escort cards

At the luxury wedding summit Engage!13, Gifts for the Good Life used glowing birdcage lanterns as escort cards, which guests pulled from Todd Events' live hydrangea wall at the closing gala.

At the BizBash New York IdeaFest in 2012, Zak Events promoted its wares with a wall of potted succulents that doubled as both an attention-getting escort card idea and a takeaway with a solid shelf life.

At The New York Times's table at the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design benefit in New York in 2004, interior design company Eric Cohler Design made a crossword puzzle using guests' names to serve as seating cards.

For another idea using apples, the National Association for Catering and Events 2012 gala in Washington had a "once upon a time" theme, with details from story books—including calligraphy seating cards that nodded to the poisoned apple in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Among the creative place card offerings from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based LoLo Event Design are ones meant to look like messages in a bottle with names on ribbons tied to the corks and numbers inside—suitable for an event with a beach or adventure theme.