Place Card Ideas For Your Holiday Table
With holidays right around the corner, you may be tasked to host your whole family for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Or, maybe you plan to have an intimate dinner party for your closest group of friends. Both events require organization and planning, from the decorations on the table to the food in your guest’s bellies. Simple or extravagant, you may consider utilizing place cards to make your dinner party less stressful on your end with assigned seats, or maybe you just want to make a memorable impression on your guests.
Holiday place cards are always the cherry on top of a beautiful place setting. Whether you’re hosting a Friendsgiving or your family for Christmas, place cards say “I care about this meal and I’m glad you’re here.” Here are a few unique place card ideas that add the final touch to any holiday dinner.
Miniature Pumpkins
Who doesn’t love miniature pumpkins? And who wouldn’t love to be surprised with a mini pumpkin as a greeting at a dinner party? You can paint the actual pumpkins to match your theme (i.e. gold or cream) or leave them as their natural orange color. These name tags by Erin Mutty, owner of Nob Hill Jane®, are the perfect addition to your fall tablescape. Order tags, add them to the pumpkins of your choice and wow your guests with the attention to detail and prefect handwriting!
Pressed Fall Leaves
Gather leaves of various colors and shapes for colorful, unique place cards. Gathering a variety of leaves makes for a more rustic, natural look without having to put in a lot of effort. Simply write names straight on the leaf or write the name on cardstock and attach it to the leaf for a different look. These leaf place cards were hand lettered by Laney from Design by Laney. The hand-sketched calligraphy adds an elegant touch to this colorful assortment of fall leaf place cards!
Magnolia Leaf
Magnolia leaves are some of the hardiest leaves and don’t crumble when dried. One side is a deep waxy green and the other a soft burnt orange. You can also try spray painting the leaves to reduce drying time and messiness.
Laney and Lindsay at Suite One Studio recently posted a DIY blog on how to recreate these stunning yet simple gold-dipped magnolia leaves! They walk you step by step how to achieve this look whether you’re a seasoned pro or a frist time calligrapher.
Plus it features Lindsay’s beautiful handmade dishes! I started following Lindsay after this post and I’m just in awe by her talent. If you need fun holiday dishes that are classy as hell, she’s your girl.
Learn how to make these Gold-Dipped Magnolia Leaf Place Cards
Christmas Ornaments
Ornaments are a fun and festive way to show your holiday spirit! These can be used as a greeting to your guests at your next dinner party, or you can gift them for the holidays. There’s something special about a personalized keepsake that your guests can use as part of their seasonal decorations for years to come.
The ornaments below were hand-crafted by Laney (on the left) and Erin of Nob Hill Jane® (on the right). Unique pieces like these are sure to impress your guests, whether you order them or bring out your crafty side and create unique pieces of your own.
Traditional Card
You can still impress your guests with simplicity, such as a flat or tented place card. You can make it more extravagant with calligraphy from our friends above, or you can DIY it in capitals if you lack hand lettering skills. The samples below are simply made by printing and placing the card on a unique mat, such as the gold glitter mat shown in the picture.
There’s something to be said about a simple place card at a simple place setting. Sometimes it’s all in the placement.
Print out names and cut down to your desired size.
Add glitter or colored paper for a little something extra!
Place your card in between the prongs of a fork to add originality!
My go to paper size for place cards is the same as a business card, which is 3.5 x 2 inches (pictured above). If you’re looking for a tent card, I use the same size when folded! I cut the paper to 3.5 x 4 inches and score or fold the cards in half so they are 2 inches tall.
If you’re doing flat cards (shown above), you can get twelve 3.5 x 2 cards out of a glitter 8.5 x 11, which is about $0.10 each to take your place cards to the next level.
Whether you’re having a cozy at home party where you DIY some place cards for friends, or hosting an extravagant holiday gala and want custom calligraphy, I hope you’re feeling inspired by Laney & Erin’s work. Someday I hope to be as talented as them, but in the mean time I’ll pay them to make things pretty for me, or stick with my printer and glitter paper.
If you need some supplies to take your DIY place cards to the next level, you can shop our supplies section!
