Cupcake Topiary Wedding Favors

Food and decorations don't have to be two separate things when you're having a wedding. There are lots of ways to serve assorted foods so that they, themselves, become the decorations. One thing that will look like a beautiful decoration, and feed many, is a cupcake topiary. Since you can ice the cupcakes in most any color you can easily make it to fit along with your chosen color scheme. And, since it's shaped like a short tree, it will look lovely on any table at the wedding reception. When you throw in the fact that the topiary contains many party favor cupcakes, it's one of the most perfect wedding projects there is.

Go to a craft store to get everything you need for the topiary - except the cupcakes. Choose a large ball of Styrofoam, a wooden dowel, and a clay pot. The pot should be a little smaller in diameter than the ball. Purchase a second Styrofoam ball; this one should be a size that will fit tightly into the pot.

It's up to you if you want to paint the clay pot to a more suitable wedding color. After the paint is dry, cut the small Styrofoam ball in two. Glue the flat side of one half to the inside bottom of the pot, using hot glue. Push the dowel into the ball, take it out, fill the hole with hot glue, then put the rod back in place. At the opposite end, do the same, so that you glue the ball onto the dowel.

Bake a batch - or more - of mini cupcakes. Ice them all the same color, or make different colors, so that the finished topiary contains various colors of "flowers". If you use a toothpick to draw a spiral shape on top, the mini cupcakes will look even more like flowers.

Begin sticking the mini cupcakes to the Styrofoam ball using toothpicks. Position the bottom of one cupcake against the top of the ball, and push a toothpick in through the side of the wrapper to hold the cupcake to the ball. It might take more than one toothpick to hold each cupcake. Create a circle of cupcakes around that one, and continue in this manner, until the ball is completely covered.

To finish the arrangement, tie a bow around the pot, near the top. If you want, you can write the names of the couple, or just a monogram, before making the topiary itself.

The mini cupcake party favors are delicious and look even more so as a topiary. Make the flowers pink, yellow, blue, white - any color you want. If desired, tuck some silk greenery in between the cupcakes, here and there. It's gorgeous and scrumptious.