Thanksgiving is a time for families and friends to come together — but that doesn’t mean you want a free-for-all with everyone sitting just anywhere.
Maybe there’s an uncle who you haven’t seen for years and want a chance to catch up. Perhaps you invited a friend from work and want to be sure to seat her right next to your single cousin… just in case there are sparks. And sometimes, you just want to avoid what could be delicately called a “personality conflict” between family members.
That’s where place cards come in. Each one offers a helpful and handsome way to let people know where to sit ahead of time — with the bonus feature of helping any newcomers to the group know the name of the people to their right and left.
Take a look here at a dozen different ways you can create homemade placecards for your Thanksgiving table!
Pumpkin cookie place cards
These cookie place cards are adorably delicious! Get the whole how-to from Elena Roussakis here.
House-shaped placecards
“Every Thanksgiving, my mother used to make crafty placecards,” says photographer Martha J Watts. “On the first Thanksgiving since she passed, it only felt right to carry on one of her many traditions! Each one had a little flickering candle inside that light up the windows, too.”
Turkey place card holder
Elegant DIY autumn leaf table name cards
Scripty placecards with leaf cut-outs
Circular clay Thanksgiving placecards
“These are cold clay ‘cookies’ with a leaf stamp imprinted randomly in each,” says Heather. “I love the contrast of the color with the white. It makes the leaf stand out more. I ended up printing everyone’s name out on tissue…so it would go with the groove (literally) and look like it was printed directly on the place card.”
Child’s handmade acorn placecards
Cute Thanksgiving placecard with pumpkin cutout
Thanksgiving squirrel placecards
Turkey fingerprint craft placecards
