A Must for Entertaining~Easy DIY Chalkboard Buffet Markers

One of the reasons I haven’t shown you too much of my home lately is because it’s a mess–I’m working on several upcoming events and there just isn’t time to do it all.  But, I’ve been hard at work on getting things ready so I can be the hostess with the mostest, and I wanted to share this EASY idea with you.

I’ll be serving a buffet-style reception at one of my upcoming events, and I wanted to label the different dishes.  I looked online and saw that buffet markers sell for $4-$8 EACH and knew that I could do better.

I found these small white picture frames in the $1 section at Michael’s and bought ten.  They’re really nice quality for just a dollar–the frames feel like ceramic although I haven’t dropped one to check–and they measure about 2″ x 3″.

All I did was take the plastic inserts out and spray paint them with chalkboard paint.  Boom!  Don’t you love it when it’s EASY?!

As a random aside, Amy used similar frames to label the drawers of her daughter’s dress-up armoire {here}, which was a much more creative idea.  I can’t always hang with her, though.

I figure ten labels should help me with most of the items I’ll be serving, and I like the fact that the frames will keep things uniform throughout my decor.

If you were wondering, my handwriting is NOT that neat.  I used the Things We Said font (free) and printed out the “H2O” and “Sweets” on a chalkboard background (try PicMonkey {affiliate link} if you don’t already have one that you like).  Then I just popped it over my chalkboard insert.  I’ll probably do that for my more formal events, but for a casual weekend party, I’ll just be using a piece of chalk and going for it!

Not bad for $10 and about five minutes, right?

Do you have any go-to tricks for entertaining large groups?  I’m all ears if so!

Thanks for stopping by~