Instagram and TikTok are filled with pictures and videos of everyday people and content creators — including Heikens and another influencer, Olivia McDowell, who has nearly 200,000 followers —sharing their chic culinary soirées and offering tips on hosting a flawless event.

The interest in entertaining has, in turn, revived interest in fine china, which was once reserved for the upper class but is now more accessible thanks to thrift stores, estate sales, and vintage shops. It coincides with a broader cultural shift toward nostalgia and secondhand shopping as Gen Z and millennials move away from fast fashion and overconsumption in favor of a more sustainable, timeless style.

May Eason, founder of the Facebook group Beautiful Table Settings, with over 263,000 followers, told food and drink publication Eater in 2022 that the affection for vintage china is also simply about the love of sharing beautiful things.

"You're doing this for your family and your friends, so you want to make your table presentable and pretty," Eason said. "And it's fun to play with it. I think younger people are finally realizing you can change it up."

I completely agree.

I want the evening to be exquisite

While I've hosted dinners before, I've never put together an evening as curated as the ones Heikens throws.

I've spent hours researching ideas on social media, screenshotting everything that catches my eye — from overflowing tablescapes filled with serving platters and colorful drinks to the perfect playlist.

My husband and I only have a couple of chairs, so I'll rent extras. I'll visit Home Goods or Anthropologie to find tablecloths and napkins.

To further enhance the evening's vibe, I also purchased stylish drinking glasses from another thrift shop.

I found Poco Grande glasses, martini glasses, grappa glasses, coupe glasses, café au lait glasses, milkshake glasses, and more, all priced between $0.95 and $2.99. I also scored a cake stand, serving platters, and bowls — each under $10. I walked away with a total of 30 pieces for just $100.

Altogether, including the china set, I've spent only $168 on dinnerware for my party, far less than I expected. That leaves plenty of room in my budget of under $800 for groceries and decorations — and maybe a new outfit, too.

• Model Adele Snowball shared the story of her proposal and engagement rings with Business Insider.
• Her fiancé popped the question in Japan with a piece of toy jewelry from a vending machine.
• He then surprised her with a $12 thrifted ring, which inspired her current custom piece.

You can thrift just about anything these days — and that includes your engagement ring.

Just ask Adele Snowball, a 32-year-old model from Australia.

She's always loved vintage jewelry and had permission from her mother to repurpose family heirloom pieces into an engagement ring when the time came.

So, when Oliver Raggat, her boyfriend of three years, proposed with a toy ring during a trip to Japan, it was time to start designing the real thing.

They didn't need to do much work, though.

To the couple's surprise, Snowball found all the inspiration she needed in a $12 secondhand ring at a Japanese antique store.

Adele Snowball and Oliver Raggatt met on Hinge and immediately bonded over music.

Raggatt, 32, had just moved back to his home city of Adelaide from Melbourne when they matched on the dating app, Snowball told Business Insider.

"Our first date was at a hidden blues bar. We found we had a lot in common, like music and our love of vinyl records," she said. "We ran in the same circles and had been to the same concerts."

Though they'd never met until that date, he'd even once watched Snowball walk in a fashion show.

"Since then, we've been inseparable," she said.

Raggatt wanted to surprise Snowball with a proposal during an August 2024 trip to Japan.

Raggatt knew that he and Snowball would one day design an engagement ring using her family's pieces. But he also wanted to surprise her.

Two weeks before their trip, he had the idea to find a Gashapon ring — a piece of costume jewelry from a Japanese toy vending machine — and propose with that first.

Snowball said she "wouldn't leave Olly's side" on their third day in the country, which is when he wanted to sneak off in search of the most "kitschy capsule ring he could find."

Luckily, Snowball chose to take a shopping break at Zara, which gave Raggatt the perfect opportunity.

Within 30 minutes, he'd found a Gashapon machine filled with rings resembling spilled Matcha. He inserted a few dollars, and out came a sage-green ring in a capsule box shaped like a bottle.

