DIY Serving Tray

Last week’s cool beverage suggestion at the end of our blog got us thinking about the next few weeks of May. Usually they are sunny and bright. There’s a holiday weekend coming up and May is the start of the season for BBQ’s, bridal showers, and backyard get togethers. We’ve decided to do a post of drinks to serve at these gatherings but first a fun and decorative way to serve them. Today we are going to show you how to decorate a tray to serve your refreshing and cool drinks on.

This is a fun and affordable way to spruce up your table and trays for your parties or get togethers. If you have an old tray that needs some TLC then use that but if you don’t, then you can pick up a plastic one (like we did) or a wooden one or even a metal one. We found our plastic one at the dollar store.

There are many different ways to decorate something like a tray but we have decided to go with Mod Podge. Our design is rather simple. We found a white plastic tray and decided to use some sparkly tissue paper and some polka dotted napkins to decorate. You can really use any colours or design; this is what we liked and thought would look nice for a Spring time serving tray.

Once you’ve picked your tray and tissue etc. you can start. Just make sure you have some Mod Podge and a paint brush or sponge brush.

So we’ve decided to put sparkly tissue up the sides of the tray and a blue polka dotted napkin on the inside of the tray.

First we measured out and cut tissue for all four sides. You’ll need two pieces per side. We left some extra length at the ends which will fold over.

Next we cut the napkins to fit. We cut the bumpy boarder off first though.

Now it’s time to Mod Podge. We started with the short sides that have the handles. We put some Mod Podge down and then laid the tissue down on and covered with more Mod Podge. You can gently brush it on so that you don’t get wrinkles, but if you do get some wrinkles, don’t worry, it adds character! It doesn’t need to be perfect. A little helpful hint...we found an old Becel container (any old smaller container or box will work) to rest the tray on. We found out that putting it down on the newspaper caused sticking and a bit of ripping.

Once you get three sides done, then allow it to dry before doing the last side. Some of the extra length tissue tore as we Mod Podged so we just ripped it off. You won’t see this as the napkins will cover the tops and you can’t see the bottom.

Repeat what you just did with another layer of tissue.

Now you have to Mod Podge the napkin. This was harder than imagined because the napkin is two layers thick and it began to tear as we applied the Mod Podge. Our plan to use a knife to cut the extra bits didn’t work so well so we ended up cutting the edges with scissors and will add a decorative ribbon piece to cover up any imperfections. We also hsve to cut out the handles holes once it's all dried too. 

The tray is all covered and will take some time to dry completely so be sure to take a look at next week’s blog where we’ll have the finished tray along with some drink recipes and drinks to serve it on it!