How to Make an Easy DIY Cupcake Stand with Boxes in Minutes

Cupcakes are the perfect dessert for basically any party or gathering. They are simple, delicious, and look amazing on a food table.

There are many ways to display your cupcakes and the setup can get pretty elaborate. Some of the stands are outrageously expensive! If you are looking for an inexpensive, quick, and easy way to display your cupcakes at your next party or event, you’ve come to the right place.

I’m going to show you this really fun and cheap way to make a DIY cupcake stand that will look amazing. We are going to use boxes, wrapping paper, and some creativity to create a cupcake display to show off those cupcakes.

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Table of Contents

What You’ll Need

You won’t need very many items for this project. You might even have most of these items around the house already!

Cardboard boxes
Wrapping paper
Scissors
Tape
*X-acto knife or box cutter (if you need to adjust box sizes)
*Heavy books or items to weigh down your boxes
*Two-sided tape or glue to secure your boxes together

*Optional items

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If you still need to make your cupcakes, you might want to check out these articles for making quick and delicious cupcakes:

How to Design and Build Your DIY Cupcake Display with Cardboard Boxes in 5 Easy Steps

Here are the easy steps you’ll take to build your cupcake stand from cardboard boxes. From designing your stand to displaying your cupcakes, these steps will take you from the very beginning to the very end of this DIY project.

1. Decide on Your Design

There are tons of different ways to display your cupcakes. Designing your stand is half of the fun! The first step in this process is to figure out how you would like your boxes to be set up to display your cupcakes. That will help you decide on box sizes and the rest of your supplies.

Keep in mind that the average cupcake is about 2.5 inches in diameter when deciding on your surface space. You want to be able to fit enough cupcakes on your stand. Also, remember that you can replenish the cupcakes a few times during your gathering if you don’t have room to display all of them.

DIY Box Cupcake Stand Design Ideas

You can do something as simple as using single boxes and placing cupcakes on top of them, like I did for this birthday party, or you can stack them into steps or tiers and make them a focal point of your party.

Here are a few easy design options for your box stand:

[I] chose not to stack my boxes and used them individually.

2. Gather Your Boxes

If you’re like me, you might have a few (or a bunch) cardboard boxes stored in your house from your online purchases “just in case” you might need one. In fact, I started my design based on the boxes I did have around the house because I didn’t want to purchase or look for specific sizes.

If you don’t have all the boxes you need, you can purchase them. However, a lot of businesses give away boxes and you can always ask your friends and family who live close by if they have any extra. After all, we want to keep this project inexpensive since you probably won’t be storing and using this display again (but you can if you want to).

Remember that you can get creative with your boxes. You can cut them down to size and tape them up to make the perfect shape and you can stick two or more together to make a larger box. If you have the time and patience, you can do pretty much anything with cardboard.

Once you have all of your boxes, test out your design to make sure it’s pleasing and will fit your cupcakes nicely. Adjust as needed before you start wrapping them.

3. Prepare and Wrap Your Boxes

Once you’ve decided on your design and gathered your boxes, you’ll want to prepare them for wrapping. At this point in the project, I chose to put some heavy books inside of my boxes to make them sturdier and stable for my display. I didn’t want them shifting or getting blown down since we were going to be outside.

If you’d like to add books or other items to weigh down your boxes, do so before taping them up.

Next, you’ll want to make sure that your box is ready to wrap. I removed any excess tape and packaging labels that would make my surface lumpy. I also secured edges that were sticking out with more tape so that the box had a uniform, square shape.

Once your box is prepared, you can start wrapping it up. You can wrap your boxes with wrapping paper just like you would a present. I had rather large boxes and narrow wrapping paper. So, I chose to leave the bottom areas that would not be visible unwrapped to save some paper.

You can wrap your boxes with anything you’d like. Fabric, foil, and craft paper would be good options. If you have a themed party, it’s a good idea to match the theme with your wrapping. This works great for birthdays and weddings that have specific color schemes or fun themes.

4. Secure Your Boxes (optional)

Once your boxes are wrapped you are ready to build your display. If you have to travel to your venue, I suggest building your display on site if it is large or heavy. I used single boxes in my display so I simply stored them until the day of the party and placed them on the table the day of.

Once you’re ready to set up your boxes, you can place double-sided tape between them or use glue to keep them from shifting around. If you chose to weigh down your boxes, you might not need to do this step.

Just make sure that your display will be sturdy enough that it won’t fall and ruin your cupcakes with people walking around it and removing cupcakes.

5. Display Your Cupcakes

Once your display is exactly as you want it and secure, you can start adding cupcakes before your event starts. You can separate them by flavor or mix them together like I did with these chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.

This DIY project is as easy as that! Remember to replenish your cupcakes if necessary. Once your event is over, you can either tear your stand down and recycle the boxes, reuse them for something else, or keep the stand for your next party.

Making Your Own Cupcake Stand From Boxes

As you can see, making a DIY cupcake display is actually really easy! Not only will you save money by making your own, you can design your display to look exactly how you want it. Making your own stand allows you to control the size and design so you can perfect it for your event.

You can create this stand well in advance of your event and have it ready to go to display your amazing cupcakes. I hope you have fun designing and building your own cupcake stand!

If you need more ideas for decorating your table, you might consider making these easy faux flower centerpieces for your party.