He proposed at Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu, the restaurant featured in Snowball's favorite film, "Kill Bill."

Snowball told BI she didn't expect a proposal during the trip until she noticed Raggatt acting nervous at the restaurant.

That's likely because he didn't know he'd propose until they got there.

"I looked around and thought to myself, 'If I were proposing to me, I would propose here.' My brain was racing with thoughts of how, when, where, and is this happening?" she said.

After a quick bathroom break to calm her nerves and text her friends, Snowball suggested that she and Raggatt take a selfie. As she set up her phone, he got down on one knee.

"I held my head in my hands and cried for what felt like two minutes but was probably 12 seconds," she said. "Finally, I looked up and said yes as he tried to put the ring on my shaking hand."

They ended their night with a romantic rainstorm and karaoke.

It was pouring rain when the couple left the restaurant, Snowball said, so they took shelter in an empty karaoke bar and called their friends and family to share the news.

"We then sang our favorite songs together, including 'My Sweet Lord' by George Harrison, which is our song," she added.

They then welcomed the company of some Japanese salarymen, or office workers, who had missed their train home. They chose to celebrate with them and buy the newly engaged couple drinks.

The following day, the couple stumbled upon the perfect accessory for their engagement ring.

The couple left Tokyo the day after getting engaged. On the way out, Raggatt stopped in their hotel's bathroom and found a large, plastic diamond on the floor.

"He came out and gave me the diamond, which I then put on the ring," Snowball recalled. "It fit perfectly!"

She said their creation gave them the idea to design a real engagement ring inspired by the colorful statement piece Raggatt proposed with.

To their surprise, Snowball's dream ring found her.

The couple traveled to Osaka, where they found a "full to the brim antique store" called the BB American Village Free Market.

While Raggatt browsed film cameras, Snowball shopped for jewelry. Though she wasn't looking for another engagement ring, one caught her eye.

"I tried it on, it fit my ring finger, and I took of photo of it for inspiration," she said. "Later on, Olly asked again what I think I might like for my real engagement ring. I said I wouldn't mind something like the one I saw in the store."

Ironically, it featured a green stone and a clear crystal — mirroring the green band and plastic diamond on her first engagement ring.

Raggatt secretly bought the ring and proposed again. Snowball, of course, said yes.

He snuck back to the market the following day and purchased the vintage piece for about $12.

Raggatt quickly worked with a local shop owner to plan another meaningful proposal.

"He had placed the ring in a Mickey Mouse wallet at one of those shooting games where the prizes are all on a shelf," Snowball said. "He is very good at this type of game and shot it down first go. Then he got back down on one knee to reveal the ring from the antique store."

As they celebrated their second engagement, the shop owner serenaded them with a rendition of "What a Wonderful World" on electric guitar.

The thrifted piece inspired Snowball's third and final engagement ring.

Not only did the colors of the thrifted ring match the toy ring that Raggatt proposed with, but Snowball's birthstone is also emerald.

So, the couple decided to work with jeweler Kip Wilkins to create another version of the secondhand piece using materials from rings belonging to her grandmother and great-grandmother.

"It all just seemed so right. I never gave it another thought," Snowball said.

The custom ring, which was made for Snowball in a month, features a lab-gown diamond and a green tsavorite garnet stone. They sit atop a bezel setting in 18-carat yellow gold.

The couple's proposal is something out of a storybook.

When asked if she wears her original two rings, Snowball said she doesn't. Instead, she keeps them both in the matcha-themed capsule box and plans to incorporate them into their wedding day, which they're planning for 2026.

"Whenever I look at the custom ring, I don't just think about how much it sparkles or how cool it is," Snowball said. "I think of how Olly proposed, the typhoon, 'Kill Bill,' drunken salarymen, and that it was found in a tiny Japanese antique store and reborn from my grandparents' gold."