Easy-to-Make Place Cards and Napkin Rings for a Thanksgiving Table

Craft these easy DIY place card holders and fall table decorations to designate spots at the Thanksgiving dinner table. We've also got bonus kids' table Thanksgiving decorations and festive holiday napkin rings.
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Natural Place Setting

Get the FREE printable menu card.

This modern menu card and place card feature minimalist greenery and natural elements. Add them to a simple place setting with a linen napkin and leather tie for a sleek Thanksgiving table. A handmade greenery garland finishes this Thanksgiving decoration. 

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Faux Flower Napkin Ring

A bundle of faux flowers and natural twine are all you need to create this Thanksgiving decoration. Choose seasonal faux flowers and group them together. Add accents like berries and pinecones and wrap the stems together. Cover the stems with twine and slide onto your napkin. 

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Pumpkin Place Settings

These stunning Thanksgiving decorations showcase the beauty of fresh flowers. Choose blooms in fall hues like orange, yellow, and red. Finish the place card holders with a mini chalkboard. Let each guest take theirs home when Thanksgiving dinner is over. 

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Get the free napkin ring

Dress up the Thanksgiving table with an activity and table decoration all in one. Download our free Thanksgiving napkin rings and let the kids color around the turkey shapes. Before you set the table, cut out each napkin ring, wrap it around a napkin, and secure with washi tape. 

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Succulent Napkin Rings

Looking for a piece of fall home decor that transitions through the holiday season? These faux succulent and wine cork napkin rings fit the bill (and are absolutely gorgeous!). They're easy to make and can be used year after year. 

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Printable Silverware Wrap

Get the FREE silverware wrap printable.

This unique place setting starts with a strip of plain paper. Print our sweet sentiment and use it to wrap your silverware. By keeping the individual place settings simple, you can focus on the rest of your Thanksgiving decorations. 

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Olive Branch Place Setting

Extend a Thanksgiving olive branch with this gorgeous fall place setting. Create DIY place card holders with a simple potted olive tree. Add a blackboard plant label and a written name. Continue the theme with an olive napkin ring. 

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Felt Acorn Napkin Rings

These DIY place card holders start in your backyard! Dress up a plain acorn top with a colorful felt ball and leaves. Glue the finished acorn to a plain wooden napkin ring for an easy, nature-inspired Thanksgiving table. 

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Pretty Pinecones

For these natural holiday place cards, use a 1-inch wood round as a base. Hot-glue a pinecone to the top. Wrap the base in a sheet of birch bark. Cut small rectangles of birch bark and write guests' names. Cut a triangle out of each end of the rectangle. Tuck the birch bark flag between the spikes of the pinecone. 

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Charger Place Card

Integrate place cards into the table setting. Use a thin wood slice as a place mat. On the blank wood under the plate, write guests' initials or names with a permanent marker. Draw holiday foliage or use an ink stamp for a similar look.

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Decorated Plates

The key to this stunning Thanksgiving table setting? Simply decorated plates. Look for purchased plates in fall themes or make your own! Use a food-safe paint marker to create a stunning piece of fall home decor. 

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Miniature Pumpkin Place Card

Custom-made holiday place cards add thoughtful touches to your Thanksgiving gathering and add style to your tabletop. Simple imagery and fanciful lettering marry on this business card-size tag. Choose a fun font or fill in names by hand using a calligraphy pen. Pin each place card to a miniature pumpkin or gourd.

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Colorful Menu Card

Get the FREE printable menu card.

Bold and bright, these printable menu cards add a fresh touch to your Thanksgiving table. Create a DIY place card holder with a fresh clementine. Simply slice a thin piece off the bottom so it sits flat and add a slit at the top. Finish with a piece of clear tape at the bottom of your place card so the paper doesn't soften. 

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Fabric Flower Napkin Ring

A goldenrod fabric flower DIY napkin ring adds a special Thanksgiving touch to this layered place setting. Make this flower napkin ring by cutting folded circles of fabric into rough petals, stitching or hot-gluing their centers together, and tying with bakers twine.

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Cute Colored Pencils

Use a handful of natural mini colored pencils for this easy holiday place card. Group together one of each color with all points facing up. Tie straw ribbon around the pencils in two bands. Knot to hold in place. On a business card-size piece of paper, use your best calligraphy to write guests names. Tuck the paper into the colored pencil stand.

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Gather Menu Card

Get the FREE printable menu cards.

Celebrate the true meaning of the season with these free printable menu cards. They're the perfect way to showcase your Thanksgiving menu and need little embellishment. Simply print and place. 

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Simple Place Cards

Get the FREE printable place cards.

