Custom Printed Paper Coasters

Shapes and Sizes

Round and square coasters are the familiar shapes, and both fit comfortably under a pint glass or a mug. A round coaster around 95 to 100 mm across suits most glasses; a smaller size works under espresso cups and wine glasses at a table set for dinner. Square coasters give a little more printable area and suit menu-style layouts with text.

Custom shapes, such as a bottle, a hop leaf or a logo outline, are cut with a shaped die and make a coaster more memorable. They work best when the shape is simple and has no thin parts that could tear when someone picks the coaster up.

Whatever the shape, make sure the coaster is wider than the base of your largest glass. A stemmed wine glass has a narrow foot, but a heavy-bottomed tumbler or a craft beer schooner can be surprisingly wide. Measure the glasses you actually use behind the bar before deciding, and allow a little extra so drips landing beside the glass are still caught. Cafés that also sell takeaway drinks often match the coaster print to their printed coffee cup sleeves.

Designing Custom Paper Coasters

Keep the message short and the type large, because a coaster is read at arm's length in a dim room. One headline, an image and perhaps a QR code linking to a menu or booking page is plenty. Avoid tiny text near the edge, as the outer few millimetres are where glasses rest and wear first.

If you plan to run several promotions in the same year, print the brand side once and vary the reverse. You can print multiple designs in the same run, which keeps the cost per design down. Breweries and drinks brands often supply venues with coasters showing different beers or serves, so every table becomes a small tasting menu.

Colour choice is worth a moment of thought. Bars are often lit with warm, low light, which makes pale yellows and soft greys hard to see. Strong contrasts, such as white on deep blue or black on bright orange, stay readable. If your brand colours are subtle, use them for the background and set the message in white or black on top. Each side is laid out on the free proof made at the coaster size so you can see how much type fits.

Who Orders Paper Coasters

Pubs and bars use them on every table and the counter. Cafés put them under takeaway cups for customers who decide to sit in, and restaurants place them at each setting. Breweries, distilleries and soft drinks brands supply branded coasters to the venues that stock their drinks. Event planners, wedding couples and companies order them for parties, launches and receptions, where a coaster with the couple's names or the event logo becomes a keepsake.

Hotels and holiday lets also use coasters in rooms, protecting furniture and carrying a welcome note or the Wi-Fi details. Golf clubs, sports clubs and members' bars order them with a crest, and charities use them at fundraising dinners with a short line about the cause and a way to donate.

Shops selling home goods sometimes stock printed coaster sets as gifts or souvenirs, wrapped in a band or packed in a small box. A thicker board and a neat shape make them feel like a product rather than a freebie. Pubs that run a takeaway service put the same logo on cardboard cup holders for four drinks.

Storage, Handling and Reordering

Coasters arrive in neat stacks, banded or boxed in counted quantities. Keep them dry before use, as the same absorbency that soaks up drinks will also pick up moisture from a damp cellar. A small dispenser or a stack by the till lets staff grab a handful during a rush, and a few spares behind the bar save a trip to the stockroom.

Most venues reorder regularly as coasters are taken home or worn out, so keep your artwork file to hand. If you want to change the offer side each time, send the new reverse with the reorder and we can print it straight away. Venues that hand out branded glassware in a box keep the same colours on their printed boxes for small kitchen goods.

Pick the Board Thickness by How Long the Coaster Lives

A coaster order comes down to how long each mat is expected to last. A pub that puts a fresh coaster under every pint wants light event board, because it will be soaked and binned by closing time. A hotel that leaves one in a room for a week, or a café that keeps one on each table all day, wants the thick absorbent board, which costs more per coaster but survives several drinks. Decide that first, then the shape, then the number of reverse designs. A brewery that wants the coaster to hold a glass on a tap tray usually goes to the heavier drink coasters in thick pulpboard.

Prepare one file per side at trim size with 3 mm bleed, and a separate reverse file for each promotion. Email the shape, size, board, number of designs and quantity and a custom quote comes back within one working day with a free design proof after it. Coasters are printed in 4 to 7 working days once approved and delivered free and tracked on the UK mainland in 2 to 3 days. A batch with a print fault reported within 10 days is reprinted or refunded.