place cards

?Q. What do place cards look like? Can I use any size card as a place card?

A. For formal dinners, place cards should be plain white, or white with a narrow gold border. Decorated place cards are acceptable for a special holiday such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, and cards for a wedding or twenty-fifth wedding anniversary dinner may be bordered with silver. Place cards also may be monogrammed in silver or gold, or a family crest may be engraved at the top. Place cards are generally about two inches long by three quarters of an inch high after folding in half, although they do vary somewhat.?

?Elizabeth L. Post, from Emily Post on Entertaining, 1987.