Placemats

• An inexpensive way to decorate tables for a school party or club meeting, a few craft supplies are all you need to make your own map placemats. When you cut maps into 13 by 19-inch rectangles and sandwich between two sheets of clear contact paper you make washable placemats you can use again and again. Make the placemats more sophisticated by antiquing them with a tea-stain or mounting the maps onto a parchment paper or antique-looking paper so that it creates a border around the placemat. Place one at each place setting and enhance the look by using color-matching napkins and plates.
  
  

Place Cards

• Create an elegant table setting by using maps as your place cards. When you glue map paper onto card stock you can cut the map into strips that you can write guest’s names onto. Tie the map place cards onto a small compass using rough string to enhance the “adventurous” table decoration. Use the map-cards to identify food dishes, table numbers and anything else you need to label on the table for continuity.
  
  

Puzzle Treatment

• Both a decoration and a conversation starter, maps mounted onto cardboard or foam core board and cut into puzzle pieces are multi-purpose table decorations. Sprinkle the map puzzle pieces over the table to decorate then get guests moving and mingling by asking them to assemble the countries or states.
  
  

Covered Letter Forms

• Spell out your intentions to “Party” or “Mingle” with three-dimensional letters you get from a hobby shop. Cover the plain, cardboard letters with sections of a map to give them a more interesting and colorful look. Spell out the name of places you’ve visited or that reflect the theme of the party and line the letters up down the center of tables. Your “Paris” and “Italy” titled tables will intrigue guests and make it easy for them to remember where they were sitting.
  
  

Covered Houses

• Add charm to a table when you cover three-dimensional cardboard houses with map paper and scatter across the space. Combine symbols of “home” with maps inspires thoughts of moving to other places and is an unexpected decoration for a going away party or house warming party. Place houses at angles amongst serving dishes, gifts or appetizers to draw guests throughout the room.