Recipes & Cooking Breakfast & Brunch Breakfast Bread & Pastry Donuts 5 Cute Decorated Donut Ideas for Special Occasions and Holidays Dress up your donuts (store-bought or homemade) with clever decorating ideas that go way beyond sprinkles and sugar. By Andrea Beck Andrea Beck Andrea Beck served as garden editor at BHG and her work has appeared on Food & Wine, Martha Stewart, MyRecipes, and more. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on February 9, 2023 Close Make breakfast a little cuter in the morning by using our decorating donuts ideas for these donut recipes (we won’t judge if you save them for dessert). You can make homemade donuts, but these tricks for creating cute donuts work just as well with store-bought, too. We also have a few holiday donut dress-ups if you need a sweet breakfast for a seasonal occasion. We’ll teach you how to decorate each so you can impress dessert-eaters and brunch-goers alike with donuts that are a treat for the eyes and taste buds. 01 of 05 Polar Bear Donuts Get the Recipe When you’re through with our decorating donuts ideas, no one will even guess these sweet polar bears started as plain cake donuts. A mix of white frosting and shredded coconut makes realistic-looking polar bear “fur,” but the real showstopper is the powdered donut 3-D face. Marshmallow feet, ears, and a nose also help take each polar bear to new heights. Tie it all together with chocolate frosting—piping on footprints and eyes brings these cold-weather creatures to life. 02 of 05 Donut Fruits Get the Recipe Making your donut look like fruit doesn't count as eating fruit for breakfast. But even though these aren't actual pineapples, kiwis, and watermelons, you can make them look darn close with our decorating donuts ideas. The trick is colored candy coating—you can use different colors to coat the donuts—like pink for the watermelon center—and pipe it to form the pineapple stem. A few extra touches, like using mini chocolate chips for watermelon seeds and crushed graham crackers to mimic a kiwi peel, make these cute donuts look like they're fresh from the produce aisle. 03 of 05 Panda Donuts These might be the cutest donuts we’ve ever seen, and our decorating donuts ideas are super easy. For the most panda-like donuts, start with chocolate cake donuts, then dip them into melted white frosting. Next, mini chocolate sandwich cookies are easy to attach as ears—just cut two tiny slices on each donut and slide them in. Finally, finish off each panda by creating a face using melted semisweet chocolate pieces. These cuddly panda donuts will be especially popular with animal lovers at your table. 04 of 05 Scary-Good Halloween Donuts Halloween is usually all about the candy, but these donuts deserve a spot around the cauldron, too. Decorate a donut to match your costume! Fake fangs and a drizzle of strawberry jelly make a convincing vampire, while strips of white frosting turn plain powdered sugar donuts into spooky mummies. You can also make creepy edible monsters with candy melts and candy eyes, and crawling spiders with brownie-bite bodies and long, chocolate-frosting legs. These spooky donuts will help you start your day with a treat—not a trick- for a holiday that's all about indulging in sweets. 05 of 05 Winter Wreath Donut Bites As this sweet recipe shows, you can dress up more than just glazed and cake donuts. Give donut bites their moment in the spotlight by arranging them into a festive winter wreath. The process is simple—place donut holes in a wreath shape, then pipe on the green frosting, resulting in a cute holiday wreath. To add an extra touch, pipe on a red bow after you’ve frosted all the donut holes green. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit