O Donut Tree

I wanted to share my latest Supermom Moment. My daughter’s pre-school teacher knows about this blog, and that I’m a bit crafty. So she asked me to bring a treat to Piper’s Christmas program today and casually mentioned how she couldn’t wait to see what I came up with, but “no pressure.”

Why is it that as soon as anyone says, “No pressure,” I instantly feel pressure?

When I asked Piper what she wanted to bring for her friends, she quickly replied, “Donuts with sprinkles!” Which brought to mind this adorable donut tree I’d seen around Halloween. After a quick call to a local bakery to order 3-dozen donuts and a trip to the craft store to pickup some green candy melts and a styrofoam cone, here is what we brought today:

A few notes from my experience following the Donut Tree tutorial available at One Charming Party:

:: Be sure to use full-size donuts, at first I thought their picture was of the mini kind.

:: I didn’t need 45 donuts for my event, which is what the tutorial calls for. So I simply used a smaller cone — my cone was approximately 18 inches tall and held 26 donuts.

:: Instead of chocolate chips, I “painted” my styrofoam cone with green candy melts. It seemed more fitting for a Christmas tree. (White chocolate and green food coloring would work too!)

:: BEWARE: When warming those candy melts up in the microwave be sure to heed the package instructions to use 50-percent power. I ignored this the first time and it scorched and smelled like roasted marshmallows (mmmm!) — pleasant smell but the coating was unusable.

:: Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time for the candy coating to cool and harden. I did mine before going to bed last night and then hung the donuts this morning. You can also refrigerate to speed things up. (And in case you were wondering, coating the cone is a must to prevent the little bits of sytrofoam — which no one wants to eat — from sticking to your donuts.)

:: Simply placing your cone on a pretty tray, like shown in the tutorial, works if you assemble the tree on site, but I needed to transport mine already assembled to the party location. Superdad cut a scrap piece of wood into a 7×7-inch square. He hammered two long nails through the back so they would be sticking pointing-side-up on top. I covered the board with aluminium foil then pressed my cone onto the nails.

:: I secured my donuts to the cone with Club Frills — the slightly longer toothpicks that are used on club sandwiches, with that fun cellophane on the end. The extra length made things easier, and the green frills seemed just right for a Christmas tree.

:: Once I got the donuts on the cone it was hinting at a tree shape but definitely missing something. Lightbulb moment: a star, of course! So I quickly cut a couple out of yellow paper and glue them with a sandwich in the middle. Stuck it on top and the masterpiece was complete!