Entertaining Tip: An Alternative to Name Tags

We've all been at those large parties where we're handed a "Hello my name is..." sticker when we walk through the door and then stand around feeling rather awkward while we make small talk with strangers. Well, here's a clever alternative that we're actually looking forward to trying at our next big gathering!

The idea is that instead of "Hello my name is..." stickers, you give your guess ones that read "Talk to me about..." Guests can fill in their career specialty, their hobby, their passion of the moment, or their favorite meal (just keeping it foodie, here!).

We picked this suggestion up from SwissMiss, who used it at a talk she was facilitating, and we think it's a brilliant idea for all sorts of social situations. Name tags like these are guaranteed conversation starters!

We think they also take away some of the discomfort factor. Personally, we feel much more comfortable approaching someone who wants to talk about a subject in which we're interested than we would just striking up a random conversation.

What other name tag alternatives would you suggest?

• "Talk to Me About..." on SwissMiss

(Image: Flickr member ronin691 licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (4)

Some friends had a holiday party this year and the hosts put clever made-up nicknames on the nametags that were good conversation starters... same sort of concept, and it was quite entertaining...

"Talk to me about ... " is a great idea!

I attended a party where the host handed out "name" tags for table mates, that were one half of a well know duo. So "ham" had to find "eggs," and "salt" went to look for "pepper." Others were Hope and Crosby, Beans and Franks. It was a good mixer.

Went to a "White Trash" party one time and was given a name tag, with a "white trash" name. Everyone had them and it was a lot of fun joking around about who got what name, why, etc. That could be applied to almost any theme, I'd think.

Love that idea of "talk to me about..." for professional events.