Short answer: a table tent card in Dubai is printed on 350 GSM art card with matt or glossy lamination, folded into a two- or three-panel self-standing shape, and typically ordered in runs of 500 to 5,000. Because tent cards come off the same 350 GSM laminated card line as folded menus, the price follows that line: AED 550 for 500 pcs at A4-to-A5 size and AED 2,900 for 5,000 pcs, VAT inclusive, with 5–6 working days from artwork approval. If you want a card you can swap weekly without reprinting, an acrylic desk holder at AED 8.50 each plus thin inserts is the cheaper long game.
Below: the three formats that work on a Dubai restaurant table, the materials that survive condensation and oily fingers, real prices at every quantity break, and the ordering details that decide whether your cards stay crisp or curl in a fortnight.
What a table tent card actually is (and the three formats worth printing)
A tent card is a free-standing printed card that sits on a table, counter or desk without a holder. It earns its place because it is read at 40 cm, not 4 metres — which makes it the highest-converting piece of print in a restaurant after the menu itself. In Dubai F&B, three formats cover almost every brief.
1. Two-panel A-frame (the classic tent)
One sheet, scored down the middle, folded into an inverted V. Both faces print, so you get two messages — Arabic one side, English the other, or a promotion facing each seat. Flat size A4 folding to roughly A5 is the standard Dubai café size. It is the cheapest to produce and the easiest to stack and store, but it tips over on an outdoor table in any breeze.
2. Three-panel triangular tent
Three scored panels plus a glue tab, forming a rigid triangular prism. Far more stable, holds its shape through a full service, and gives you three print faces. It uses about 40% more board than the two-panel version and needs gluing, so expect a longer turnaround and a higher unit cost. This is the format for hotel breakfast buffets and conference tables where the card must survive being knocked.
3. Flat insert plus acrylic holder
Print a flat card — no scoring, no folding — and slide it into a clear acrylic holder. The holder is a one-time purchase; the insert reprints every time the offer changes. For any venue that updates pricing monthly, this is the format that saves real money, and it is the only one that survives an outdoor terrace. The trade-off is upfront cost and the fact that the acrylic needs cleaning.
Material and finish: what survives a Dubai service
Tent cards fail in two ways in the UAE: they curl from humidity, and they stain from oil and condensation. Both are solved at the material stage.
- 300–350 GSM art card: the working minimum. Below 300 GSM the card will not hold a fold under its own weight, and by day three it slumps. See our paper GSM guide for how board weight behaves across print jobs.
- Matt lamination: the right default for F&B. It hides fingerprints, photographs well under warm restaurant lighting, and resists the glare from spotlights that makes glossy cards unreadable from a seated position.
- Glossy lamination: makes food photography pop, which is why delivery-led and fast-casual brands prefer it. It shows every fingerprint, so budget for more frequent replacement.
- Double-sided lamination: non-negotiable. A card laminated on one side only will curl within a week in a kitchen-adjacent dining room, because the two faces absorb humidity at different rates.
- Spot UV or foiling: worth it on the brand panel of a fine-dining tent card, not on a promotional one you will replace in six weeks. Our lamination finish guide covers the feel differences in detail.
Real prices: tent cards, menu cards and table mats
Tent cards share a production line with folded menu cards — same 350 GSM board, same lamination, same cutting and creasing step — so the menu card pricing below is the honest benchmark for tent card runs. All prices are live store prices in AED, VAT inclusive.
| Item | Spec | 500 pcs | 1,000 pcs | 2,000 pcs | 5,000 pcs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menu / tent card, A4 → A5 | 350 GSM, glossy laminated, folded | AED 550 | AED 800 | AED 1,300 | AED 2,900 |
| Menu / tent card, A4 → A5 | 350 GSM, matt laminated, folded | AED 550 | AED 800 | AED 1,300 | AED 2,900 |
| Menu / large tent card, A3 → A4 | 350 GSM, matt laminated, folded | AED 900 | AED 1,500 | AED 2,550 | AED 5,500 |
| Table mat, A3 (42 × 30 cm) | 90 GSM glossy, 1–2 colours | AED 380 | AED 430 | AED 490 | AED 930 |
| Table mat, B3 (48 × 34 cm) | 130 GSM glossy, 1–2 colours | AED 570 | AED 610 | AED 790 | AED 1,490 |
| Acrylic desk sign holder | Acrylic, 21 × 5 cm, transparent | AED 8.50 each — 50 pcs from AED 320 | |||
| A4 leather-cover menu | 350 GSM insert, matt laminated, both sides | AED 2,210 per 10 pcs | |||
Two numbers worth reading twice. First, the jump from 500 to 1,000 pieces at A4-to-A5 costs AED 250 — you double the quantity for a 45% price increase, which is the single best value break on the line. Second, table mats at 90 GSM come in under AED 1 per piece at 500 and under AED 0.20 at 5,000, which is why high-volume casual venues print mats rather than tents for seasonal promotions. Full mat and menu detail sits in our restaurant menu printing guide, and the wider category lives in menu printing and table mats.
