Hey friends! I’m so excited to share with you how to make this Christmas Tree shaped DIY Tiered Plate Candy Stand PLUS my absolute FAVORITE easy 3 ingredient Christmas candy recipe!
I don’t normally share recipes on my woodworking website…for obvious reasons…BUT I figured since I’m showing you a project to display all your Christmas candy, I might as well show you how to make an easy Christmas candy to put on it, too. That way, you’ve got everything you need to COMPLETE the project…candy and all 😉
I’m not a huge homemade candy fan, but I do have a few favorites that I make every year. Typically, I bring them to family get togethers in an old scratched up tupperware container and that’s just kind of…..lame.
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So this year, being full of festive-ness, I headed to the shop to whip up something a little less lame to display and serve my candies on. I’ll show you how I put it together here and then I’ve got my fav recipe after the tutorial 🙂
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For this DIY Tier Plate Candy Stand, you will need:
(2) 1×2 boards (I used oak for this)
Scraps for plates (plywood works great–I used some scrap walnut)
1 1/4″ wood screws
Step 1: Cut 1×2 Boards for Candy Stand Tier Supports
I cut all my angles for this project at 30 degrees and 90 degrees. So first, I set my miter saw to 30 degrees and cut all the pieces that needed 30 degree ends.
This project has three total supports each made up of three tiers. For each support I cut six boards like shown. Three boards (bottom left) with 30 degree bevels on each end parallel to each other–the long one was 10″, the middle was 8 1/2″ and the short one was 7″ long. Your measurements don’t have to be exactly the same as mine. Feel free to adjust as desired.
The other three boards (top right) have a 90 degree cut on one end and 30 on the other. The long one was 6 1/2″, the middle was 5″ and the short one was 3 1/2″ long. Now it’s ready for glue up!
Step 2: Assemble Three Support Tiers for Candy Stand
Then, I paired the long pieces, the middle pieces and the short pieces and start gluing them together.
I used some wood glue and painters tape and let the glue dry completely before moving on. If you are confident enough with a nail gun and want to shoot a nail or two to hold these together while the glue dries, that certainly would be fine.
Once the glue dried completely, I removed the tape and sanded off any glue squeeze out. Then I marked about 2″ in from the pointy tips of the short and middle pair and glued these together using wood glue and painters tape again like shown. I lined them up so that the tops were on the inside of the 2″ marks…so there was a 2″ overhang.
There are three sets of these.
Step 3: Cut Plates for Tiered Candy Stand
I test cut several circles to see what sizes I needed for these plates. I tried this with plywood first and didn’t like the exposed plywood edges, so I decided to go with some walnut pieces for the plates instead.
I cut three round plates for this using my jig saw and ended up with one plate 6″ diameter, the next, 10″ diameter, and the last 15″ diameter.
I could have stood to make the middle and bottom slightly larger, but it is what it is and I didn’t want to cut new ones haha. I had walnut scrap boards large enough for the small and middle plate, but ended up gluing up a couple boards to cut one large enough for the big plate.
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To get my circles traced onto my boards, I found it easiest to find a round object about the size you want the plate and trace it onto the boards then cut that out with a jig saw. But, you can also make a simple jig like I used in this round tray project to draw your own circles to the exact size you want.
Step 4: Assemble DIY Tiered Candy Stand
Before putting all the pieces together, it’s best to go ahead and finish all the pieces. I used a simple food safe beeswax finish on this, but you could also use a water based poly. Once these are fully cured, they’re usually considered food safe.
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Then, I started screwing the pieces together. I dry fit all the plates in on the supports and arranged the supports so that they looked pretty evenly spaced. Then, starting at the top, I predrilled and drove 1 1/4″ wood screws through the bottom side of the supports.
I’d like to say this whole process went smoothly, but I ended up breaking one of the three supports while screwing the middle piece in place. Whoops.
So I went ahead and screwed the second tier in the same way as I did the first, and then glued the support back together. See clamp in bottom right haha.
Then I screwed the bottom plate in place and let the glue dry on my broken support.
Step 5: Add Top Block and Hardware
I cut a scrap piece of 1×4 and glued it onto the top of the stand just to kind of tie together the loose ends at the top, then attached a hitching ring that I spray painted black to the top of the block.
I attempted to super glue the ring in a vertical position and it worked okay for decoration, but probably won’t hold if I actually used the ring to carry the stand. That’s okay, though…I just wanted it as decoration anyway.
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Then, I added some candy, some sugar cookies that Danny made, and a little decoration and she’s all dressed up and ready to head to the next Christmas party…or just hang out on my kitchen table so I can eat all the candy 🙂
Speaking of candy, though, I promised I’d share my favorite SUPER EASY 3 ingredient candy recipe with you. By the way, we call them haystacks. So here’s that…
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All you need is:
5 oz Chow Mein Noodles
1 bag butterscotch chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
On LOW HEAT (don’t get it too hot or it’ll burn and taste gross), melt the 1/2 cup peanut butter and butterscotch chips in a medium pot on the stove. Stir and melt until it’s smooth (not lumpy), then drop in a few noodles at a time, stirring to get them covered before dropping in some more.
Once all the noodles are mixed in, spoon out onto wax paper on a cookie sheet then refrigerate until they’ve hardened. Then try one….AMAZING 🙂 haha.
And that’s it! An easy way to display your Christmas candies–or appetizers, whatever–and an easy candy recipe. Now you’re ready to dive into the holiday season 😉
If you want to check out some other fun holiday projects, here’s a few favorites 🙂
If you enjoyed this project, I’d love if you’d pin this for later 🙂
Until next time, happy building 🙂
