Are you hosting the holidays this year? While every family dinner presents you with the chance to show off your culinary finesse, it also allows you to get creative with the seats and place settings themselves.

In today’s blog, we have seven fun holiday dinner place card alternatives for you to try this season!

Wine cork reindeer

Glue together wine corks in the shape of a reindeer, then attach pipe cleaner antlers, googly eyes, and a pompom red nose to create this cute DIY design! You can write guests’ names onto the body of the reindeer itself, or simply affix a card. Your guests will appreciate the effort, and can even bring home the reindeer to hang up on their tree at home and keep as a treasured holiday memento.

Guest elves

For a festive family idea, paste a photo of everyone’s faces onto cut-out elf place cards. It’s a silly, simple way to let everyone know where to sit—and they’ll be sure to hold onto the elves for the holidays to come!

Candy cane frame

Attach two candy canes together so that their curved ends face away from each other, creating a handy spot for you to slip a guest’s name card. This idea is extra sweet because it can be eaten for a pre-meal snack or dessert when everyone’s through with their dinner.

Ornamental design

Nothing could be simpler than attaching guests’ name cards to festive holiday ornaments. This is an easy, colorful way to dress up your table and share in the festive spirit.

Pine cone place cards

We naturally associate pine cones with cool weather and, of course, big Christmas pine trees. You don’t have to go searching for pine cones in your backyard, of course—store-bought varieties will work just as well! Put the pine cone onto your place setting and insert a place card into one of the many crevices on the cone.

Mini gifts

A small, wrapped-up gift and accompanying name tag (even if the gift itself is as simple as holiday candies or a party favor) is a great way to get your guests excited about the meal ahead.

Stocking setting

A similar idea is to slip a miniature stocking onto everyone’s place setting. You can use glittery paint or a fabric pen to detail their name onto the stocking, much like you would with a stocking hung from your mantel.

When you use one of these unique ideas, every guest will feel right at home. Happy holidays, from all of us here at White Aluminum!