Happy Birthday Cake Topper
When I designed baby J’s one cake topper SVG, I actually put together a few styles. I chose the one that said “one” for that event, and laser cut it from plywood as I had planned.
But then, for A’s fourth birthday, I decided to make this Happy Birthday cake topper! The number on the balloon is added externally, so that you can do it for any age group. I’ll share more details below.
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About the Happy Birthday cake topper
The party theme
A’s fourth birthday was done in a dress-up theme. She’s a fancy dress kind of girl, so we made a fancy dress kind of party!
While I did not go with a solid color scheme, I did incorporate lots of gold, pink, and other metallics, just because she loves that. So I crafted the cake topper in those colors.
I also added some pearl beads in the form of a “pearl necklace” pennant banner on the bottom to fit with the theme.
Why cake toppers?
We have a family tradition that is relatively new to have a “birthday babka” instead of a birthday cake. It’s just that babkas are delicious – much yummier than birthday cake, much cheaper than birthday cake, and look pretty with a cake topper!
The simple babka really lets the topper shine.
Cake toppers really “crown off” a cake, and allow you to incorporate a theme without getting a custom cake (or making one yourself).
I like toppers because I’m more of a crafter than a cake decorator, so if you’re the same way, you may prefer it too.
Crafting the Happy Birthday cake topper
While I did not record a proper tutorial (this is a “make it to suit YOUR event kind of craft), here are some general crafting guidelines.
Materials you can use
Wood is one of my favorite materials to use for cake toppers. However, I decided to make this one from cardstock so that I can use my Cricut to cut it.
I chose glitter cardstock and metallic poster to go with the theme. If you’re making yours from cardstock, definitely use straws or skewers as the sticks – don’t rely on the spokes in the template. But your file does have spokes in case you’re using acrylic and want it to be in one piece.
Assembling the basics
Your file comes in a few layers, ready to cut however you’d like. I used a hot glue gun to connect the parts, and straws to place it in the cake.
When sending the file to your machine to cut (whether it’s a laser cutter or blade cutter like I used), you can add and attach, or slice elements to the balloon. Type the number of the birthday, add a first initial, or even try attaching a name to the bottom of the “Happy Birthday” portion.
Making it your own
You’ll want to tie your Happy Birthday cake topper into the party theme. Choose papers to match. For me, it was going all glam with the fancy dress theme.
You can choose patterned scrapbook paper to match your theme, and include it only on the smaller parts. For example, get leopard print paper for a safari theme and use it on the balloon only. Then use it in more of your party decorations too.
If you’d like, you can also dangle a banner, like I enjoy doing on my cake toppers. Try a beaded banner or a pennant-style one. On this one, I used glass pearls to give it a dress-up vibe.
If you haven’t yet, you can download the Happy Birthday cake topper right here!
