Nothing scares me more than a Thanksgiving gathering where everyone is watching television in silence or playing on their phones, so I’m always looking for ways to encourage my guests to “participate” a little more in the holiday festivities. This year, as soon as guests enter my home, they’ll be greeted by this Thanksgiving Place Card Station to get the ball rolling a bit. Less creative guests can simply write their name and pick a seat at the table, but the people I invite to my meals would generally be inclined to have a little more fun with this.
The place cards I chose were originally intended to be a cut shape, but I wanted a way to speed up production so I converted them to Print & Cut designs. To do this, I simply added a bit of color to the turkey and flourishes using the Fill Color Tool and added the “I’m Thankful For…” title to the top corner (in the same color).
The software makes it super easy to duplicate your place card design many times within the boundaries of your printable page. After turning on your registration marks (4th icon from the right in your toolbar), you can then open the Replicate Window (indicated by arrow 1), select your place card design, and click Fill Page (arrow 2). I printed my designs on warm grey Adhesive Cardstock cut down to 8.5″ x 11″ to make textured “stickers” that matched the colors in my place card holder.
The folded base of the place card is cut from shimmery woodgrain cardstock. After filling out their name or what they’re thankful for, guests can then just peel off the backing from the cardstock and adhere it to the base. Why not just adhere the sticker to the base for them? I have found that some guests will want to change their answer once they realize that someone else has written something funnier than them on their own place card…
The holder itself is actually meant for post-it notes…but this place card design fits perfectly! (I did shrink the printed sticker size just a tad to save on materials since I had to make so many.) Directions for assembly can be found here on the designers blog. I added the “Welcome” title in matching warm grey adhesive cardstock, a bit of burlap ribbon, and a wood veneer leaf to embellish.
What are you thankful for this holiday season?
Designs Used