Bow Tie Napkins

The other day, I was looking for ideas for my baby shower and I came across some bow napkins for place settings and they looked so cute and easy. I decided to make them up for just a little extra something at the party.

What you need is pretty basic. The things to keep in mind are napkin color and ribbon color. You want them to work together to make a good overall look. I decided to go with a solid color for the napkin and white for the ribbon so they would contrast well, but have fun and try patterns and different combinations. Pick out whatever works for your party.

Supplies:

• Napkins - I think square napkins work well for this and I used ones that were 5" by 5"; if you already have rectangle ones, just fold them to fit.
• Ribbon - I used ribbon that was 3/4" wide that I found at a thrift store. I think up to 1" ribbon would also work well, but I suggest not getting ribbon that is too small/thin.
• Double Sided Tape - you can also use normal tape, I like that I could hide double sided tape better. Also keep in mind that whatever you use needs to bind fairly well to the ribbon. My tape actually wanted to come off since I did these the day before. Not sure if it is because I used double sided tape or because I used old tape or if it was the material of the ribbon.
• Whatever silverware you are going to have at your party
• Scissors

If you don't want to use tape, you can also try tying the ribbon around the napkins and knotting it in the back.

Get together all the silverware you want to wrap in the napkin. If you use real silverware, you may need a bigger napkin, but I think 5" by 5" should work.

To keep this easy, try to figure out what size ribbon you are going to need so that it overlaps enough to tape, but doesn't wrap multiple times around your silverware/napkin and cut out a bunch of pieces. Stick a piece if tape on one end and set these to the side. It will help to have these ready.

Open up your square napkin and put your silverware in it. You can also just wrap them together, but I liked it better with the fork inside the napkin.

Fold the napkin back together and scrunch the top and bottom together around the silverware. Try to make it fold accordion-like, but you don't have to be too picky about this.

While holding it closed, put the ribbon in place and push the tape down to hold it closed.

To finish it off, just carefully puff out the napkin and make sure everything looks even and good to go!

Do this for all the silverware you want for your party.

Since I did buffet-style serving, I just put the silverware napkin bows on a plate on the table. If you have place settings, you can also set them out right on the center of the plate.

It's not a lot of work for a nice little touch to your dinner.