MY DIY |Simple Escort/Place Cards for Your Next Special Event

Your guests and their experience are the most important part of a successful event. Therefore, it should be no surprise that table seating displays and seating cards, which are often the first items your guests are greeted with are critical for setting the tone for a memorable event.

At first blush, it may seem a bit extraneous to spend so much time and effort on such physically small items, but I promise seating cards should not be overlooked while planning the details of your next special event. Not only do they have the potential to elevate and complete your event’s overall decor, but they set the tone for the festivities as guests find out who they will be spending the majority of their time with during your event.

Here are a few tips for creating your own inspired, elegant and personalized escort cards at a minimal DIY cost.

For my “Adventure Awaits” themed baby shower that incorporated lush greenery and foliage details, I wanted to create an escort card that integrated all of the baby shower theme and decor elements without breaking the bank. In a perfect world, every piece of decorative paper would be hand calligraphed, but not every event (and certainly not a baby shower) requires such black-tie ready tradition or unbridled spending. In fact, a well-designed and executed DIY escort card can look as elegant as a professionally hand-lettered or printed one. When designing the escort cards for the shower, I decided to eliminate any risks and stress with writing my own escort cards (especially if you haven’t mastered hand lettering) and to ensure uniformity by printing the cards, then customizing them with hand stamping.

Materials & Supplies

Pre-perforated escort cards – Paper Source Printable Place Cards (with downloadable template)
Computer
Color or Black & White printer with feeding tray
Rubber stamps – Globe with Stand Stamp & Le Jardin Rubber Stamp
Pigment Ink Stamp Pads – VersaColor or ColorBox Pigment Ink

Instructions

One | Download the template for you printable escort cards. The Paper Source template works wonderfully with Microsoft Word.

Two | Decide on the fonts you’d like to use for your escort cards. For the names, I wanted a slightly playful, although elegant script font and opted for Laudiea (which was also used on the invitations). A great place to research fonts is on the website dafont.com where you will also download the font for use on your template.

Three | Download fonts that are not already available on Microsoft Word and install onto your computer (simply follow the prompts).

Four | Type out each escort card. I like to use a more ornate font in a larger typeface for the guest’s name and a simpler font in a smaller typeface for the table number assignment. After all, the star of the card should be the guest’s name, not the table number. To keep the cards simple and elegant, I opted for printing in deep black.

Five | Feed the pre-perforated sheets and print!

Six | Carefully tear apart each card!

Seven | Hand stamp with motifs and colors of your choice and let dry flat. I stamped a eucalyptus border along the bottom of each table assignment in Olive Green (VersaColor Ultimate Pigment Ink 61 Olive) and globe on the back of each card in Gold (ColorBox Pigment Gold).

Eight | Fold along crease and organize in alphabetical order for easy setup at your event.

Nine | Carefully arrange cards on a prominent table in a place located before reaching the assigned seating area. For the baby shower, guests were served cocktails and refreshments in the front bar prior to being invited to the dining room for lunch. We chose to set up the escort cards at a bar table at the center of the room and decorated with eucalyptus and olive branch stems and baby photos of the parents-to-be.