Simple placemats on a dining table are great for everyday, but why not do something more unique for your next special occasion? Here are a few unique placemat ideas for you to try in your home.
photo courtesy of Didriks flickr.com/photos/dinnerseries/5261413989Place Card
You can have a placemat that is also a place card. Personalize your placemats with your guests' names so they know where you want them to sit during dinner. You can use paint and a stencil to paint the names on the placemats, use chalk on chalkboard placemats, or have them embroidered. Also consider using photos of your guests as placemats. Baby photos of adult guests would be a fun and unique treat for the entire group.
Mosaic
You can create a mosaic placemat by attaching small items to a rectangular backing. Unique mosaic options include tile, glass, stone, seashells, cork, drink coasters, bottle caps, and coins.
Unique Shape
You can make your placemats into a unique shape. Consider using a star shape, a leaf shape, Christmas tree shape, or an Easter egg shape. If your dining table is round, consider using a semi circular shape that follows the curve of your table.
Interactive
You can create a unique interactive placemat. Options include creating a coloring page and providing crayons, using a chalkboard and providing chalk, or creating a custom crossword puzzle or word search pertaining to your guests or the holiday/occasion. Interactive placemats are especially good for entertaining children.
From Nature
You can use items from nature as placemats and placemat decorations. You can use a thin slice of a tree trunk as a unique placemat. Also consider putting fresh greenery on top of your placemat in a round pattern with the stems towards the center. Put a charger plate on top to hold the greenery in place. A piece of grass sod or moss as a placemat (real or artificial) makes a very unique placemat.
Shared Placemat
Consider using a long rectangular piece of fabric as a shared placemat. Simply put the fabric on top of your dining table so it can be used by people on opposite sides of the table from each other. The fabric can stop at the top edge of the table or drape down on the side of the table a bit. This designer trick is especially effective when using a tablecloth in a coordinating (but not matching) fabric underneath.
Other Ideas
Here are a few other unique placemat ideas: sheet music, vinyl records, picture frames, cutting boards, copies of the dinner menu, a copy of the front page of the newspaper from the day your guest was born, a humorous quote (a different quote for each guest), and placemats with a personalized thank you message discovered only after the plates are removed after dinner.
