Handcrafted Nerdy Napkin Rings

Posted November 12, 2015

Hosting a dinner party or holiday get together soon? Want to add some nerdy flare, but still ensure your soiree is geek chic? DIY nerdy napkin ring holders are the perfect touch of fun, fandom, and class for any celebration or social affair involving food! Keep reading to learn how to make a number of different styles and gather ideas that’ll fit your theme, whether that’s comic book related or more in line with Harry Potter.

Settlers of Catan Board Game Resources Napkin Rings

I wrapped raffia grass around cardboard tubes for my Settlers of Catan themed napkin rings. I used dried wheat, leaf twigs, and a yarn pom pom ball to represent some of the building resources from the game.

PVC tube base option

using a utility knife to cut a cardboard tube

Plastic cling wrap tube base option

wrapping a cardboard tube in straw

straw-wrapped cardboard tube

Settlers of Catan wood, wheat, and sheep napkin rings

Magic the Gathering Trading Card Napkin Ring

I cut up 15 Magic land cards into flower petals, using an Instructable as a guide, and strung them together on a pipe cleaner. I then used the remaining length of pipe cleaner as the ring for the napkin.

Magic the Gathering card flower napkin ring

Spider-man Comic Book Origami Napkin Ring

spiderman comic book page

Lord of the Rings / Hobbit Chapter Book Collage Napkin Ring

I tore up leftover pages from my Fellowship of the Ring book, which I used for my Rohan horse silhouette wall collage project. I then modge podged them onto my cardboard tube base. I used a Smaug dragon necklace pendant for decoration. Hot glue or E6000 work well for adhering pendants.

Lord of the Rings dragon and book page napkin ring

Inspiration to get your napkin ring creative juices flowing:
Items to use for a base (depending upon your napkins, 1.25-1.5 inches diameter and length works well)

Cardboard tubes (thicker tubes, like those from plastic cling wrap, tend to work better as they’re more sturdy than a paper towel tube)
PVC pipe (a simple hack saw can be used to cut off appropriately sized pieces)
Shower curtain rings
Small, child’s bangle type bracelet
Paper, origami style

Items to use for covering your base:

Paint
Paper (glue/seal with Modge Podge) -scrapbook, comic book, chapter book pages
Fabric (glue/seal with Modge Podge)
String (wrap/wind around the ring; secure ends with hot glue) -yarn, twine, ribbon, raffia grass/palms

Items to use as geeky decoration on top:

None ( if you did origami from comic book pages that’s perfect and plenty)
Small charms & pendants (especially from jewelry or keychains)
Dice (D20 anyone?)
Board game pieces (especially meeples)
Trading cards (fold them, cut them, style them how ever you like)
Lego bricks
Bow made from nerdy fabric

DIY Nerdy Napkin Ring Tutorial

Which style of napkin ring is your favorite?
Will you be hosting a dinner party soon? How do you plan on adding geeky touches and flare to it? Share with me in the comments below.
Looking for more dinner party inspiration? Check out my fandom themed recipes or trading card placemats.

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board games, comic book, dinner party, geek craft, lord of the rings, magic the gathering, nerdy napkin rings, settlers of catan, spiderman, superheroes, the hobbit