Easy DIY Cardboard Donut Wall For Any Themed Party
by Ann Mifsud
Donuts are some of the most straightforward party items you can include as part of the menu for any themed party. You can bake and decorate them yourself or buy them from your local confectioner.
But how do you display donuts stylishly, without having to pay a high price or requiring complex DIY skills and tools?
You can make an easy homemade donut wall or stand, using cardboard or polystyrene instead of wood and wrapping paper as a substitute for paint. You will also need wooden dowels, some glue, a scissors and a craft knife. Then follow our method below. Above all, this will take you an hour to finish and it will go well with any party theme.
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Here is what you’ll learn in this guide.
As you may have already noticed, doing an online search you will find endless guides on how to make your donut display boards using wood, paint, power tools, sandpaper, and the rest. While this is all good stuff we understand that not everyone is comfortable with manual work. At times there’s not enough time to finish up elaborate projects or even wait for a donut wall or a donut stand to be delivered to your doorstep.
1. How To Make A DIY Donut Wall Without Wood Or A Pegboard
To illustrate, we are here going for a cardboard donut wall that measures 14″ (36cm) by 12″ (30cm) and for standard 4″ (10cm) donuts to display on our DIY mini project. Like this, we will end up with 3 columns of 2 donuts underneath each other, that is 6 in total.
A DIY cardboard donut wall this size, can still be used if you’ll be displaying more donuts. If you need a place for 12 donuts, for example, you can use longer dowels so that you can fit them all.
The table below shows the recommended length of the dowels according to the number of donuts you’ll be displaying.
Note that the length of the dowels is approximately the total of the thickness of each donut (c. 1″), the part of the dowel that needs to be glued to the wall and an extra 1″ so that the donuts could be displayed nicely.
We used ⅜” (1cm) thick dowels.
Let’s go step by step.
Step 1
Cut multiple layers of cardboard the size of the donut wall you wish to have for your party. The number of layers you’ll be using depends on the thickness of the cardboard you have at hand. In total, a cardboard donut wall needs to be at least 1.5 inches (4cm) thick so that the dowels could stay firm in place later on.
Step 2
Glue together all cardboard layers
Step 3
Mark on the surface of the donut wall where the dowels are to be positioned.
Step 4
Punch holes where the dowels will be affixed using a closed pair of scissors or a pointed knife. Be careful to make holes that are narrower than the dowels you will be using.
Step 5
Apply some glue to the holes and push the dowels in their place. If the dowels are longer than 5″ (12cm) you can cut them using the craft knife. Carve the cut around the dowel. Then snap it with both hands. Trim the cross section of the dowel with the craft knife. Alternatively, you can always use a hack saw if you have one.
Leave the glue to dry.
Step 6
Hang the donut wall to a nail in the wall – it is easy to push cardboard into a nail or a screw you already have in place.
Alternatively, you can make the donut wall stand freely by attaching a cardboard stand to the back.
Cut the stand from a piece of cardboard that is roughly the same height as the donut wall.
Use the tip of closed scissors and run a line from top to bottom. Fold the cardboard where the line lies.
Finally, glue the stand to the donut wall.
2. How Do You Make A Homemade Donut Stand Using Cardboard Or Polystyrene
The process to make a cardboard donut stand is very similar to that above. In contrast to a donut wall, you can stack more donuts upon each other on a donut stand. For this purpose, you need to go for longer dowels.
Follow the steps above to finish up your DIY cardboard donut stand in no time.
Pro Tip: If you’re hard-pressed for time you can even make a donut stand in less time. Just wrap some polystyrene in aluminum foil and stick kebab skewers in place of the dowels.
3. Make Your Donut Wall Or Stand Blend With Your Party Theme
Cardboard itself looks good, but if you want to customize your donut wall or stand for a particular party theme, a gift wrap will do the job.
Before you glue the dowels in either the donut wall or stand (step 5 above), cover the base with wrapping paper.
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Hi I'm Ann
Mom to three kids, I am the proud co-founder of Easy Kids' Parties. After a career in journalism and education, I diverted my skills to creating this website, with the aim of helping all those parents out there who wish to organize amazing and memorable parties for their kids but feel overwhelmed at the idea. Discover more...
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