I love the plate idea! Well, anything that matches your set. My mom was this way too, but for a different reason. She didn't want to
think about what I might like for any given occasion, she just wanted me to collect something that was easy for her to add to. I am not a collector, so this was as hard for me as it is for you.
At some point, I was given a large Lladro angel.* It was very large, so I took it to my local Lladro shop and asked to exchange it for something smaller. Apparently, the large angel was rare-ish and in the original packaging, so they agreed to the swap. This kind of collectible is not my thing, and the credit from the angel was a lot. The place had so much selection! I wandered around, scanning all the cases. My eyes lit up when I saw a Nativity Scene consisting of sleek-lined Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus. It seemed there were lots of complimentary pieces and the price for the trio was about the same as the angel, so I made the trade.** I knew my mom would be happy. I thought it was brilliant because nobody expects you to display a Nativity Scene all year long. What could go wrong?
Oopsie! The trio I selected were
not part of a set. If one was careful, one could chose pieces from other sets that were the same size and were similar in their clean lines. As you've probably already guessed, my mom was not careful and I ended exchanging most of them for more suitable pieces. I kept one. It's a child dressed up as a Wise Man. It reminded me of some awful Christmas pageant in the long-distant past. I've managed to collect enough angels and animals, plus a creche, so that it looks reasonable, but every time I unpack the child wise man, oh, how the memories come flooding back.
*I was dating a guy who traveled internationally. When he was going to Spain, I asked him to pick up a small Lladro Guardian Angel statue that I knew my sister would like. He came home with the giant angel. **I was able to include the small piece that I originally wanted for my sister in the swap for the win.
Oh, and no hate, please. This was in the '80's when Lladros were a "thing". They were also a good price point for my mom, not too cheap, not too spendy.
That's a lot of words to say I feel your pain,
@Imma.
P.S. Because every story is better with pictures, I grabbed a few. The guardian angel and child King M. are about 6.5" tall and Mary and Joseph are 7" & 9". The Angel from Barcelona was at least 15" tall, if not more. It was huge!