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How to Plan Seating for a Dinner Party

Plan who sits where at a dinner party at home or in a restaurant: hosts, couples and meal needs, then seat everyone and print place cards from your phone.

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

Six friends round the kitchen table rarely need a plan. Twelve people at one long table, or a birthday dinner split over two tables in a restaurant, often do. This guide covers a few simple ways to think about who sits where, then how to plan the table and print place cards with Seating Cat, our seating chart planner for iPhone and iPad.

Who sits next to whom

There's no single right answer. A few questions help:

  • Where do the hosts sit? At a long table, some hosts take the two ends, so each can look after their half. Others sit across from each other in the middle, where they can reach everyone. With two small tables, put one host at each.
  • Who doesn't know anyone? Seat a new face next to someone friendly, ideally someone they have a thing in common with: the same job, the same hobby, kids the same age.
  • Couples together or apart? Some hosts split couples so everyone talks to someone new. Others keep them side by side. Either works; think about who would enjoy which.
  • Who will be up and down? Whoever is serving, clearing or checking the oven may be happier in the seat nearest the kitchen, so they don't squeeze past chairs all night.
  • Who eats what? Know who is vegetarian, vegan or skipping something before the day, so the right plate goes to the right seat. At a restaurant, let the staff know in advance.

Set up the table in Seating Cat

  1. Name the dinner. Tap the event name at the top of the screen (it starts as "My event") and choose Rename.
  2. Add your table. Under Add your first table, tap Long table for one long table (it starts with 10 seats) or Round table for a round one (8 seats). For a second table, use the + button at the top: Round table, 8 seats or Long table, 10 seats.
  3. Match the seats to your guests. Tap the table's ⋯ button and use One seat fewer or One seat more. For 14 people at one long table, tap One seat more four times. A table can have from 1 to 40 seats.
  4. Name the table, if you like. In the same ⋯ menu, Rename turns "Table 1" into "Dining room" or "Garden table". The table name prints on the place card of everyone seated there, so pick one you're happy to see there.

A long table shows its seats along both sides. With an odd number of seats, the extra one sits at one end of the table: handy if one host wants the head.

Add your guests and their meals

Type a name into Add a guest and tap Next on the keyboard; the box stays ready for the next name. To bring in a list from Notes or a message, tap Add guests, then Paste a list, one guest per line.

For a meal or a need, add a comma and a tag after each name in the pasted list, like "Ana Silva, Vegetarian" (the Add a guest box takes names only). The sheet shows what it's about to add, like "8 guests, 1 tag: Vegetarian", before you tap Add 8. To tag someone later, tap their name (or their seat), then Edit, and type a tag in the Meal or group box under Tag, or pick one you've already used. Tap Save.

Each tag gets a colour. A seated guest shows as their initials, in their tag's colour, so you can see at a glance where the vegetarians sit. The panel at the top counts each tag, like "Vegetarian 2".

Seat everyone

Guests without a seat wait under Not seated yet. Tap a name, then tap a seat. Or drag the name onto the seat. Each table shows how full it is, like "6 of 8". When the last guest is placed, Not seated yet changes to Everyone has a seat.

Swap and change

  • Swap two seated guests. Tap one; a bar at the bottom says Tap a seat for their name. Tap the other guest's seat, and the two trade places.
  • Seat someone in a taken seat. Drag a guest from Not seated yet onto it, or tap the guest and then the seat. The guest who was there goes back to Not seated yet, so nobody is lost.
  • Someone can't come. Tap them, then Edit, then Remove guest, and confirm. If they had a seat, it's freed.

Every change is saved on your device as you make it.

  1. Tap Print at the top left.
  2. Under Place cards, six to a sheet, tap Print place cards, or Share place cards PDF to save the file.

Each guest gets one card, with their name as large as fits and the table name in small capital letters under it. The card folds into a tent, so the name reads from both sides of the table. A guest you haven't seated yet still gets a card, just without the table line. The names print as you typed them, so at a casual dinner, first names only are fine.

Plain cards are free. Seating Cat Pro adds the Gilded, Garden and Modern looks, chosen under Card theme in the same menu. For paper, cutting and folding tips, see how to make place cards at home.

In the same Print menu, Print chart prints the plan, and Share chart PDF sends it to a restaurant, a co-host or whoever is helping in the kitchen. The chart has:

  • the dinner's name, how many guests are seated and how many tables there are;
  • a For the caterer line with the count for each tag, like "Vegan 1 Vegetarian 2";
  • each table with its guests' seat numbers, names and tags;
  • a Find your seat list: every guest A to Z with their table and seat, like "Table 2, seat 3".

The PDF is Letter size in the US and Canada and A4 in most other places, set by your device's region.

Planning something bigger, with a dozen tables? See how to make a wedding seating chart.

What it costs

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

Quick answers

How do I swap two people who are already seated?
Tap one of them, then tap the other's seat. They trade places.

How do I keep track of who is vegetarian?
Give them a tag such as "Vegetarian". It shows as a colour on their seat, and the chart prints it next to their name and seat number. Seating Cat keeps the tag you type; it doesn't know what's in the food, so check the menu with whoever is cooking.

Where is my seating plan kept?
In the app's own words: "Your seating is kept on your phone and in your own backups, and leaves only when you print or share it."

Try Seating Cat

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