Ten Steps for Making an Easy and Unique Wedding Present

June is the most favored month of the year for having a wedding. With that time of year fast approaching, you may be trying to decide what to make for the bride and groom that they both will consider special, and that can be a daunting task. Creating something useful for them that will be a part of the wedding itself, or at the reception can be the perfect solution. Because most people bring a card or gift to the wedding or reception for the intended, offering to create a card box that is shaped like a wedding cake for them to use on their gift table can be a great way to express your sentiment and appreciation for their upcoming event.

The items you will need are:

Three large hat boxes that are three inches apart in size so you can tier them.

Material or craft paper that you think will suit the decor of the wedding or reception.

Adhesive spray

Craft Glue

Crafting knife

Round-stone sequin strings

A cloth tape measure.

Various decorative items such as paper or plastic flowers, rhinestones, jewels, or other various sized party favors that relate to the wedding.

A topper. You can create your own using a photograph of the bride and groom or you can purchase a bride and groom piece from a store to place on top. If you create your own, have fun with the project by adding a tiny bouquet of flowers into the bride's hands (if the wedding is traditional), a garter in the man's hand (if humor is appropriate), a strip of sequins over the bride's veil, or any number of other ideas that would personalize the gift even more.

Now it is time to create the gift.

First you will want to take the lids off of the hat boxes. Trace around them on the back side of the material or decorative paper that you are using for the project. Cut around the tracing, leaving about an inch or a little less of excess all the way around the circles.

Second: Use your spray adhesive to secure the paper to the bottom of each of the two smaller hat boxes and the top of the lid itself for the larger one. Tuck the excess material under the lid for the largest one. Smooth out the wrinkles very carefully as you go along on all three hat boxes. These are going to be the tops of the layers in your cake card box.

Third: Use your tape measure to get the length of the sides of the boxes both vertically and horizontally. Cut out the paper or fabric accordingly, again leaving about an inch or a bit less of excess all the way around the material.

Fourth: Spray your adhesive onto the sides of your hat boxes, again tucking under the excess paper and being careful to get all creases and wrinkles out as you go. You can match seams if the paper or material you are using does not go all the way around.

Fifth: Take your crafting knife and cut a slit into the top of the bottom hat box lid (the largest one). This is going to be the slot that the guests will use to put their cards inside of.

Sixth: Once the material you've put on is completely dry, place your now-covered lid on the top of the bottom box (the largest one). This is your bottom layer.

Seventh: Now you are ready to decorate the layers of the cake card box with your string rhinestones. Carefully glue them into place where you would like them to be. You can put a ring around the cake layers, just at the top and bottom of each layer, drape or swag them along each side of the cake like is traditionally done with frosting on a real wedding cake, or do a combination of both.

Eighth: Now you want to place your rhinestones, flowers or other decorative items in place. Use smaller items for the top layer, larger ones as you work your way down the tiers.

Ninth: Put your centerpiece of choice on to the top of the cake and secure it. If you are creating your own, putting the pictures into foam and securing that to the top of the cake with glue will ensure that your centerpiece holds up.

Tenth: Now you want to glue your tiers together so they do not move about when the guests are putting their cards into the slot. Glue them at the base of each layer and allow to dry for 24-48 hours.

You now have a unique and adorable gift idea that the bride and groom are sure to cherish. Just make sure to obtain approval from the bride and groom prior to making this gift to be sure one has not already been made or approved by them through their wedding planner or another source.