Don't stress over creating a bunch of handmade place cards. You've got enough on your plate! Print these gorgeous paper place cards, add a name, and you're done. 

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Leaf Place Setting

You won't believe what these DIY fall table decorations are made from. Head to your local hardware store for everything you'll need to create these shimmery gold leaves. Try painting them in a variety of metallic colors, like silver or copper. 

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Dyed Linen Napkins

Instead of basic white linens, dress your Thanksgiving table up with hand-dyed napkins. Look for inexpensive vintage napkins, and dye them to match your color scheme. The process may seem daunting, but it's easier than you think! 

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Mini Pumpkin Place Card

Make room at the table for everyone by layering each place setting. Start with the dinner plate, place a salad plate on top, add a soup bowl, then nestle a napkin in the bowl. Using a paint pen, write a guest's name on a mini pumpkin and lay it atop the napkin. Tuck in a few leaves for an extra touch of fall.

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Wooden Place Cards

Start Thanksgiving dinner with soup and hand-lettered place cards. DIY calligraphy is easier than you think, and it makes your Thanksgiving decorations extra special. Get this look by using a white paint pen to add names to varnished wood tags. 

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Simple Thanksgiving Place Cards

Richly colored velvet ribbon elevates a basic place card to elegance. Fold a square of cardstock in half and write a name on the front. Punch two holes, about 1/2-inch from edges of card, along the fold. Thread ribbon through the holes, tie in a simple knot, and let the ribbon tails dangle.

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DIY Cornucopia Place Setting

Create a mini cornucopia for each Thanksgiving place setting at your holiday dinner. Create a cone from patterned paper and fill it with faux leaves. Add a mini pumpkin and name marker, and this easy fall decoration is done. 

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Simple Place Card

Get the FREE printable place cards.

Sometime simple is best. Allow a pretty patterned napkin to shine with these printable place cards. They feature a sweet note and are the perfect way to add a thoughtful touch to your Thanksgiving table. 

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Ornamental Grasses Place Cards

Simple copper pipe fittings become showstopping table decorations when filled with ornamental grasses. Tuck the name cards in among the grasses to create rustic yet elegant Thanksgiving place cards.

Editor's Tip: These arrangements were made with seed heads of reed canary grass, switch grass, and feather reed grass. Visit a florist, greenhouse, or farmers market to find different grass varieties.

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Thanksgiving Dinner Menu Card

Whet everyone's appetite for Thanksgiving dinner with a menu card set on the table. White ink on dark paper gives this card a sophisticated twist. Look for a white-ink calligraphy pen or chalk-ink marker.

Editor's Tip: If your calligraphy lacks style, type your menu in a fun, festive font and print on heavy cardstock.

Try these make-ahead recipes

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Numbered Napkin Rings

Whip up these fabulous fall napkin rings in less than an hour without going near your sewing machine. From complementary fall colors, cut two strips of felt or burlap: one 4x1-1/2-inch strip and one 4x1-inch strip. Use tacky glue to attach the narrower strip to the wider one, then glue the short ends to form a loop. Add a graphic number to an oversize button. Glue the button to the homemade napkin ring.

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Pumpkin Place Card

Put a pumpkin on it! This Thanksgiving table decoration starts as a plain foam ball. Wrap it with orange yard and top with a mini cork. Finish the handmade place card with a cut cardstock leaf and a sweet note.  

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Quotation Napkin Rings

Rev up table talk with a few quotes about gratitude and thankfulness attached to paper napkin rings. Print quotes on cardstock and cut out to fit in small vellum envelopes (available with card-making supplies at crafts supply stores). Write each guest's name on the blank side of the card and place in the envelope so the name shows through. Wrap a length of decorative paper or ribbon around the envelope and secure with double-sided tape for the Thanksgiving napkin holder. Ask guests to read their quotes aloud and let the conversing begin.

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Bit of Bling

Get this easy Thanksgiving napkin holder look with elastic fabric napkin holders and fall beads. Simply glue small acorn, leaf and pinecone beads to the fabric napkin holder for a finished fall table setting.

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Thanksgiving Ribbon Napkin Ring

Here's how to make a napkin ring with ribbon. Custom-print ribbon with a Thanksgiving sentiment for Thanksgiving place cards. Write each guest's name on a dried or fresh leaf using a permanent marker. Tie the stem onto a rolled napkin using printed ribbon.

SOURCE Personalized ribbon: namemaker.com

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Place Cards in Cork

Repurpose old wine bottle corks as easy Thanksgiving place cards. Write guests' names on rectangles of vellum and adhere to slightly larger rectangles of decorative paper. Cut slits in the corks with a knife and insert the name cards.