A good place card does two jobs. It tells each guest where to sit, and it adds a bit of colour to every setting without crowding the plate. This Pumpkin Thanksgiving Place Card is a classic folded tent card: the front faces the guest with their name beside a white heirloom pumpkin, and the back faces across the table with a buffalo-check plaid and a friendly greeting.
Place Card Specifications
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Flat size | 3.5 x 4 inches |
| Folded size | 3.5 x 2 inches (standard tent place card) |
| Fold | Horizontal, along the dashed line across the middle |
| Front | Sage green panel, white pumpkin, guest name, year line |
| Back | Rust and charcoal buffalo-check plaid, cream greeting label, printed upside down |
| Fonts | Great Vibes for the name, Sacramento for the greeting, Montserrat for small capitals |
| Per Letter sheet | Four to six cards |
Why the Back Is Upside Down
When you open the file, the top half looks upside down. That is deliberate. A tent card is printed flat and folded in half, so the top half becomes the back of the card. Printing it upside down means that, once folded and standing on the table, both sides read the right way up: the guest sees their name, and the person sitting opposite sees Happy Thanksgiving. If you edit the back text, it will stay rotated, so just type normally, and it will appear upside down on screen.
Front of the Card: Pumpkin and Name
The front half is a soft sage-green panel with a thin pale border inset from the edges. On the left sits a white heirloom pumpkin with pale orange ribs and a curly stem, the kind of pumpkin you see on farm stands in late October. On the right, the guest’s name is written in large white Great Vibes script (Marcus in the sample), with THANKSGIVING · 2026 in small spaced capitals underneath.
Sage and white is a gentle palette that sits well on almost any tablecloth, from white linen to dark wood. The pumpkin is editable vector artwork, so you can recolour it from its swatches if you would like a classic orange pumpkin or a blue-grey Jarrahdale.
Back of the Card: Plaid and Greeting
The back half is a buffalo-check plaid in rust, charcoal, and a fine cream line, built as one grouped object. A cream rounded label in the middle says Happy Thanksgiving in Sacramento script with please take your seat in small sage capitals underneath. The brand mark sits small in a pale tint near the edge of the plaid.
Folding Guide for Crisp Tent Cards
Score before you fold
Card stock folds cleanly if you score it first. Lay a ruler along the dashed fold line and run a bone folder, the back of a butter knife, or an empty ballpoint pen along it with light pressure. Then fold.
Fold away from you
Fold so the printed sides end up on the outside. The scored line should be on the inside of the fold.
Press flat, then open slightly
Run your thumbnail along the fold to set it, then open the card to roughly a 60-degree angle so it stands steadily.
Check the direction
The name side should face the guest’s chair. The plaid side faces the centre of the table.
Typing a Name for Every Guest
Click the name, type the first guest’s name, and download. Change the name and download again. Repeat for each guest. If you prefer to write names by hand, delete the sample name before downloading and use a white paint pen on the sage panel, or leave a thin white line in its place for a regular pen.
Very long names can be shortened to a first name, or you can reduce the font size slightly. Great Vibes is a wide script, so a ten-letter name is about the comfortable maximum at the default size.
Printing the Place Cards
Download the PDF. Print several cards on one sheet of matte card stock, ideally 80 to 110 lb cover, which is stiff enough to stand and still easy to fold. Use the scale setting at actual size so the cards come out at the right dimensions. Cut along the outer edges with a paper trimmer.
The plaid and sage colours go right to the edges, so a print shop that can trim with bleed will give the cleanest result. At home, cut a hair inside the printed edge.
Pumpkin Card Table Styling Ideas
- Put a real mini white pumpkin beside each place card to echo the design.
- Use rust or charcoal napkins to pick up the plaid on the back.
- Run a eucalyptus or olive branch garland down the centre of the table.
- Add the same pumpkin card at the buffet as dish labels by changing the name to the dish.
Using the Pumpkin Cards Beyond Dinner
A set of tent cards is surprisingly versatile once you have the file. Change the name to a dish, and the cards become buffet labels: Cornbread Stuffing,Cranberry Relish,Maple Carrots. Change it to a drink, and they label the cider, coffee, and wine on a drinks table. At a Friendsgiving potluck, give each guest a blank card and a pen when they arrive so they can label their own dish. For a harvest wedding or an autumn baby shower, keep the pumpkin, replace THANKSGIVING · 2026 with the event and date, and the same design carries through the whole day.
Because the back is a cheerful plaid with a greeting, the cards also work as small decorations scattered along a mantel or bookshelf in the days before the dinner.
Place Card Questions
Can I change the plaid colours?
Yes. Select the plaid group and change its colours; green and black make a lumberjack check, red and black a classic buffalo plaid.
Can I use it without folding?
Print only the front half by cropping it in your print dialog, or delete the back elements, and use the card flat on the plate.
Twenty minutes with a printer, a ruler and a bone folder gives you a set of place cards that look shop-bought. Type your guests’ names and enjoy setting a table everyone will want to photograph.
