As the saying goes, every good host or hostess should know at least a few napkin-folding techniques.

These days, it’s not just the traditional wedding styles that are popular, so forget about those boring, monotonous folding techniques that everyone has seen a hundred times—instead, wow your guests with a unique approach to napkin folding.

Let’s start with something simple—the basic fold is still essentially minimalist, yet very elegant. To do this, fold the napkin in half by folding the top down. Then fold it in half twice, each time by 1/3 from right to left. Tie the resulting symmetrical rectangle diagonally to hold it in place. You can tuck either the menu card or a note for the guest of honor under the ribbon. ?

For a wedding, a surprise dinner, a baby shower, Valentine’s Day, or Christmas—the heart shape always works. Start by folding the napkin in half from the bottom up, then fold it again—this time from the top down. Imagine the center point at the top edge of the rectangle you’ve created. This is where the right and left halves meet as you fold them inward. This creates a house shape with a larger roof. Grab both inner bottom corners at the open end of the slit. Fold them slightly, but symmetrically, inward from the bottom of the napkin. Next, grasp the outer corners and fold them in just slightly more than the inner corners. Rotate the napkin 180 degrees, and you’ve got a heart shape.

Of course, if you're really looking for a unique table decoration, we recommend pairing these arrangements with a unique napkin.

If you don't want to follow written instructions while folding, or if you find it easier to work from a video, you might want to check out YouTube for inspiration, where you can choose from thousands of different variations. To help you get started, we've included the "recipe" for the heart-shaped fold here. ?