Design rules specific to tent cards
A tent card is read from above at an angle, by someone seated, in restaurant lighting. That changes the design brief.
- Put the hook in the top third of each panel. The bottom of a tent card is visually blocked by the table edge, cutlery and the guest’s own plate. Anything below roughly 60% panel height will not be read.
- Minimum 11 pt body text. Dubai dining rooms run dim. Anything smaller fails at arm’s length, and you will see guests picking the card up and tilting it to the light — which is how cards get stained and lost.
- Score lines need 3 mm clearance. Keep logos, prices and text away from the fold. Lamination plus a crease will crack any ink sitting directly on the score, and a cracked logo on a fold line is the most common reprint reason we see.
- Design Arabic and English as two separate panels, not a split one. Mixing right-to-left and left-to-right in a single tight panel almost always produces an awkward hierarchy. Our Arabic and bilingual print design guide covers the typography rules.
- Size the QR code for a seated scan. A QR on a tent card is scanned from roughly 40 cm, so 25 × 25 mm minimum with a clear quiet zone. The rules are in our QR code design guide.
- Add bleed and keep the die line separate. 3 mm bleed on all sides, crease positions marked on their own layer. Everything else is in the print-ready artwork checklist.
How to order table tent cards in Dubai
The fastest path, start to delivered boxes, is five steps.
- Fix the format and flat size first. Decide two-panel, three-panel or acrylic insert, then state the flat size and the folded size. “A4 folding to A5” removes all ambiguity; “A5 tent card” does not, because it could mean either.
- Send artwork as a PDF with 3 mm bleed, fonts embedded or outlined, images at 300 DPI, CMYK. If your brand uses a Pantone spot colour, say so up front — see Pantone vs CMYK for why that matters on a card people hold.
- Approve a digital proof, and ask for a physical sample on any run over 2,000. A proof on screen will not tell you whether 350 GSM holds your fold or whether the matt lamination dulls your brand red.
- Allow 5–6 working days from approved artwork for a standard folded run. Add two days for gluing on three-panel tents. If you are inside that window, same-day and next-day printing explains what is genuinely possible.
- Order 10–15% over your table count. Cards get stained, taken by guests and bent. A 60-cover restaurant should print 500, not 70 — the per-unit price at 500 makes any smaller run uneconomical anyway.
Delivery across Dubai is typically next working day once the job is boxed, with Sharjah and Ajman on the same-week schedule and Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Northern Emirates on a one-to-two day transit after that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum order for table tent cards in Dubai?
500 pieces is the practical minimum on the laminated 350 GSM line, priced at AED 550 for A4-to-A5. Below 500 the setup, lamination and creasing costs dominate and the per-card price rises sharply, which is why smaller runs are rarely worth printing. If you genuinely need 50 cards, the acrylic holder route at AED 8.50 per holder plus digital inserts is the cheaper answer.
Which lamination should I choose for a restaurant tent card?
Matt, in almost every case. It kills the glare from ceiling spots, hides fingerprints far better, and photographs cleanly when guests shoot the table. Choose glossy only when food photography is the whole point of the card and the colours need maximum saturation. Both cost the same — AED 550 per 500 at A4-to-A5 — so the decision is purely about the room.
Can I print Arabic and English on the same tent card?
Yes, and on a two-panel tent it is the natural use of the format: Arabic on one face, English on the other, so each side of the table reads its own language with no compromise on type size. Supply both language files with the Arabic text outlined to prevent font substitution, and have a native speaker proof the final PDF — Arabic letter-joining errors survive every automated check.
How long do table tent cards last in service?
A double-sided matt-laminated 350 GSM card holds up for roughly six to ten weeks in an indoor dining room with daily wiping. Outdoor terraces cut that to two or three weeks because of humidity and heat. If you need longer life, move to an acrylic holder with a replaceable insert, or specify a thicker 400 GSM board.
Do you print tent cards with a QR code for a digital menu?
Yes, and it is now the most common tent card brief in Dubai. Keep the code at 25 × 25 mm or larger, test the printed version with three different phones before approving the run, and always print the URL in small text underneath as a fallback. Related in-store formats are covered in our POS printing guide.
Can I reuse the same tent cards for a seasonal promotion?
Only with the acrylic holder format. Printed folded tents are a single-campaign item. If your promotions rotate monthly, buy holders once and print insert batches — over a year that is dramatically cheaper than four folded runs, and it is the approach most of the multi-branch groups in our restaurant branding checklist end up using.
Ready to print?
Send us your artwork or just a rough sketch of what you want on the table, and we will come back with the format, the board weight and a firm price. Browse menu and tent card printing to see the laminated 350 GSM line, or message the team directly on WhatsApp +971 52 210 0909 — call 052 210 0909 if you would rather talk it through. Send artwork by 2 pm and a standard run is usually on the road within 5–6 working days.
