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DIY Football Utensil Holder

Grab a soup can and upcycle it into this cute DIY Football Utensil Holder. It’s perfect for game day.

For more ways to host the best football party, check out all of our football posts.

A can, decorated to look like a football, with gold flatware in it, on a tablecloth that looks like a football field with the words "DIY Football Utensil Holder" digitally written on top.

We host our friends and neighbors at our house all football season long. So, it makes sense that we host a party for the big game at the end of the season. And, since I love any excuse to go all out and make cute food and party decorations, I’m all in. We have a football tablecloth and plates, football-shaped coasters, and this DIY Football Utensil Holder that I bring out every year.

It’s really easy to make from supplies you already have at home.

​You can upcycle a soup can or a can of beans to make this. So, if you’re already making a bean dip for your party, just save one of the cans to make this craft. Or save three cans to make three utensil holders (one for forks, one for spoons, and the last for knives).

Make your Football Sunday more special with these DIY Football-Shaped Utensil Holders. Get the tutorial at www.drugstoredivas.net.

This utensil holder will hold all of your flatware for the party. If you’d rather individual holders, check out our individual DIY Football-Shaped Utensil Holders craft.

DIY Football Utensil Holder

Affiliate links are included in this post and Drugstore Divas may make a small commission if you use them.

A tin can, white and brown card stock, glue, and scissors.

DIY Football Utensil Holder Supplies:

How To Make A DIY Football Utensil Holder:

A label being pulled off a can.

Peel the label off the can. Wash and dry it very carefully.

Quick note: Just a heads up. Depending on how your can opener is, there’s a chance that it will leave a very sharp edge on the inside. So, when you’re washing the inside of the can, you want to be very careful. If not, it’s very possible that you will cut your hand really badly when you’re washing the can.

Don’t ask me how I know.

Scissors cutting a piece of brown card stock.

Measure the brown card stock against the can. Make a small crease as a measurement line, using the edge of the can as a guide.

Use scissors (or a paper trimmer, if you have one) to cut the paper along the crease.

Glue being put on a brown piece of card stock.

Put glue around one side of the brown card stock, then wrap it around the can.

If you do a bunch of glue lines, they’ll actually show through on the card stock. That gives the paper a lot of texture, just like a football would have, making the craft a lot cooler. If you don’t want those lines, you can just do a straight line of glue across the top edge and another across the bottom edge of the paper.

Football laces cut from white card stock.

Cut a long, thin strip of white paper.

Cut three equal pieces of white paper.

A hand holding a white strip of card stock over a tin can that's wrapped in brown card stock.

Put a tiny bit of glue on the longest strip of white paper. Glue it down in the center of the brown paper.

Be conscious of how much glue you’re adding to the back of the strip of white paper. You don’t need too much to affix it to the brown card stock. And, if you add too much, it will ooze out and discolor the card stock, making your craft look very homemade (which we always try to do when we’re crafting).

A hand sticking down white card stock that's cut to look like football laces.

Glue the three smaller pieces across the large white strip. Try to make them as evenly spaced as you can, since the laces on a football are equally spaced apart.

Gold flatware in a tin can that looks like a football.

Let the glue dry, then fill it with flatware.

We suggest filling it with disposable utensils, but that’s more of a party tip than anything else. See, disposable utensils are a lot lighter, which lessens the chance this football utensil holder will fall over into your snacks. But, also, disposable utensils means they are intended to be thrown away at the end of the party. So that makes your party clean up a little bit easier.

Of course, if you’re frugal or worried about sustainability, you can use your regular flatware.

A DIY Football Utensil Holder, which is a can decorated to look like a football, with gold flatware in it, on a tablecloth that looks like a football field.

DIY Football Utensil Holder: Frequently Asked Questions

Can you use mason jars instead of soup cans?

We don’t recommend mason jars in this utensil holder craft. In this craft, you wrap a piece of flat paper around the can. That’s not really that easy with a mason jar since it’s not flat.

If that’s all you have, we recommend painting a football mason jar utensil holder rather than using paper.

​Just keep in mind that you need to paint the outside of any mason jar crafts that will have edible components inside (in this case, the utensils) in order to keep them food safe.

Are these food safe?

As long as you are using cans that held food previously (like soup cans, canned vegetables cans, etc.), the DIY Football Utensil Holder will still be food safe. You are adding glue, but only to the outside of the can, so the inside is still food safe.

Can you skip the white laces?

The white laces are incredibly integral to making this look like a football and not just a can wrapped in brown paper.

If you don’t want to cut white card stock for the laces, you could use white Washi tape instead.

You could, also, paint them with Wite Out, if you have any of that, or with white acrylic paint.

Paper football utensil holder.

Purchase A Football Utensil Holder Online:

If you like this Football Utensil Holder, but you don’t want to make it, you can purchase various football-themed utensil holders on Etsy.

You can also purchase a paper football-shaped utensil holder, like the one we have above, on Amazon.

A football coaster on a football tablecloth with another coaster and a can on top in the background.

More Football Crafts:

This football-shaped utensil holder is just one of the game day crafts we’ve made. For more ideas, check out our DIY Cork Football Coasters and our Homemade Football Flags Party Picks.

If you want even more, we have a great list of Football Crafts & Recipes For Game Day with a bunch of crafts and ideas for great food too.

Yield: 1 Can

DIY Football Utensil Holder

Grab a soup can and upcycle it into this cute DIY Football Utensil Holder. It’s perfect for game day.

Active Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Difficulty Easy

Materials

  • Empty tin can
  • Brown card stock
  • White glue
  • White card stock

Tools

  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Peel the label off the can. Wash and dry it very carefully.
  2. Measure the brown card stock against the can. Make a small crease as a measurement line, using the edge of the can as a guide.
  3. Use scissors (or a paper trimmer, if you have one) to cut the paper along the crease.
  4. Put glue around one side of the brown card stock, then wrap it around the can.
  5. Cut a long, thin strip of white paper.
  6. Cut three equal pieces of white paper.
  7. Put a tiny bit of glue on the largest strip of white paper. Glue it down in the center of the brown paper.
  8. Glue the three smaller pieces across the large white strip. Try to make them as evenly spaced as you can, since the laces on a football are equally spaced apart.
  9. Let the glue dry, then fill it with flatware.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

​Have you made this DIY Football Utensil Holder? Let us know in the comments.

Angie Rose

Sunday 18th of September 2016

Looks so easy and it's really cute!

Kim~madeinaday

Monday 12th of September 2016

Cute and simple Great for football parties. Thanks for linking up to Merry Monday! Pinned! Have a great week! Kim

Robin

Sunday 11th of September 2016

This is such a cute idea, and the best part is that it's easy enough to keep the kids busy while I'm cooking.

Susan

Saturday 10th of September 2016

I love a good repurposing project and this is a fun one, for sure. Pinning now.

Cindy Magee

Friday 9th of September 2016

Love this idea! :) We don't watch a bunch of football but have hosted football parties a bunch in the past. I'll have to use this next January!

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