It’s the season for entertaining, so why not make your guests the stars of the show and create some custom placemats that show them just how special they really are.

These will only take a few minutes to put together once you’ve added the star factor. And they cost almost nothing to make. You’ll need a few empty beer boxes (any thick cardboard will also do), spray paint, modge and a story 😉  But I’ll get to the story in a bit. Let’s get those beer boxes ready first.

Making Custom Placemats

Cut the side off the beer boxes and spray or paint the back with whatever color spray paint you have on hand to hide the writing.

All you need

While you wait for the paint to dry, hop onto your computer to create a story. That’s what makes these placemats so special. Each guest features as the hero of the lead story in a old style printed newspaper.

Tips For Writing The Lead Story

Use the the third person, for example he said or she did and try to capture your guest’s personality. You only need about 150 words and a photo. You can even include a quote from someone they know well to fill up space. I found this lovely PowerPoint template that makes it so easy to convert what you’ve written into an old style newspaper article. For these custom placemats, I wrote a news article for eachof my kids.

My son, Calin is super intelligent (I’m his mom and I’m really not biased). When he’s not playing strategy games on his laptop, he’s researching weird facts about things most people haven’t even heard of. He’s off to Canada to study Psychology in a few days time and this momma is feeling all kinds of mixed emotions at the moment 🙁

My daughter, Talea J, is a mermaid. Her biggest dream is to marry meet Micheal Phelps and to qualify for the 2020 Olympic games. She trains between 4 and 6 hours everyday and she’s well on her way to achieving her dreams.

Finishing Off The Custom Placemats

After typing up the articles, I just printed them out and mod podged them onto the front, unpainted side of the cardboard. And to add to the old world look I added some crackle glaze. Mix some Burnt Umber and turps into the cracks to make them really pop,

All cracked up

Calin’s story is all about his space travels to Saturn.

Calin’s story

And Talea J won Gold and broke the World Record at the Olympics, just like she’s always wanted to.

Talea’s Story

The placemats fit perfectly with our low key decor style too.

We made those Christmas crackers last year and we’ll be reusing them again this year 😉

The Star of the show

The placemats are a huge amount of fun to make and your guests can take them with after the party too. We’ve made some for everyone and had quite a few chuckles making up stories about our guests. My mom’s newspaper story involves a strip club and a python, but I think she’d kill me if I put it on the blog. Let’s just say strip clubs will never be the same again 😉

If you like the idea don’t forget to pin it for later.

What are your plans for making your guests feel like superstars during this festive season? I’d love to hear all about it.

Oh before I forget, if you’d like to make something similar or prefer to buy rather than DIY, we’ve got you covered Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more unique DIY and craft ideas for you 😉

Firefly Craft Rustic Farmhouse Fringe Burlap...

$8.99

Buy on Amazon Price incl. tax, excl. shipping
Last update on 2019-02-23 / Source Amazon Affiliates

wellhouse Corn Straw Braided Dining Table Mats...

$13.99

Buy on Amazon Price incl. tax, excl. shipping
Last update on 2019-02-23 / Source Amazon Affiliates

DII CAMZ38415 Mineral Middle Stripe Burlap Table...

$9.26

Buy on Amazon Price incl. tax, excl. shipping
Last update on 2019-02-23 / Source Amazon Affiliates

Sending love and blessings as always.