The last time my mother-in-law was coming for a visit, I got a bee in my bonnet about having Good Dishes for guests instead of the mishmash of clearance open-stock dishes we usually use.  I did a lot of searching for the perfect set (I wanted dressy in a grandmotherly way, and not too delicate), and finally chose Johnson Brothers Old Britain Castles in blue.  Here’s the platter so you can get an idea of the style:

Now please imagine the effect when I set the table for her first meal with us and realized all we had were plastic cups in assorted bright cheerful colors.  Yes.

It was too late to go running out to buy new glasses, so I did a little deep breathing and perspective-finding and thought I would just make sure we had good matching GLASS glasses for the NEXT visit.  I looked in a number of stores, each of which had a nice selection, and I chose the ones I liked best. Easy and also peasy.

Next I turned my attention to juice glasses, and that’s where I ran into trouble.  Do you know how difficult it is to find 8-ounce juice glasses?  Very difficult, that’s how difficult.  It’s easy to find short glasses, but they’re for cocktails and they hold 12 or 14 ounces—too much for juice.  I looked in several stores and some of them had literally none—or only colorful plastic options, which we already have. Thank goodness for the internet.

I like these 6-ounce “Bloom” glasses from Macy’s (and they’re on clearance—bonus!), but they don’t go with the china at all.

I found these Anchor Hocking ones on Amazon.com and really liked the simple look of them, but they only hold 5 ounces. Fail.

Was I briefly tempted to go for shock value with these Etsy juice glasses made from beer bottles?  You betcha.  Did I decide it wasn’t worth the fuss?  Sigh.

Sweet Little Tumblers, another Etsy find, are less controversial but again, not a good match with the china.  I pined a little, though.  So cute!  I love that the insides are a different color.

I love the pretty shape of these VIVO juice glasses, and they’re the perfect size (8.5 ounces)—but they’re on pre-order.

These recycled 8-ounce glasses from Greenfeet are the most tempting to me.  They’re gorgeous, and they come in EIGHT different colors.  Problem:  the colors I like best don’t go with the dishes.

OMG, pretty?  They’re Pressed Fruit 8.5-ounce glasses from Williams-Sonoma, and they’re based on vintage jam jars.  Love.

Crate & Barrell sells these cutely-named Gus Glasses in three sizes; the smallest ones are the 7-ounce juice glasses.  They stack, which is nice for skimpy cupboard space.

Which do you like best? I think my top favorites are the Williams-Sonoma Pressed Fruit ones, and my second favorites are the Greenfeet recycled ones.