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.

DIY Birthday Cake Topper Using a Wood Number

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…

If you like this, check out the DIY balloon garland tutorial I posted for this party, as well as the scrapbook paper and yarn DIY party hats!

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:

(This post contains affiliate links. You can read more about that here.)

• 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? And for $1! I was so happy with how it turned out, and it looks great on the little cake we got (I don’t bake!).

Share my tutorial for a DIY birthday cake topper on Pinterest!