DIY Party Animal Cake Toppers

Every time I see a party animal cake I cannot help but melt a little bit. There’s something about tiny animal figurines in party hats that is just the cutest thing. So when I was thinking about smash cake themes for my youngest son’s first birthday, I first thought about his current favorite book (Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? By Dr. Seuss), and then I thought, baby farm animals in party hats would be right up his alley (and mine too). Just look at how cute these cake toppers turned out!

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After searching Etsy and Amazon (and all the internet places) for the perfect baby party animal cake toppers, I did find some beautiful handmade sets that I was planning on ordering. And then life got busy and I completely forgot about the cake toppers until they couldn’t be shipped here in time. So I decided I had to make them. And you know what? It was very easy with a hot glue gun, some mini pom pom balls, colorful cardstock, and of course, the baby farm animal figurines. 

This party animal cake topper tutorial will work with any animal figurines you can think of. Whether your theme is jungle animals, zoo animals, farm animals, or any other kind of animal, you can follow right along to make the perfect mini party hats. 

One of the best things about these cake toppers is that the hats are totally removable after you’re finished using them as cake toppers! The hot glue does a great job of holding the hats on the animal heads but then it will peel right off when you want it to. That means your kid gets a fun new set of animal figurines to play with after getting the cutest party animal cake ever! Total win win. 

Here’s a quick video showing how I made these party animal cake toppers:

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You Will Need

• Animal figurines (I used these) 
• Hot glue gun
• Colorful cardstock 
• Mini pom pom balls
• Scissors and pencil
• Printable template (or scrap paper to make your own)

Step 1: Make a Template

The size of your template is going to depend on the size of the animal you’re trying to fit the party hat on, and here are some party hat templates you can download to get started. You’ll basically trace around this shape onto the back of the cardstock you’re using for the actual party hats, then cut out the shape.

Roll the cardstock into a cone (party hat) and test it out on your animal figurine to determine whether it’s the right size or you need to use a larger or smaller template. 

Step 2: Make the Party Hat Cones

Once you determine the perfect template size, trace the shape onto your cardstock and repeat per the amount of animal figurines you have. Then, cut out all the shapes. One by one, roll the shape into a cone and use a hot glue gun to glue the edges together. 

Be careful with this step. Since the hats are so tiny I definitely got my fair share of hot glue on my fingers! 

Step 3: Add the Pom Pom

When you have your cone shapes, use the hot glue gun to attach a mini pom pom to the top. If your hats are extra small (like mine), you might want to use scissors to trim the pom pom down so that it’s even smaller. 

Step 4: Adhere the Party Hats 

Finally, add a glob of hot glue to the top of an animal figurine’s head and attach the party hat. Press the hat down slightly for a few seconds to make sure it attaches to the glue as it dries. 

Repeat this step for every animal figurine and then behold the cutest cake toppers ever! To add them onto the cake, I just stuck their feet right in the buttercream. 

Since this cake was a 4-inch smash cake, I only added three of the party animals onto the top of the cake, placed two around the base of the cake, and placed the rest on the party table as fun little accents. 

I will never tire of these DIY cake toppers and I hope you love them as much as I do! If you follow this tutorial, I want to see the results. Let me know how it went in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me!