In entertaining
everything has its place, especially the place card.
Have
you ever been to a party where the host announces dinner is served and guests
are left to pick their own seats? Chaos
can occur. First, guests uncomfortably
shuffle around trying to find their place or worse, stand around idly waiting
for the host to tell them where to sit.
If they do find a place, it’s usually with other guests they know,
leaving other attendees feeling left out.
So, although it may seem like a minor detail, place cards play an
important role in the success of any party.
For
those of you wondering what the place card is, it is simply a card (or some
form of) with the guests name written on it used at each place setting on the
table, indicating where the guest should sit.
Not
only do I find place cards a fun accessory for decorating the table, I use them
strategically as well. First they
enhance the theme of my party and offer a great accent for my place
setting. Secondly and more importantly,
they allow me to choose which guests I want to sit where to stimulate
conversation.
I
try to keep several ideas in mind when deciding where my guests should sit to
keep the conversations flowing. First I
try to keep couples seated at the same table, but not necessarily next to each
other. I do this by alternating male and female. But more than often, I seat guests by common
interests and personality types. For
example, if I know I have a lively guest with a great sense of humor, I try to
place them in the middle of the group so that more guests have access to
him/her. Or if it is family gathering
and I know certain guests are not as fond of each other as the rest, I’ll try
and seat them at opposite ends of the table.
Hopefully my careful planning will allow for a lively and harmonious
meal.
Place
cards for more formal, large gatherings are usually the little cardboard tents you
see at weddings that have guests' names on them like “Mr. Johnson” or “Mr.
Michael Johnson”.
For
more casual settings, almost anything can be used as a place card as long as it
has someone’s name on it. For these less
formal gatherings, I just write the guest’s first name on the place card, such
as “Michael”. If I have more than one
guest with the same first name, I add the first initial of their last name to
distinguish between the two.
When
possible, try to be creative and personalize your place cards to reflect the
theme of your party, table setting, or event.
Often I incorporate my place cards within party favors intended for
guests to take home with them after the meal.
For example, at a garden party, I used a small herb plant with a plant stake
in it bearing the guests name as their place card, again, they took their plant
home with them as a favor. And during
the holiday season I often use ornaments with guest’s names on them as place
cards they can later take home.
The
point is, use your imagination, and with the ease of computer-generated
graphics, you can even print your place cards yourself.
Here’s
one extra final idea I don’t think enough people take advantage of… using place
cards on a buffet table to identify the different foods on display. I always do this with my parties and it’s
especially helpful in letting guests know what they are eating especially if
someone is allergic to a type of food I’m serving.
So
if you think place cards are just a minor detail, think again.
