My Mom turns 60 next month, and I've been thinking about the cake I want to make her for months now! I'm planning on putting antique things on it, like a cup and saucer, buttons, old keys, etc. made out of chocolate. In going with the fancy antique theme, I've been looking for a pretty way to display the cakes. I found these cake stands on Amazon (and some other sites)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B001QOGN00/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=284507&s=kitchen

But I can't really justify spending $100 on cake stands that I will rarely use. I'm thinking of getting something simpler, but would like to maybe get some jewels to hang like the ones on the dream cake stand. Where do you get those kinds of jewels? Are they glass beads? Do they have them at craft stores? Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Do you have a HomeGoods near you? I get cake stands there all the time for under $10...fancy as you can imagine.

Those are beautiful! You can buy beads (large and small) at local craft stores around here so I'm sure you can find them. If you are only finding smaller ones then try looking at lighting stores. They sell replacement crystals (or glass) for lamps. I've even seen them at the hardware store. You could also check thrift stores and see what you can find. Good luck!

Thank you both for replying so quickly, and with such good ideas!

Hmm the closest HomeGoods store is an hour or so away. I might have to take a field trip!

Thanks for the info on where to find those beads! I'm not very crafty, so I've never run into them before and wasn't sure where to look!

I hope I can come up with something that my Mom will love!

I have a stand pretty close to that one that I purchased at a local boutique shop for $35.00. It is beautiful to display dummy cakes on but is not sturdy enough to hold actual tiered cakes as they are much heavier and would be top heavy. The glass just fits inside a channel on some rubber stoppers. Same goes for the metal ones I've got from the Home Store. While they are beautiful and would work for a layer cake not really supportive enough for tall tiers. Pam

Thanks for the info Pam. I was just going to do 3 separate cakes, not stcked tiers. That way I don't have to worry as much about driving the cakes to my mom's party. So hopefully the cheaper ones will work for that!

Check local antique stores for chandelier crystals. Michaels, Walmart have a limited selection of beaded fringe. Jo-Anns has a much larger selection. It is little strings of beads hanging down from a ribbon. Also check crystal garlands in the wedding and/or silk flower section of Michaels. Or similar stores available near you. I just used all of the above to make a fancy schmancy chandelier out of an old ugly light fixture. You can also watch thrift stores for cake pedestals.

Well I ended up driving up to HomeGoods today and bought some plain pedestals with ribbon on them.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5390690&l=da55835414&id=559582513

I figure I can change the ribbon out for the colors I want, and could hang some sparklies from it too if I want. Not as fancy as the ones I originally wanted, but I think I can use these for more things. And they were less than half price of the fancy ones.

Thanks for the help and advice everyone!

Great choice, they will be perfect and you can customize them as much or little as you want.