I bought these bamboo plates to use at a beach-themed bridal shower. The size, color and shape were perfect. They are more expensive than using paper or platic plates, but the price on Amazon was much better than at the local party store. The plates are more sturdy than a typical paper plate, probably comparable in strength to plastic or Chinette, but not as thick as Chinette. They do not appear to have any type of coating on them, so you probably would not be able to wash & reuse like you could with plastic plates. They are meant to be disposable, though, so that doesn't affect my rating of this product. I gave the plates 4 stars instead of 5 because they do have some rough spots that could potentially cause splinters or could snag clothing if set on someone's lap, but there was nothing that made me concerned that anyone might ingest splinters while eating from the plates. I will definitely order more of these attractive plates in the future. As an added bonus, the seller included a nice sampling of various sizes of small bamboo picks/skewers with my order.