Always thought of as a necessity, baby napkins add a burst of color to the table setting and are a very important part to consider aesthetically. While plain colors are both inexpensive and an easy way to coordinate your color scheme, a lot of people chooses to purchase napkins that are a part of the party tableware set so that everything matches.
However, there is one more thing you can do to the plain napkins to make them more personal and not just an afterthought. These napkins can be very easily personalized with just an ink pad and a few appropriate stamps.
Look for stamps in the craft stores that relate to your baby shower theme – seashells, the sun, a bucket and pail and a fish for a beach theme baby shower, or the Eiffel Tower, roses, berets and croissants for a French-themed baby shower. There is a veritable rainbow of stamp inks available, including some that are metallic silver, gold, or copper. Choose ones that coordinate or contrast with your chosen theme.
Carefully set a stamp in the corner of the napkin, with the bottom of the stamp to the center of the napkin if you will be making a tableware bundle with the utensils and the napkin, or with the bottom of the stamp to the edge of the napkin if it will just be stacked.
This method is appropriate for both cloth and paper napkins, although you may want to set the cloth napkin print with a low iron before it is used. With cloth napkins, you can actually stamp all over the cloth if you like, rather than just as a corner decoration.
Have a different stamp on each table setting to add interest. Alternate the colors if you wish and use ribbons that pick up the color of the ink to coordinate everything together.
A great side-effect to using cloth napkins is that environmentalists are advocating less waste and are pushing the use of cloth napkins more than paper ones. The new mommy could also be given these napkins as a gift, adding to her linen collection and giving her new ones to use. Another plus is that cloth napkins can be folded to add a little more interest to the table.
A really talk-provoking table setting can be had by simply folding the cloth napkins into a diaper shape. Fold the napkin into fourths and then into a triangle, with the long side up and the corner pointing towards you. Fold the downward pointing corner up and then the two side corners in, slightly overlapping them, and fold the small triangle of the downward corner over the two overlapping side corners. Secure the whole napkin with a decorative safety pin.
You could simply lie this over the center of the open plate or
open it up a bit to stuff MMs or Kisses inside. Any candy with a
hard coating would work here – jellybeans, candy covered Jordan
almonds, etc.