This post share how I made a DIY birthday cake topper. It’s a simple DIY cake topper using a wood number and is the perfect way to easily accent a plain cake for just a few bucks.
How to Make a DIY Wooden Number Birthday Cake Topper
I’ve been slowly sharing a few of the DIYs I did for Tootie’s little first birthday get together. We only had a handful of local family members over for the gathering, but I obviously couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a little crafty…
I made a simple DIY cake topper using a wood number for her cake. All the effort went into the cake topper, so we bought a cake to put it on 😉 What can I say, I never claimed to be a cook…
It was pretty easy and only cost a few bucks. Considering I spent like 50 bucks buying balloons on Etsy, I figured I could save a few by making a cute cake topper.
Here’s what I used:
- Wood or MDF number—I used an MDF letter from Michaels, linking similar here, but it’s cheaper if you have a Michaels nearby
- DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint in Lamp Black
- DecoArt Americana Decor Metallics in Antique Bronze (also available in the Extreme Sheen formula in a smaller size)
- Frogtape or other similar painter’s tape
- Small paint brush
- Kebab skewers or popsicle sticks and wood glue
And here’s how I made my first birthday cake topper!
Step 1: First I painted the entire number 1 with black acrylic paint. Then I let dry. I love that this paint dries with a very matte finish.
Step 2: Next I added Frogtape to tape off the area I wanted to paint for a “dipped” effect. I used a DecoArt Antique Bronze color I had in my stash that I love—especially with black or white!
The metallic touch of the paint also provides a great contrast to the matte black. I’m all about that contrast.
I did two coats, removing the painter’s tape after the first coat, letting it dry, and reapplying to put on the second coat. This helps keep the line super crisp.
Step 3: I glued two kebab skewers we had to the back of the number. I left plenty of length knowing I could cut it down once we knew what kind of cake we were getting. You could also use a popsicle stick for this.
And here’s the final cake topper. Isn’t it adorable? I was so happy with how it turned out, and it looks great on the little cake we got.
Want more fun party crafts? Check out my DIY scrapbook paper and yarn party hats, my tutorial for how to make a DIY balloon garland, and my DIY Cake topper tutorial using a Cricut machine!
Share my tutorial for a DIY birthday cake topper on Pinterest!
