Round Table Setting Ideas

Round tables encourage conversation. A round dinner party table setting allows every guest to enjoy the other guests and to comfortably share food and drinks without calling down the table for a bit more salad or bread. To accentuate the roundness of the table, setting the the table with round centerpieces creates geometric harmony. Also, personalizing the table so guests get to know each other is a good idea. Does this Spark an idea?

Place Cards

A place card can display the guest's name or include a gift or treat.

If you want to host an enjoyable, soothing and relaxed dinner party, providing place cards with guests' names at the round table brings people together. Not only do these name place settings let a guest know where you would like for them to sit, but the tags also allow guests who do not know each other to say hello by name to their dinner neighbor. Getting creative with name place holders has become an art. You can use natural round objects, such as a pine cone or an apple wrapped with ribbon, to prop or inset the handwritten nametag.

Menus

You can print an attractive copy of the evening's menu to decorate and inform the table.

Some hosts like to inform their guests of what is on the menu. A printed menu lets guests in on what will come from the kitchen and encourages conversation from the start. Because the round table configuration brings people close quickly, providing an easy topic to talk about -- the entrees they will soon enjoy -- is an ideal conversation starter. You can place a menu for each couple, if you have an even number of couples, so they can share and get close early. If you prefer each guest to have a menu, place one on each starter plate. Decorating the paper with ribbon or a seal looks provocative; printing the menu in cursive or calligraphy font also gives off a classic look.

Floral Arrangements

Big bulbous flowers, like sunflowers and dahlias, make ideal round table centerpieces.

Keeping the centerpieces round brings harmony to the table. Floral arrangements in a large fishbowl-shaped glass vase look attractive on a round table. To ensure that guests can speak comfortably to each other across the round table, New York City floral designer Remco van Vliet suggests that flowers in a vase reach no taller than 14 inches. Roses, poppies, daisies, sunflowers and dahlias all make ideal flower choices. You can pour small round stones into the bottom of the vase to add more round objects to the table.

Photos

Ask guests to send personal photos before the party for a photo table display or album.

For holiday dinner parties, or for an event you are hosting for close friends, bringing photographs into the dinner mix is a creative idea. For a round table, beside the forks and knives, set a photo in a silver, wood or gold frame, depending on the color scheme. Before the holiday or other kind of party, ask guests to send you copies of family photos, special sentimental photos or funny photographs that you can then spray-mount to card stock. You can ask for hard copies or digital copies so you can print them yourself in color, sepia or black and white. Again, as a conversation starter, photos will not go unmentioned and will likely bring cheer and an aesthetic to the table.

Creative Centerpieces

Round candle holders, stacked table trays -- for nuts, fruit or candy -- make ideal round table centerpieces. Photo tree centerpieces, which show off family or friends' photos, make conversational centerpieces. Wine bottles and holiday collections set in a round configuration are also attractive. Getting creative with the centerpiece is part of the enjoyment of hosting dinners; let yourself turn whimsical and imaginative to set the table tone.