Napkin Rings and Place Card Holders for a Dinner Party

A beaded edge is one of the oldest details on silver and flatware, and it is what makes these rings look more expensive than they are. They are made of brass with a silver finish, with a slightly irregular, handmade look.

Silver goes with almost any table, from white porcelain to stoneware, and suits stainless flatware better than gold does. Four to a set, so a table of eight needs two.

Wipe them with a dry cloth and put them away dry. Skip them if your flatware and candlesticks are brass or gold; the Saro brass rings below will match better.

The catch. Finish and shape vary slightly from ring to ring, and four is only half a dinner party.

Juliska, the Connecticut tabletop house founded in 2001, makes these by hand from braided jute, tied in a knot borrowed from sailing. They look best with washed linen napkins and stoneware, on a table where metal would feel too dressed up.

Taupe is the most versatile of the colors: it disappears against natural linen and adds warmth to white. Jute gives a firm hold on a thick napkin.

Spot clean only. Loose ends can be tucked back or trimmed and knotted, as Juliska advises, but do not pull on them. Skip them for a formal dinner, or for a household where napkins get wine on them regularly and rings get washed.

The catch. Fiber cannot be washed, so a wine spill is permanent.

Juliska's Provence rings are glass, in the style of the bubbled glassware made in the south of France, here in a soft basil green. On a white cloth with candlelight behind them they glow. They are 2.5 inches across and 1.25 inches tall.

Unlike most decorative napkin rings, they can be washed properly: Juliska rates them dishwasher safe on a warm, gentle cycle. They come gift boxed, which makes a set an easy wedding or hostess present.

At nearly $30 a ring they are an extravagance, and glass can chip if a ring rolls off the table onto a hard floor. Skip them if you set the table with children.

The catch. Expensive per ring, and glass can chip on a hard floor.

Vagabond House casts its table pieces in solid, lead-free pewter, and this songbird is one of its smallest. It is 1.75 inches wide and 2 inches tall, with a slot that holds a place card upright beside the glasses.

The second life is what makes it worth buying. After dinner, the same holders go on the cheese board with the name of each cheese, or along a buffet to label dishes. Pewter has a soft, dark shine that sits well with both silver and brass.

Sold one at a time, so a table of eight is a real outlay. Dust them or wash them by hand with mild soap. Skip them if you only seat guests once a year; a folded card on its own does the job.

The catch. Sold individually, so a full table costs more than the napkin rings.

Caspari is best known for paper cocktail napkins and guest towels, and designs its place cards to coordinate with them. The Golden Rule design is a folded card of heavy stock with a thin gold line around the edge and nothing else, which leaves the name as the only thing to read.

Each card is about 3.5 by 2.25 inches, and a box holds 30, enough for three or four dinner parties. The fold lets them stand on their own, or they slip into a holder like the pewter songbird above.

Write the names in ink with a fine pen and let them dry before standing them up. Skip them if your table has a strong color scheme; Caspari makes the same format in colors and patterns.

The catch. Some inks smudge on heavy card; test your pen on the back of one first.