Free Printable Birthday Cupcake Toppers

If you have a computer and a printer, it's easy to be creative when it comes to birthday party decorations. These printable birthday cupcake toppers can help you do just that. If you've never known how to make cupcake toppers but always wondered; wonder no more. These printable birthday cupcake topper templates come in two designs and two formats: round and square.

The round cupcake toppers are for adventurous crafters with a little experience (or people who aren't experienced but are very brave), because they require die-cutting. That's not hard to do if you have the right equipment (see below for some suggestions), but you do have to get everything lined up perfectly. If you do and then follow the rest of the instructions on this page, you'll be rewarded with professional looking birthday cupcake toppers that will impress your friends and family!

If for whatever reason you don't want to tackle the circles, there are also two sheets with square toppers. These are obviously much easier to cut, because they only require a regular paper cutter or a craft knife and cutting board.

There are also two styles: one with a floral background and feminine pink and purple flowers and the other with brighter, deeper colors and a stylized birthday cake. Either will make your cupcakes look stylish! And if you need help making cupcakes, see the video at the bottom of this page that will teach you how to make vanilla cupcakes with raspberry frosting.

You'll need the following to make these birthday cupcake toppers:

• One or more of the .jpg files on this page
• A color printer
• Heavy card stock or photo paper that's appropriate to run through your printer
• A circle die cutter (for circular designs) or a paper cutter or craft knife and cutting board (for square designs)
  
• A package of lollipop sticks or toothpicks
• Dry adhesive or double-sided tape (a glue stick might also work, depending on how strong the adhesive is)

To make the cupcake toppers:

1. Please read the Terms of Use further down on the page before downloading any of the art on this page.

2. There are two formats of cake toppers: round and square. If you have a circle cutter or would like to get one (see below for suggestions), then you should download the cupcake topper artwork style you like that has circles. If you don't have a die cutter or you just want to keep it simple, download a design that has squares.

Save the artwork you want by clicking on one of the thumbnails in the right column and saving it to your hard drive. Right-click if you have a PC or control-click if you have a Mac and choose a location on your hard drive where you can easily find it.

3. The artwork is configured to fit on an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet and was created at 300 dpi (high resolution). Because it's high resolution, the artwork would look very large if you were to see it full size. But each of the files should print at 8 1/2" x 11" if you print it from one of the supplied .jpg files after it has been saved to your hard drive. I experimented with printing straight from the larger image on this page, without downloading, and it printed the wrong size. So make sure to download the image you want to your hard drive and then print it.

If it still doesn't print properly even after you've downloaded it, just paste the .jpg image into a word processing document, such as Microsoft Word or Open Office, and size the image by clicking on the corner and dragging it toward the center of the page with your mouse. It can even be pasted into MS Excel or PowerPoint, if that's all you have. Of course, it can also be placed into graphics or publishing software. Chances are that if you have that kind of software, you already know how to use it. If not, just do a Google search for the software name, plus the word "tutorial" and you should be able to find information that will help you place the artwork into your software program.

4. Once you have the artwork ready to print, make sure to use the heaviest card stock your printer will allow. You can even print on one-sided photo paper if you want, because the backs of the cupcake toppers won't be seen. Set your printer to the "best" setting (or the equivalent on your printer), so you'll get optimum quality. Print twice as many cupcake toppers as there are cupcakes, because you're going to use two for each.

6. Once the cupcake toppers are printed, they need to be cut.

Circles: To get the best results for the circle designs, use a circle die cutter. You can also use a cutter that makes scalloped edges, if you'd like. If you don't have a die cutter and would like to purchase one, I've provided links to some of the better-rated ones on Amazon in the right column. You can also use scissors or a craft knife, but the chances of the toppers looking decent will be greatly diminished. Please note that you might need to adjust the size of the artwork, as discussed in step 3, to make the art fit your particular die.

Squares: You can cut the square designs with a paper cutter (see below for some inexpensive cutters from Amazon) or a craft knife and a cutting board. As with cutting the circles, scissors aren't recommended.

7. After the toppers are cut, position the first topper face down on a flat, clean surface and lay several small pieces of double-sided tape or scrapbook adhesive (see below for some recommendations) so it covers both the middle and as close to the edges as you can get without running over.

On the second topper, place some adhesive vertically in the center, so it will hold the lollipop stick or toothpick firmly in place. Lay the second topper off to the side and out of the way, being careful not to let anything get stuck to the adhesive. Then, place a lollipop stick or sturdy toothpick in the center of the first side, so it sticks well to the adhesive. (If you're using lollipop sticks, you may need to cut them first so they're not too tall. Be sure to cut them all the same length.) Then, carefully position the second half on top of the first and stick it in place, so the printed sides are facing out and the edges align.

Once the pieces are in place, gently press them together so the adhesive holds everything in place. Repeat the process for as many cupcakes as you have.

8. Now all that's left to do is to stick the toppers into your cupcakes and celebrate -- both the birthday and the fact that you actually created your own DIY cupcake toppers!

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Birthday Cupcake Toppers Terms of Use

Feel free to use these free birthday cupcake topper templates for your personal use or to make decorations for friends or family. But you may not sell the artwork in any form, printed or digital; group the templates into a free collection and give them away; or incorporate them into products.

If you have any questions or special requests, please contact Carla Chadwick at Carla [@] B2BContentSolutions.com [.com]. (Please remove the brackets and spaces before sending the e-mail.)

If you want to show the cupcake toppers to your blog or Web site readers, you may post one of the images at a reduced size that can't be printed, as long as you accompany it with a link to this page.

Please use the following code or text when linking:

<a href="http://hubpages.com/hub/birthday-cupcake-toppers">birthday cupcake toppers</a>

If you don't know how to use the HTML code above, please use this link:

http://hubpages.com/hub/birthday-cupcake-toppers

... and link it from one of the phrases below:

birthday cupcake toppers

free cupcake toppers

cupcake toppers

Thank you!

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More Free Birthday Images

• Free Birthday Clipart
• Free All Occasion Cupcake Toppers
  
• Free Printable Birthday Party Hats
  
• Free Birthday Scrapbook Paper
• Free Printable Birthday Invitations
• Free Printable 50th Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Vintage Birthday Cards
• Free Printable Party Invitations
  
• Free BBQ and Cookout Invitations
• Free Sports Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Princess Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Quinceanera Invitations and Clip Art
• Free Pirate Birthday Party Invitations
• Free Beach Birthday Party and Luau Invitations
  

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Thanks to the following talented designers for the use of their images/fonts in the cupcake toppers:

Kevin and Amanda (kevinandamanda.com/fonts/): font for "Birthday," called Courtney Dorkling

Kevin King (kingthingsfonts.co.uk): font for "Happy," called KingThings Serifique UL Wide

Star Fire Designs (starfiredesigns.blogspot.com): cupcake

Pixeled Memories (pixeledmemories.com): floral background

Alevtina (alevtinascrap.blogspot.com): leaves

Cajoline (cajoline-scrap.blogspot.com): pink flowers

And thanks also to Sophie for providing photos of her sister's birthday party, which show how she used the cupcake toppers in various forms.