A Special Place | Family Economics

By Kristen Doyle

One of the things I like the most about entertaining guests for dinner is the opportunity to break out of my comfort zone and try something new and creative with the table setting. As someone who normally really struggles in the creativity department, I find that the opportunity to set a beautiful table thrills me. I love seeing the looks on the faces of guests when they walk in to our house for a dinner party and they notice that I took some extra time to make the event extra special by setting a beautiful table.

The thing I get the most compliments on at a dinner party, aside from the food, is the special place cards I make for each guest. Making place cards for your dinner party is very simple and a great outlet for creativity. It also gives your guests something memorable to take away with them after the party is over.

Following are my two favorite seating card ideas, easy enough for those of you non-creative people like me!

Wine Corks
Over the years we have saved the corks from our wine bottles, which has resulted in a nice little collection of corks. I finally decided to put some of the corks to good use for our Italian themed dinner club. To make a wine cork place card, simply cut a piece of cardstock out in a small oval shape – make one for each guest. Write the name (if you know calligraphy, this would be a great time to use that skill) of your guests on the individual cardstock cutouts. With a sharp knife place the cork in a vertical position, cut a slit in the top of the wine cork, deep enough to securely hold the oval piece of card stock. Place your completed wine cork place card in front of each guest’s plate.

Seasonal Flowers
This place card idea is about as straightforward as it gets and has garnered some of the most compliments from my friends. It is an easy idea that makes a big impact at your dinner table. All you need to do to make these gorgeous place cards is buy a bouquet of fresh, seasonal flowers… the larger the blooms, the better. Cut the stems off of the flowers and place single blooms in the designated seating spot for your guests. Once again, cut small individual ovals out of pieces of cardstock (I use patterned cardstock for this project). Write the name of your guests on the individual cardstock cutouts. On the opposite side, place a piece of double sided tape and then adhere the cutout, name facing up, to the center of the flower bloom.

With a tiny bit of creativity, making your table and guests feel special is a simple task. What are some of the ways you have incorporated place card’s into your table setting?