{diy} starfish place setting

Just a couple weekends back our family had the opportunity to celebrate the eightieth birthday of Jeff’s fabulous grandpa. He is a wonderful man, quick to laughter, and always to warm and welcoming. Our party loving family jumped at the opportunity to put something special together for him. I volunteered to help out with a birthday banner (which I will post about soon!) and place settings. These lovely starfish place settings can be created in four simple steps…

STEP 1: Hot glue twine to the back of the starfish.

We found these wonderful starfish at a local shop in Santa Cruz for $1.99. My lovely mother in law hot glued twine to the back so that they could act as commemorative Christmas tree ornaments after the event. While she hot glued, I focused on the mini banners we planned on adding to personalize each starfish. For the little ones at the party we picked out small shells to use in the place of the starfish. You can get creative and use different items as the focal point of your place setting.

STEP 2: Type the names and the messages to create mini banners.

To create the banners I printed each person’s name and the happy birthday messages onto a heavy weight, marbled card stock. I used one of my favorite fonts, Traveling_Typewriter, that you can download for free at my favorite font website, www.dafont.com. (Name = font size 18, birthday message = font size 14)

STEP 3: Cut the names and messages into strips.

I used a paper cutter to cut apart the names and messages. There was no measuring involved, I just eyeballed. Then I used scissors to create a cute v-cut at the end to give it a little banner flare. Be sure to leave enough room at the end of your banner to fold around your twine.

STEP 4: Glue the mini banners to the twine.

I used a lovely material called Tacky Glue. I like it because it is tacky, literally, but any glue would work. Fold each banner about a half inch from the end, add a couple drops of glue, place the fold around the twine, and press the two sides together. In some cases the banners didn’t adhere immediately so I used a clothes pin to pinch it together until it dried.

Your creations will add a little homemade flare to liven up your table and give your guests  something to remember the special occasion by. I’d love to see anything you create! Send me a picture if you have a chance.

Happy Hosting!