DIY Cardboard Cakestands

There is no shortage of amazing, adorable cake stands in the world but sometimes you’re in a pinch, either financially or time-wise. Enter these frugal DIY ones to save the day! Heck, even if you have a spare $100 and a month of time, these are so customizable, unique and pretty that you should probably whip some up for yourself anyway.

Cardboard //
Scissors/Xacto knife //
Paper (pretty much any kind will work!) //
Glue – Mod Podge, glue stick and hot glue gun //
Cakestand Templates

You could use any design you can think up for your bases but I’ve also created 6 different ones you can use. They’re all the ones seen on my stands except the really tall one in the first photo

Cut out the one you want and trace it on to cardboard 4 times. I traced plates, bowls and cups I had for the tops of my stands.Use scissors or an Xacto knife to cut the pieces out.

Then trace your base pieces onto your paper. I absolutely loved the results I got from the handmade recycled paper from World Market. Make sure you have 8 pieces total, 4 facing one direction and 4 facing the other direction. I traced my base piece twice facing opposite ways and then accordion folded my paper 3 times, then cut. Two cuts=8 pieces. Win.

Next you’ll want to apply glue to your cardboard pieces. Mod Podge was perfect for the thick World Market papers but a glue stick worked better for the regular wrapping paper ones.

Now, using a glue gun, apply glue down the straight side of one of your pieces and stick and opposite facing piece to it.

Then apply glue down the seam of those two pieces and stick the straight side of another piece to that. Do the same on the other side.

Find the center of your top and mark it then apply glue all along the top of the base and matching the center up to your mark, press onto the top. For extra strength, apply glue along the connection of the two pieces.