I’ve always believed there is something special about gathering around a table.
It doesn’t have to be a large holiday dinner or an elaborate celebration. Sometimes it’s four people sharing a meal on a Sunday afternoon. Sometimes it’s a birthday, a baby shower, Thanksgiving dinner, or a few friends who haven’t been together in far too long.
The size of the gathering isn’t what makes it special. It’s the people sitting around the table.
That idea is at the heart of our Gather & Share Cards. I created them to serve two purposes: to bring a little beauty and personality to your table and, once the meal is over, to become a keepsake from the time you shared together.
First, Gather
I love setting a table.
Long before Southern Chats, when I was a teenager working my way through college, I worked at a linen and home décor store. One of my favorite parts of the job was walking through the store with decorators and helping them choose colors, fabrics and linens for the homes and special events they were designing.
I loved watching all of those little choices come together.
Over the years, that interest never really left me. Add in my love of art and crafting, entertaining, holidays and bringing family together, and I suppose Gather & Share Cards were a natural combination of so many things I have enjoyed throughout my life.
The cards are designed to be a simple and inexpensive way to add another layer of style to your table.
Choose a card that complements your celebration, pair it with a beautiful napkin, and style it however you like. Tuck it beneath a ribbon, lay it across a folded napkin, place it on top of each plate, or add your own little seasonal touches.
There really aren’t any rules.
Write each guest’s name on one side and place the cards around the table. It’s such a small detail, but there is something lovely about seeing your name waiting for you at a table.
It says, we were expecting you, and we’re happy you’re here.
And I think that feeling of being welcomed is one of the nicest things a host can give.
Then, Share
The second purpose of the cards is my favorite.
Before dinner, during the meal, or afterward, turn the cards into part of the gathering.
Ask everyone to write something.
It might be a wish or blessing for another person at the table. At Thanksgiving, everyone might write something they are especially grateful for that year. At Christmas or New Year’s, you could write wishes for the year ahead. At a birthday, guests might share a favorite memory or a wish for the birthday person.
You can also create your own questions, traditions or little games depending on the occasion and the people around your table.
There is no right way to use them. The idea is simply to give everyone an opportunity to leave behind a few words from that particular moment in time.
And then—keep them.
Tie them together with a ribbon, tuck them into a keepsake box, or add them to a holiday scrapbook along with photographs, invitations, recipes, ribbons, menus and all those other little pieces of life we tend to collect.
Imagine opening that scrapbook five or ten years from now and finding a handwritten Thanksgiving blessing from your mother, a funny answer from one of your children, or a Christmas wish written by a niece or nephew when they were still young.
Those little handwritten words can become much more meaningful with time.
Why Packs of Four?
I made a very intentional decision to package Gather & Share Cards in sets of four.
Not every family is large. Not every celebration includes twelve or twenty people around the table.
And a table for two or four deserves to feel every bit as special as a table for twenty.
This has become particularly meaningful to me because my own family gatherings are changing.
For many years, holidays meant a ton of family. There were lots of people, lots of activity and usually a very full table. But children grow up. Nieces and nephews grow up. They start careers, relationships and families of their own. They travel and make plans and begin creating traditions elsewhere.
My own children and my nieces and nephews are becoming young adults now, and our family naturally goes in different directions more often.
I’ll admit, that can be a little hard to adjust to.
But I’m learning to embrace this new season too.
Instead of measuring a holiday by how many people are sitting around the table, I want to appreciate the people who are there.
Maybe the table is smaller this year.
That doesn’t mean the gathering has to feel less special.
In some ways, it makes me want to be even more intentional about creating traditions and preserving the memories we make together.
Make the Table Yours
One of the things I love most about Gather & Share Cards is that they are only the beginning.
Pair them with a crisp white napkin for a classic table, choose a beautiful color pulled from the artwork on the card, add ribbon or greenery, go elegant or casual, traditional or playful.
Use them for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, showers, family dinners or an ordinary gathering you simply want to make feel a little less ordinary.
Set the table beautifully.
Write the names of the people you love.
Invite them to sit down.
Eat, talk, laugh, remember, and share something with one another.
Then save a little piece of it.
Because the table may change from year to year, and the faces around it may change too. But perhaps that is exactly why the moments we have together are worth preserving.
Gather around the table. Share what matters. Keep the memories.
