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How to Make Place Cards at Home

Print folded tent place cards for a wedding or dinner party at home: what goes on a card, how to print six to a sheet, then cut, fold and set the tables.

  • How-to
  • Seating Cat
Made for this: Seating Cat

Place cards tell each guest where to sit, and they save the awkward hover at the table. For a wedding or a dinner party, a home printer, some heavier paper and a pair of scissors are enough. This guide covers what goes on a place card, then how to print a whole set from your guest list with Seating Cat, our seating chart planner for iPhone and iPad.

What goes on a place card

  • The guest's name, big. It has to read from a standing height. First and last name is the usual choice at a wedding; first names are fine at a dinner party.
  • The table, if there's more than one. A table name or number under the name helps whoever is setting the room, and helps guests check they're at the right table.
  • The same name on both sides. A tent card folded in half can be read from across the table too, so people can learn each other's names.

Set up your guests and tables

Seating Cat prints the place cards from your seating plan, so start there.

  1. Add your tables. Tap Round table or Long table under Add your first table. For more, use the + button at the top: Round table, 8 seats or Long table, 10 seats. Tap a table's ⋯ button to Rename it or change its seats.
  2. Add your guests. Type each name into Add a guest and tap Next on the keyboard, or tap Add guests › Paste a list and paste one name per line.
  3. Seat them. Drag each name from Not seated yet onto a seat, or tap the name and then tap the seat. Drop someone on a taken seat and the two swap.

Spell each name the way it should be printed. To fix one, tap the guest, then Edit.

You don't have to finish the seating to print cards. A guest who isn't seated yet still gets a card; it just has no table line. That's handy if you'll seat some people on the day.

  1. Tap Print at the top left.
  2. Under Place cards, six to a sheet, tap Print place cards to open the print screen, or Share place cards PDF to save the file or send it to a print shop.
  3. Print at 100%. The sheet itself reminds you: "Cut on the solid lines, fold on the dashed ones. Print at 100%."

You get one card per guest, in seating order: table by table, in seat order, then anyone not seated yet. That makes it simple to stack the cards by table as you cut them.

Each card shows the guest's name as large as fits, with the table name in small capital letters under it. The top half is printed upside down, so when you fold the card along the dashed line, the name reads the right way up on both sides of the tent.

The PDF is Letter size in the US and Canada and A4 in most other places, set by your device's region. Six cards fill a sheet in two columns and three rows. On Letter, each card is 4 × 3½ in flat and folds in half to 4 × 1¾ in. On A4, each card is about 99 × 95 mm flat and folds to about 99 × 47 mm.

Cut, fold and set the table

  • Paper. Plain printer paper works for a test run. For the real set, heavier paper or card stock stands up better, if your printer takes it.
  • Cut along the light solid lines around each card. A paper trimmer or a ruler and craft knife gives straighter edges than scissors.
  • Fold along the dashed line across the middle of each card. Run a fingernail or a ruler along the fold to make it crisp.
  • Set out one table at a time, using the table name on each card.

Print one sheet first and check it before you print the whole set.

Card themes

Plain cards are free: the name and table in clean type, with no frame. Seating Cat Pro adds three more looks for the cards, chosen under Card theme (it reads Card theme: Plain to start) in the same Print menu:

  • Gilded: a gold double rule around the name, with the table in gold.
  • Garden: a soft rounded sage frame, with a small leaf on each side of the table name.
  • Modern: the name in heavy type, with a black band down the left.

The theme you pick is saved with the event, so the next print uses it too.

What it costs

Seating Cat is free for one event, with no limit on guests or tables. Seating, tags, the seating chart and plain place cards to print or share as a PDF are all free, with no watermark. There's no account and no ads. Seating Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase that adds the Gilded, Garden and Modern card themes, more events (say, the rehearsal dinner and the brunch, each with its own guests and tables) and importing a guest list from a CSV file. More on the Seating Cat page.

Quick answers

How many place cards fit on a sheet?
Six: two across and three down. Seating Cat starts a new sheet for every six guests.

Can I print place cards before everyone has a seat?
Yes. Guests who aren't seated yet still get a card, without a table line.

Can I print the seating chart too?
Yes. In the same Print menu, Print chart prints every table with its guests, the meal counts for the caterer and an A to Z Find your seat list for the door.

Do the cards say where they were made?
No. There's no watermark or logo on the cards: only your guests' names and tables, the theme's frame if you picked one, the cut and fold lines, and a one-line cut-and-fold note at the bottom of the sheet.

Try Seating Cat

Try Seating Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/seating-cat