Table Numbers

The decor at this year's Whitney Museum of American Art gala in New York emphasized materials familiar to artists, such as paintbrushes and sketch pads. Playful centerpieces included table numbers imprinted on silver paint cans.

In the dining room, David Stark Design hung 1,750 Edison lightbulbs from the ceiling. They formed numerals that helped guests find their seats among the sea of 417 tables.

In Los Angeles last May, nearly 300 artists and art patrons celebrated the Santa Monica Museum of Art’s 25th anniversary at the museum's second annual Precognito gala dinner. Table numbers were painted directly onto the white paper tablecloths.

Here's an on-theme idea for a rustic farm-to-table dinner: At last year's Lowline "Anti-Gala," moss-filled Mason jars served as table numbers.

At the seventh annual Call of the Game dinner in March, held at South Florida's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, painted guitars served as centerpieces. Oversize guitar picks displaying numbers let guests know at which table to sit.

The tables at a graffiti-theme bar mitzvah designed by David Stark Design and Production, held at Center548 in New York, displayed numbers on spray-paint cans.

For a wedding produced by AaB Creates at the Altman Building in 2012, the table numbers popped out of the pages of open books. The numbers were carved out of the books' pages using an X-Acto knife.

Large graphic table numbers provided the bulk of the decor during the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's National Design Awards gala in 2011.

Designer David Stark used fluorescent tape provided by 3M to create much of the decor for the National Design Awards gala in 2011. At some of the tables, rolls of the colorful tape added a decorative element to platforms displaying large-scale table numbers.

Instead of going in numerical order at the October 2011 dinner for Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art's anniversary, each table number represented an important year in the museum's 75-year history.

Last year, the National Association for Catering and Events hosted its annual fund-raising gala at the Liaison in Washington, where design elements drew inspiration from classic fairy tales. To add an enchanted-forest feel to the dining table centerpieces, table numbers were spray painted on wood slabs.

Plexiglas table number displays added a reflective element to the tables at a local college prep school's 75th anniversary gala, held in 2010 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Florida.

To fit in with the "Passport to the World" theme at the Children's Place Association's Once Upon a Time gala in Chicago in 2009, table numbers were printed on faux passports.

Artist Julene Harrison (madebyjulene.com) creates custom, hand-cut table numbers, from about $50 each, with discounts for orders of 10 or more. Her designs can be modern or intricate, and are easily slipped into acrylic photo frames for display.

LoLo Event Design offers hand-painted handkerchiefs that can serve as table numbers at a garden event. Set alongside flowers in a terra cotta pot, tables get a more casual feel than an elaborate formal centerpiece—just right for an alfresco event.

At the October 2011 dinner for Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art's anniversary, each table number represented a year in the museum's 75-year history.

Table numbers were printed on mock pieces of matzo.

In keeping with the murderous focus of the play, table numbers were written on realistic-looking plastic daggers.

Table numbers had designs that echoed the accordionlike Slinkys.