Sunnylife

The difference between the two lies in the shape. The longdrink glasses are tall and straight and meant for everything you top up with ice, tonic or a soft drink. The glass set is mixed, which makes it the one to buy if you have nothing yet and want to be able to lay a table in one go.

Both come in fours, and that is a deliberate size for outdoors: four suits a table or a sun lounger rather than a dinner. If you want more, order two sets, because the shapes are identical and will keep matching. With plastic, pay extra attention to capacity. A glass that looks roomy in a photo fills up faster than you expect with four ice cubes, so for a mixed drink count half of it as ice. For comparison, all the glass sets sit together, and the tall models are among the longdrink glasses.

These glasses are made for drinks you sip slowly in the sun. A pina colada belongs in the tall size, with crushed ice so it stays cold for as long as you take over it. For an aperol spritz, fill the glass right up with ice first and pour the prosecco in last, down the side.

Because no shards are involved, you can happily serve mocktails to everyone who joins in, children included. That saves a second type of glass on the table. What you should avoid is heat: no boiling water, no hot punch and not the hottest dishwasher programme. Do not leave a full glass standing in bright sun for hours either, because the drink warms up faster than it would in thick-walled glass.

With coloured plastic, two things determine how long it lasts. The first is scratching: a scouring pad or sand from a beach bag makes the wall dull, and that cannot be undone. So wash with a soft cloth, warm water and a mild detergent, and dry with a tea towel instead of leaving the glass standing on rough stone.

The second is sunlight. Colour in plastic fades if the glass lies outside in the sun for months on end, so store the set indoors after the summer. In the dishwasher, the top rack on a low programme is fine; hotter than that can distort the shape and leave the glasses standing crooked.

If you are after unbreakable glassware with a more neutral shape, all the plastic models sit together under the unbreakable glasses. If you would rather carry on with colour but in real glass, that is a category of its own: among the coloured glasses you will find pressed and smoked glass in shades that suit a laid table. And if you already have the glasses but no tools yet, start with the cocktail shakers, where shakers, jiggers and muddlers are gathered together.