Thanksgiving Place Card Printables & DIY Placemat

Yes, I've been guilty of dreaming of Christmas before Thanksgiving, but that doesn't make me any less thankful for what I have, and it doesn't mean that I don't fully enjoy Thanksgiving. In fact, this year Thanksgiving is giving me something that Christmas won't - time with one of my out-of-state sisters-in-law, Maggie. And for that, I am truly thankful.

Something else I'm thankful for is when something comes along to make things easier - and that's why I'm passing along a quick place card printable that will dress up the table with little-to-no work on your part. 

To download the cards, click on this link. These place cards are set up to be tent cards and will be printed six per page. You can then write in the names of your guests. If you're not confident in your handwriting, you can always upload the image into Microsoft Publisher or Picmonkey and add text. Please remember to turn the text upside down in the necessary spots. When I did this, one of my cards looked like this:

If you're interested, the font I used was Adler.

                            

But I didn't just want to leave you there, so I printed some off and came up with some ideas on how to use them to create a whole place setting.

One easy way to use them is just to simply print them out and set them up as a tented card in front of or on the setting. You may be thinking to yourself here, "Hmmm, that card doesn't look like the one she shared." And you would be halfway right. Sometimes the best outcomes come from unwanted situations. In this case, we have been really low on ink for a long time, so instead of printing in orange and green, my cards printed out pink and purple. Not very festive. So I just took a gold paint marker and drew overtop. I think the result looks really organic and classy. The beauty here is that you can take this and make it what you want.

Another option for these cards was given to me by my mother-in-law four years ago when Eric and I had our rehearsal dinner. She made place cards for the event and dressed them up by placing them in apples.

I love the natural, earthy look, and it's easy peasy. Just cut a slit in the top of the apple, fold your tent together, and set it inside. 

I love how a few simple touches can completely transform a table. Another thing I did to extend the natural, easy look into this setting was to create a placemat from craft paper. To dress it up, I ran it through the sewing machine with a zig zag stitch and voila! The fun part about this kind of placemat, besides being able to just crumple it up and throw it away at the end of the day, is that you can place a pen at the table and encourage your guests to write down what they're thankful for.

This year, more than anything, I'm thankful for my God, a loving family (both the one I was born into, and the one I married into), a creative mind, and pregnancy. I have known too many women in my life that have recently dealt with infertility or a pregnancy loss. Along with being heartbroken for what they have gone through, or are in the midst of, I have come to recognize just what a blessing it is to be able to conceive and have a healthy pregnancy. Life is an incredibly miraculous thing, and I don't take it for granted for one second. 

And with that, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your loved ones. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go make sure my stretchy pants are washed and ready.

(Whether you use these or not, I would love to see your creative place setting ideas - please head over to our Facebook page and share a picture.)