We live in politically charged times. Chances are you’ll find your Thanksgiving dinner table will include guests with opposing views on many topical subjects. As hard as you try, it may be difficult to keep the conversation on neutral topics, but the least you can do is make sure relatives with polar opposite views are not seated near one another.
The best way to do this is with personal place cards. But who has time to make place cards when you’ve got a house to clean and pies to bake, not to mention the turkey, dressing, cranberry relish, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and everything else involved in preparing for hosting Thanksgiving dinner?
Here’s a quick way to designate who sits where with no crafting skills and next to no time involved. You can even put the kids to work on these.
While you’re running your errands, pop into the local craft or dollar store and pick up a bag faux silk autumn leaves. You can probably also find these at any big box store. Write each person’s name on a leaf. Want to get fancy? Add a dot at the ends of each letter. It takes no calligraphy skill whatsoever.
Go out into your yard and grab some broken twigs off the ground. We all have them this time of year.
Tie up each napkin with twine, jute, raffia, braid, string, narrow strips of fabric, or ribbon—whatever you have around the house.
Break the twigs into approximately 4” lengths. Glue a leaf to each twig. Slip the twigs under the tied napkins. Voila! Individual place settings for each guest.
Here’s hoping your relatives are too busy enjoying the meal you’ve prepared to rant about politics or anything else on Thursday. We could all use a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving this year.
