Thanksgiving, Christmas or any dinner party
Dinner party seating chart planner
Choose a round or rectangular table (or two), add your guests and any rules: keep two people apart, seat a couple together, alternate two groups, put the host near the kitchen. Auto-arrange finds a seating that keeps as many rules as it can, most important first, and says which it couldn’t keep and why. Then tap two seats to swap them, and print the chart.
Table 1, clockwise from the kitchen end
- 1 Sam (kitchen seat)
- 2 Alex (kitchen seat)
- 3 Grandma Rose
- 4 Mia
- 5 Nora
- 6 Aunt Pat
- 7 Jordan
- 8 Priya
- 9 Leo
- 10 Uncle Ray (kitchen seat)
To swap two people, tap or click one seat and then another; you can also drag one seat onto another. With a keyboard, Tab to a seat, press Enter, then Enter on the second seat (Esc cancels).
6 of 6 rules kept
- Jordan next to Priya (kept)
- Grandma Rose next to Mia (kept)
- Uncle Ray apart from Aunt Pat (kept)
- Leo apart from Nora (kept)
- Sam near the kitchen (kept)
- Alex near the kitchen (kept)
How auto-arrange decides
Every rule has a weight, and auto-arrange looks for the seating with the smallest total of broken rules. The order, most important first:
- Keep apart. Two people side by side breaks it badly; facing each other across the table breaks it less. Seating them at different tables always keeps it.
- Sit together. Kept only when the two are side by side, which at a long table includes the corner beside a head seat.
- Near the kitchen. Kept when the person is in one of the seats marked at the kitchen end of table 1: the head seat and the two corners, or at a round table the seat nearest the kitchen (and, from eight seats up, its two neighbours).
- Alternate. Every pair of neighbours from the same group counts against it, a little each.
It starts by seating the near-the-kitchen guests, then lays “sit together” chains side by side, fills the rest in your list order, and then tries swapping every pair of seats, keeping each swap that helps. It repeats that from several shaken-up starting points and keeps the best. The search is deterministic: the same guests and rules always give the same chart, so a reload won’t reshuffle anyone.
When rules can’t all be kept, the checklist under the chart says which, and why if there is a simple reason: two rules about the same pair that contradict each other (keep apart wins), someone asked to sit next to three or more people when a seat has only two neighbours, more near-the-kitchen guests than kitchen seats, or two groups of different sizes that can’t alternate perfectly.
Round, rectangular or two tables
At a round table everyone has exactly two neighbours, and with an even number of seats one person directly opposite. A rectangular table of six or more gets a seat at each end, with the rest split along the two sides; each head seat sits beside the two corner seats. Table 1’s left-hand end is the kitchen end. With two tables, people at different tables are never neighbours, which makes a second table the easiest way to keep two people apart, or to give the children their own table.
An empty seat breaks a pair of neighbours too: two guests with an empty chair between them aren’t side by side.
Traditions worth knowing
The Emily Post Institute keeps it simple: the guest of honour is given the best seat, and guests sit where the host has placed them rather than swapping place cards. At formal official dinners, its advice is that the hosts traditionally sit at the head and foot of the table, or opposite each other in the middle when they know many of the guests, so each can talk with more people, and that men and women alternate as far as possible. At a family table, the alternate rule works for any two groups: two households, two generations, or two sides of a new family.
Worked example
The example chart seats ten at one rectangular table. Sam and Alex are marked near the kitchen, Jordan and Priya sit together, so do Grandma Rose and Mia, and two pairs are kept apart: Uncle Ray and Aunt Pat, and Leo and Nora. Auto-arrange keeps all six rules: Sam takes the kitchen-end head seat with Alex at the corner beside, Jordan and Priya sit side by side, and Uncle Ray and Aunt Pat end up neither beside nor facing each other. Add “Uncle Ray sits together with Aunt Pat” as a rule as well and the checklist explains that keep-apart comes first.
Common mistakes
- Three “sit together” partners for one person. A seat has two neighbours; the third can sit opposite instead.
- A rule and its opposite. Asking for a pair both together and apart leaves only one possible; keep-apart wins.
- More near-the-kitchen guests than kitchen seats. One table has three at most. Pick the one or two people who will really be up and down.
- Alternating uneven groups. Seven and three can’t alternate round one table; the checklist tells you how many pairs end up together.
- Arranging before you count. Add every guest first: auto-arrange needs a seat for each, and tells you if there are more guests than chairs.
Once the chart is set, the table setting guide shows what goes at each place.
Questions
How do I make a seating chart for a dinner party?
Choose your tables and the number of seats, add every guest, then add the few rules that matter: who must be apart, who should sit together, who needs to be near the kitchen. Press auto-arrange, swap any seats you want to change, and print the chart.
Where should the host sit?
Traditionally at the head or foot of the table, or in the middle opposite a co-host to talk with more guests. If the host is also the cook, a seat at the kitchen end makes the trips to the oven easy: tick “Near kitchen” for them.
Where does the guest of honour sit?
In the best seat, says the Emily Post Institute. At official dinners its rule is more precise: the highest-ranked male guest sits to the right of the hostess. Drag the guest of honour there after auto-arranging.
What happens when my rules contradict each other?
Auto-arrange keeps the more important rule (keep apart, then sit together, then near the kitchen, then alternate) and lists the ones it couldn’t keep, with the reason when there is a simple one.
Is my seating plan saved?
Yes, in this browser’s local storage, so it is still there when you come back. It never leaves your device. “Start from the example” clears it.
Sources
- The guest of honour’s seat and following the host’s place cards: The Emily Post Institute, Where to Sit Guests at the Table (checked 3 November 2026).
- Hosts at the head and foot or in the middle, the highest-ranked male guest to the hostess’s right, alternating men and women: The Emily Post Institute, Seating at an Official Luncheon or Dinner (checked 3 November 2026).