Place cards for Thanksgiving Dinner
Just about every year, David and I have the honor of hosting our large extended family for Thanksgiving. Seems like everyone wants to come to our place. I love it! Our house is not that big, but we have a big living room, and we can stretch our table out and add a second one so we have a very long table.
This year was my first substantial harvest of quinces off my quince tree. They were beautifully yellow and fuzzy and lumpy, with their big green leaves that wanted to stay with the fruit. I used them for my table centerpiece along with other greens and fruits.
I also used place cards. Which means a little extra planning – you want to think about where everyone sits, to make sure people mix well (or might mix well) with their seatmates. It’s a little extra work, but it’s good. I hand-wrote every person‘s name on a place card, and people loved seeing their name in print and knowing you planned a special place just for them at the table.
I also discovered another excellent use of the place cards: for the serving table and elsewhere to add information and history to our event. I put them next to the dishes that people brought for the meal, describing the dish, plus sometimes adding interesting information and even a bit of history. For example, the cranberry star salad at our meal. This was my mother‘s signature Thanksgiving dish which everyone in the family has come to expect. Mom is gone now, but my niece Jana made the cranberry star salad from mom‘s recipe. It’s nice to be able to tell people about this. Also if a dish is vegetarian or vegan, you can let people know about it. Or homegrown vegetables, or homemade jam…
We like to offer Spanish Coffees on Thanksgiving, complete with the flaming 151 proof rum. It’s fun, but a lot of work for my husband David to make one for every guest, especially when you have 21 (believe me, every guest wants one!). So this year we made it do-it-yourself drinks, with instructions on place cards.
The place card style I used is Watercolor Spring in “Stone” color. I ordered way in advance and got extras, so I had plenty of time to think about things.
MORE THANKSGIVING PLACE CARD INSPIRATION:
Pictured above: Ombre Sunset Place Cards in color “Orange”
Pictured above: Joy of Scrolls in color “Warm Grey”
Pictured above: Sweet Rose Place Cards in color “Peach”
Jeanne and her husband David launched My Own Labels in January of 2000. It was a spin-off of their successful graphic design firm, plus it allowed Jeanne to incorporate her love of baking, making, sewing and creating. Today David and Jeanne continue to be the heart of the operation both creatively and practically.
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