The top half has to print upside down
This is the whole reason for using a tool rather than a table in a word processor, and it is the thing everybody discovers at eleven o'clock the night before.
A tent card is one piece of paper folded across the middle and stood up. Which means the two halves face opposite ways once it is standing: the bottom half faces the room, the top half faces the person sitting there, and relative to the sheet that top half is upside down.
Lay both halves out the same way up in a word processor and it looks completely correct on screen. It is only wrong once somebody folds one, by which point sixty of them are printed.
So the top half here is rotated 180 degrees. The preview shows it upside down on purpose, because that is what comes off the printer.
Both sides carry the name, for two different people
- The side facing the guest is how they find their seat, scanning the table as they walk up.
- The side facing the room is how everybody else knows who they are sitting opposite, which is most of what a place card is for at a dinner where people do not all know each other.
A card printed on one side does one of those and not the other. So does a flat card lying on a plate, which is why they suit a small informal table and not a wedding.
Use card, not paper
A folded card printed on ordinary 80gsm paper does not stand up. It leans, then it slumps, and by the time the first course arrives half the room is face down.
Anything from about 160gsm holds a fold, and most home printers take up to around 200gsm. The thing worth checking is which tray your printer wants for heavy stock: pulling card through the wrong path is the usual cause of a jam, and it is usually the rear or the manual tray rather than the main one.
Sort by table before you print
A small thing that saves a genuine half hour. Sorted by table, the cards come off the printer in groups, so laying up a room is walking round once with a stack in your hand.
Unsorted, every single seat is a search through the pile, sixty times. The tool sorts numbered tables properly too, so table 10 comes after table 9 rather than after table 1.
Two guests with the same name
Flagged, because it is a problem you cannot fix on the night. Two identical cards means two people looking for the same seat and nobody able to say which card belongs to whom.
A middle initial, a surname or the table number is enough to tell them apart, and it is a thirty second fix at this stage.
Everything is generated on your own machine. The guest list is never uploaded and there is no account.
Common questions
Why is half of my card printed upside down?
Because it has to be. A folded card is one piece of paper bent across the middle, so once it is standing the two halves face opposite ways. The half that ends up facing the guest is upside down relative to the sheet. Print both the same way up and every card is wrong, and you only find out when you fold the first one.
Why put the name on both sides?
Two different people need it. The guest needs to find their own seat, which is the side facing them as they walk up to the table. Everybody else needs to know who they are sitting opposite, which is the side facing the room. A card printed on one side can only do one of those jobs.
How do I add the table number?
Put it after a comma: "Jane Smith, table 4", or just "Jane Smith, 4". Anything after the last comma is treated as the table, so a name written "Smith, Jane, table 4" still works and keeps the whole name.
What paper should I use?
Card, not paper. A folded card printed on ordinary 80gsm will not stand up, it just slumps. Anything from about 160gsm holds its shape, and most home printers manage up to about 200gsm. Check which tray your printer wants for heavy stock, because feeding card from the wrong tray is the usual cause of a jam.
Should I sort them before printing?
Sort by table, yes. The cards come off the printer grouped by table, so laying up a room of sixty is walking round once with a stack. Unsorted, every seat is a search through the pile, and it takes three times as long.
What if two guests have the same name?
The tool flags it, because two identical cards means two people hunting for the same seat and nobody able to tell which is which. Add something to tell them apart: a middle initial, a surname, or the table number on the card.
A name is too long for the card.
It is set smaller to fit rather than being cut off, but past a point that is a small name on a big card. If it is a couple sharing one card, giving them a card each usually reads better than one card with tiny type.
Can I use flat cards instead?
Yes, and they are fine for a small table where everybody already knows each other. They lie on the plate, they use less card, and they only face one way, so nobody across the table can read them. For a wedding or a formal dinner the folded card is worth the extra paper.