Hand Lettered Watercolor Menu & Placecards for Holiday Dinners

Dinner Setting Placecards & Menu

DIY dinner menu and placecard made with watercolor paint

It is hard to believe that it’s November already, but that means Thanksgiving is right around the corner! I love celebrating the holiday with our family and spending the weeks before planning and shopping. I’m a big fan of using bright and slightly unconventional colors to add decorative touches to our table, so this year I thought I’d try my hand at painting and lettering a menu and placecards. It takes a little bit of practice, but it makes all the difference one the dinner table — give it a try!

p.s. this is a fake Thanksgiving dinner menu, so no luck to family members trying to get a sneak peak!

You’ll need:

– watercolors — I used the chroma blends watercolor brush markers (these are amazing!) and pearlescent chroma blends watercolor paint set

– chroma blends watercolor paper

– calligraphy duo chisel and brush tip markers

– scissors

Steps:

1. Trim paper

— start by cuing a piece of watercolor paper into two 8 X 5″ pieces. This makes a great menu size. Then, to create the placecards, cut one 8 X 5 piece into two, 4 X 5″ pieces. You’ll fold those in half to create the placard tents after they are painted.

2. Paint paper

— next use the watercolor brush markers to create whatever background you’d like. I’m obsessed with stripes, so I created a variety of thicknesses and colors, similar to these cute watercolor bookmarks. The most amazing part of the markers is how they blend together, so be sure to try it. I also used the pearlescent set to add a little stripe of gold at the top and bottom of the menu and placecards — just keep in mind that it is hard to write over the pearlescent paint, so limit it to an accent color.

Closeup of watercolor painting of dinner menu with OOLY watercolor paints

3. Letter menu + placecards

— I actually have awful handwriting but I’ve wanted to learn calligraphy for a long time now. I sort of cheated here by trying a very simplified version of hand lettering. OOLY has great tutorials for both ends of their calligraphy markers, so check those out first. Basically, I used the chisel tip end held at an angle and wrote my letters in a thin line, then I went back and thickened the downstrokes of each letter. Not perfect, but I’ve got time to practice!