Your Christmas Party Guests Will LOVE This DIY Doughnut Tree

This DIY donut tree is a fun and yummy recipe that everyone at your Christmas party will adore! With simple ingredients and easy steps, you can make this quickly and on a budget. It’s the perfect kids’ activity to keep little hands busy when you’re prepping for the holidays, too!

Looking for more Christmas or holiday party ideas? Check out the best holiday punch, these DIY candy Christmas trees, and the 25 most popular Christmas appetizers.

Let’s get this out of the way first– the interwebs can’t agree on whether to spell it ‘doughnut’ or ‘donut’. So I’ve used both spellings interchangably so I don’t upset Google because we use that word a lot in this post. 🙂 Now that’s that’s out of the way…

I seriously am having trouble believing we are so close to Christmas! Maybe I should get my act together and wrap some of these presents. Ha!

I must say, though, I really do enjoy holiday parties. It’s a chance to get all dressed up and do what’s obviously most important at parties – eat. With SO much on my mind around the holidays, I often compartmentalize tasks and that means sometimes the fact I promised to bring some delicious treat to a holiday party sneaks up on me… which means I end up waiting until the last minute to make something. Oops!

No worries. This is the perfect Christmas party treat for classroom or church parties, brunches, Christmas morning, or really any time around the holidays.

I’ve made this DIY donut tree before for Christmas parties in the past and they’re always a hit. The good news about donuts is they really are a universal food. What a time to be alive, you know? I mean, who doesn’t love a little powdered donut for brunch? Or lunch? Or second lunch? Or a midnight snack?

They’re small so if you want just a taste of something sweet, it can satisfy that or you can just have 4 of them. Not that I’ve done that or anything. From little kids to adults, these little white powdered donuts are good no matter how you slice them. But who slices donuts?

They even have gluten-free donuts (I’ve found them in the freezer section of Whole Foods.) Check to make sure the frosting and candy are gluten-free too, sprinkle with some powdered sugar, and you can make this for those who suffer with gluten intolerance like I do.

Christmas Doughnut Tree Video

Here’s a quick video on how to make the holiday doughnut tree, with the step-by-step instructions below:

Tips for Making the Donut Tree

You can use either mini donuts or donut holes, the tree will look a little different if you use the donut holes but both work for this recipe!
The number of donuts you use will depend on the size of the cone you use. We usually get about 3 dozen and then replenish the tree midway through the party as it gets eaten. 🙂
There’s several types of candy you can use for the ‘ornaments’ such as holiday colored M&Ms (place with the printed side down), large sprinkles, skittles, mini-gumdrops, whatever you can find. Target has some great candy in their holiday aisle.

How to Make a DIY Donut Tree

Materials & Ingredients

large foam or sturdy cardboard cone

tub of creamy frosting (do not use the whipped or cream cheese variety, they don’t ‘stick’ as well)

mini powdered doughnuts such as Hostess ‘Donettes’

knife for spreading

toothpicks

small holiday colored candy for decorating the ‘tree’

frosting piping bag with star tip

Directions

Step 1: Using the knife, cover the entire cone with frosting and then place upright on your work surface or a plate.

Step 2: Starting at the bottom, add a toothpick and then a donut on top of it. Keep adding toothpicks/doughnuts around the bottom one at a time until you’ve finished that row. Then, do the same for the row above and keep going until the entire tree is filled with rows of donuts.

Step 3: Fill the piping bag with a star tip and then the frosting, and pipe a ‘star’ between each doughnut and one one top. Add candy to the frosting stars, including the top.

Step 4: Place on a pretty dish, and enjoy!

Where to Find Materials for the Doughnut Tree

To make finding the ingredients easy, you can click on the images below to get additional details or to buy each item:

The best part is the kiddos can help make this, turning it into a kids’ activity to keep them occupied on snowy days or during their holiday break. The hardest part is trying not to eat it as you go!