Little Red Window

DIY Cupcake Stand

Crafts, Parties

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Make your own DIY cupcake stand out of items you already have at home! |  littleredwindow.com

Cupcake stand with three tiers and teal polka dot ribbon around the edges

So in preparation for moving, when we were cleaning and decluttering and we found lots of things we completely forgot we own and had to make the tough decisions on whether to keep them or find them a new home. So during that phase I asked Aa to get up on a ladder and take on the envious task of cleaning up on top of the kitchen cabinets. You know, that wonderful place where dust and grease live together in harmony? *shudder* I also keep things up there that I only use for big parties, and I was reminded, as he handed me things down so he could wipe underneath, that I have never shared how I made my DIY cupcake stand before. This is so my kind of craft, it looks great and it cost me close to nothing to make!

If you’ve been here for a while, you may have caught a glimpse of it during O’s Very Hungry Caterpillar 3rd birthday party post.Cupcake stand filled with cupcakes and cookies in a Very Hungry Caterpillar party themeI actually made this cupcake stand for O’s 1st birthday party which was ocean themed and I have used it every year for his birthday as well as a couple other random parties as well.  And because I am a total cheapskate crafter, I made it out of stuff I already had at home.

Here are the supplies you need to make your own:

Styrofoam discs in 4 sizes

Scrapbook paper

Wide ribbon

Ric rac

3 full cans of soup

Hot glue gun


Wondering how I did it?  Here, let me show you what it’s really made of!

Graphic showing labeled parts of the cupcake stand

I had some styrofoam discs in 3 sizes from the craft store, they looked like this. I traced them onto scrapbook paper, cut out the circle and glued it to the top.  Then I covered the edges with ribbon and ric rac. For the vertical risers between the levels, I simply cut a strip of scrapbook paper and wrapped it around a soup can.  Then I just hot glued it all together!  And honestly it’s held up just great for 3 years worth of birthday parties. When I put food on it, I lay little strips of parchment paper down so the scrapbook paper tops don’t get greasy or dirty. And because I used full soup cans (they were expired) it’s nice and weighted and it doesn’t tip or anything. I think the only thing I had to buy that wasn’t in my craft closet was the scrapbook paper, which I used for a bunch of other party decorations too so the whole thing cost pennies!

Here’s a closer look:

Closeup of Cupcake stand with three tiers and teal polka dot ribbon around the edges

If you liked this, you may also like some of my other posts…

Poured Paint Vase Post Office Birthday Party Poured Paint Vase

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Cassie May
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Comments

  3. Logan says

    Approximately how many cupcakes does this hold? We are thinking of doing a small cake on the top tier. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Cassie May says

      oh my gosh, it’s been a while since I used it. I would say like 24 of the mini cupcakes? It would really depend on the size of the styrofoam circles you buy. If you want it bigger, use bigger circles! A small cake would look so cute!

      Reply

      • Logan says

        We want a very small wedding so this would probably be perfect! Thanks for your help!

  7. Earlene says

    Hi! Very cute idea. What did you use for the base under the largest tier? Thanks for posting this tutorial!

    Reply

  8. Tavette says

    Have discovered your web recently and know I’m gonna be checking in regularly. Your instructions and photos are so detailed – thanks very much for that.

    You mention strips of parchment paper, but I’m thinking to put a sticky vinyl (but would it stick to Styrofoam (?) or something that can be cleaned up quickly as even crumbs leave a residue on scrapbook paper. OR….a clear, adhesive drawer liner over the scrapbook paper.

    Storage is a HUGE problem for me, so I’m also wondering if you can make an indention with the can into the Styrofoam so it will stay put vs gluing it in place. That way I could store the tiers in a smaller space. Any thoughts on these ideas?

    Thanks very much.
    Tavette – S. Florida

    Reply

    • Cassandra May says

      Hi Tavette!
      Sticky vinyl would be a great idea! I just didn’t have anything like that when I made this. And I liked that the parchment strips were disposable.
      I think you could try indenting the styrofoam, that would probably work, although it might be kind of difficult to do. Also, I was thinking, maybe you could connect the cans to the styrofoam with velcro or something? So can disassemble it? Just do make sure the cans are FULL, the weight of full cans makes the whole thing much more stable.
      Thanks for stopping by!
      Cassie

      Reply

  10. Create With Joy says

    What an ingenious project Cassie – I love what you did with such ordinary items!
    Thanks for joining us for Friendship Friday at Create With Joy.
    I can’t wait to see what you’ve created this week! 🙂

    Reply

  11. Pam says

    This is such a cute cupcake stand, and I love that you put it together for very little money. Thank you so much for linking it up to Dare to Share.. You are today’s Dare to Share Feature of the Day!

    Reply

  12. Albion says

    This is so fun, and I love that it uses things that I have on hand all the time! I love it. Thanks for linking up with The Caffeinated Crafters!

    Reply

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