DIY Backlit Food Signs

In most cases, guests were able to see what a food item at our reception was.  However, given that we had two different dips and two types of meatballs, I thought it would be helpful to label those items so people could tell which was which.  These were lit from within, to make them easier to read in subdued lighting.

Materials

• 8½" x 11" cardstock
• Parchment paper
• Double-sided tape or glue
• Battery-operated tea light
  

Equipment

• Ruler
• Exacto knife
• Bone folder
• Microsoft Word or other program of your choice to create the labels for each side
  

Instructions

1. Right click on the image below, choose, "Save As," and save it to your computer.
   
2. Print the image on a piece of 8½" x 11" cardstock.
3. Cut where shown by the dark lines.  This will produce frames for two food signs, each with a hole for the sign itself.
   

4. Fold each frame where shown by the dotted line.  It should be folded so that the printed part is inside.

5. In Word, click on Tools, envelopes and mailings, labels, options.  Create a new label with height 3.5", width 5", paper size letter landscape.  Then click on "New Document" to make a page with four labels of that size.
6. Click on Table, then table properties, then Borders and Shading.  Click on "All" on the left, then select the thin line (width 1/2 point).  This will cause lines to be drawn around where each of the labels will go.  Type in the name of one food in each of the boxes.  This should give you a page that looks like the one below.  Print out that page on parchment paper, and then cut the four labels apart.

7. Apply double-sided tape to the inside of the frame, along the edges of the hole.  Then stick the parchment to the inside of the frame, so that the lettering shows through the frame.
8. Set the folded label on the table, and put a lit battery-operated tea light under it.