How To Make A Tiered Stand - Thrift Store Plates

Do you love the look of these pricey dessert or tidbit trays but not the price? In this post I’ll show you how easy it is to make one with thrifted plates!

This a project that I’ve done many times since I love to serve lots of small food bites! It’s an easy project for all levels of crafters. Don’t be afraid of using a drill because I promise that it’s one of the easiest tools to learn to use. You can use these stands for displaying everything from cookies to finger foods to using on a dresser for jewelry organization!

Tiered Stand Tutorial – What You’ll Need

Thrifted china – lunch size plates in various sizes.
Cake stand hardware set (buy it HERE)
Power drill
Diamond drill bit

Instructions –

Don’t be intimidated by using a drill! It’s not that difficult and if I can do it, so can you.
Turn each plate over and use a ruler to find the center, then mark with a Sharpie.
Using a diamond drill bit, begin drilling each plate going slowly. Each plate is different and will vary in hardness. If it takes you more than a minute or so you might want to stop and let the plate cool for just a bit to prevent breakage. You can also spray water on from a spray bottle (or spray on some WD40) to keep the plate cool. Don’t apply much pressure and slow and steady for the win…always!

*TIPS*
Stay away from bone china plates, as they actually have bone in the casting mixture and are hard to drill.

Once the holes are drilled you can put your dessert stand together. A set like THIS ONE has spacers that can keep the stand from wobbling. You can make the tiered plate stand with either two plates or three plates, depending on your needs.

Fill the stand with cookies, small appetizers or use as a jewelry stand on your dresser! These make great hostess gifts and be sure fill them up with yummies first!