Tutorial: Make Wine Cork Place Card Holders for Your Thanksgiving Table
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and if you’re hosting supper this year, chances are you’re also planning the finishing touches for your holiday table. Place cards are such a sweet way to make the meal feel a little bit fancier, and DIY place cards that you make from reclaimed materials are even better.
These place card holders are super quick to make, but if you don’t have a stash of wine corks, now’s the time to start collecting. Just stick a bowl out where you and any guests that come over between now and Thanksgiving can drop corks when you open a fresh bottle. You can also put a call out to your friends asking them to save corks for you. If you’re in a hurry, you can also try hitting up a local bar or restaurant – they probably get enough corks in a few evenings to deck out your table and then some!
Wine Cork Place Card Holder
What I love about this project is that not only is the finished place card holder very cute, but you can use both natural or synthetic corks. You can use all similar corks or mix up sizes and colors for a more eclectic look. The only corks that won’t work well for this project are champagne corks, since they don’t have as symmetrical a shape.
Materials
- one cork per guest
- serrated knife
- cutting board
- fine grain sand paper, optional
- recycled or reclaimed stiff paper to make your place cards
- decorative markers and anything you want to use to decorate the cards – stickers, stamps, etc
Directions
1. Working on your cutting board, use the serrated knife to slice part of one side off of your cork – you’ll use kind of a sawing motion here. The idea is to create a flat bottom, so your card holder won’t resemble a Weeble. You can use the sand paper to gently smooth the bottom out, if you didn’t get a nice clean cut.
2. Set the cork down on the flat bottom that you just created, and use your knife again to cut a slit about 1/2 of the way throug the cork. Don’t cut all the way through, and don’t worry about being super scientific here. It is better to not cut far enough than to cut too much, though, so start conservatively – you can always deepen the cut at the end.
3. Create your place cards with the paper and decorative supplies, then slide each card into the cork holder. Arrange them around the table, and you’re ready to dine!
Need some more ideas for that Thanksgiving table? Check out some organic wines for under $25 and our roundup of crowd-pleasing meatless Thanksgiving dishes to serve on the big day!
Photos by Becky Striepe
