We know a cake topper is an essential touch to your party cakes. But sometimes, time gets the better of us and we just need to get a little creative with alternatives.

With a little creativity (and scissors), it’s easy to make a last-minute cake topper! Here are some ideas we love.

DIY mini dessert toppers

Print out some cute shapes on to some card (Officeworks printing offers a variety of card thicknesses). Cut them to shape and stick a toothpick onto them. These are perfect for cupcakes, donuts or any other small desserts.

Giant circle topper

We just love the look of a huge topper on a cake! We made this one by cutting two cardstock circles. We stuck them together for extra thickness. The name customisation was done with our Cricut JOY cutting machine, but you could just as easily draw or paint your messaging. For extra sturdiness, I used a leftover take away chopstick as the spike.

Foam Sticker cake toppers

Officeworks have a cute range of foam stickers in the kid’s section. Simply take two of the same shapes and stick to each other with a skewer in the middle. So cute!

Pinata cake topper

One of our favourite DIY cake topper ideas that we’ve yet to try is a pinata cake topper! You can find instructions here on Pinterest.

Banner topper

Another idea to try one the shortlist – grab some letter stickers (easy to find in any kids craft section), cut out a banner shape and stick some wording on there.

Find some more cake topper ideas here.