Easy Sand Pudding Buckets

Get beach ready with these cute sand pudding buckets! Layers of fluffy white cake, blue cheesecake pudding, and crushed cookies in a sand pail bring this summer treat all together. Whether you are trying to beat the heat or dreaming of warmer weather this fun dessert is sure to brighten up your day!

I am always happy when I am at the beach (especially if it’s Gulf Shores or Anna Maria Island). There’s nothing quite like having my toes in the warm sand and a cool citrus-strawberry mocktail in hand that puts me in a good mood.

These cute sand pudding buckets give me all the beach vibes I want, perfect for those days when I can’t get to the ocean.

This sand pudding recipe has a lot of beachy details like the sand cookie crumbs, ocean pudding mixture, lounging teddy grahams, and mini umbrellas, all inside a little sand bucket (that you can buy here!).

Upgrade the standard dirt cups recipe for this fun summer treat. It makes the perfect treat for any beach party, luau party, summer themed birthday party, or pool party. These will be a big hit no matter what the occasion, and they won’t take you all day to make! 

If these summer sand pudding cups aren’t your thing, try out these other summery treats like these fun shark jello cups, lemon strawberry popsicles, or a beach cake.

Or take a look at all of our summer recipes, where you’ll find easy dessert recipes that work for any type of summer event from pool parties to a summer picnic.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• A lot of wow factor – guests will be so impressed with all the summery details in these fun pudding parfaits. 
• Easy to find ingredients – no need to stress about having a hard time finding the ingredients. You’ll find everything at almost any store and the mini sand pails can be delivered right to your door!
• Versatile – if you aren’t a fan of cheesecake, easily switch it out for whatever flavor pudding you prefer. Plus, you can put some fun twists on the beach scene by having the bear floating in a peach ring or playing with a gumdrop beach ball. Have fun with it to make it perfect for your event. 

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

• Box white cake – I personally think the look of white cake looks the best as the ocean floor, but you can use whatever cake recipe you’d like, whether from a box or not.
• Lemon ​- don’t want a lemony cake? No problem, just leave it out altogether.
• Sprinkles ​- these are just for looks, so you can skip them or add in any color you’d like. The goal was to make this look like the ocean floor.
• Cheesecake pudding mix – any flavor of instant pudding mixes will work as long as it can be dyed blue for the ocean. I’d suggest using white chocolate or instant vanilla pudding if you aren’t wanting to do cheesecake. Lemon could also be good.
• Vanilla wafers – these can be substituted with a variety of vanilla cookies such as graham crackers or golden Oreos. 
• Decoration – recreate my lounging bear or get creative and make your own scene. You could use a mini toy shovel as the serving spoon or turn get a large sand pail to make these cute sand pudding cups into a beach scene trifle instead. 

how to make sand pudding buckets

Time to make this sand pudding dessert! Keep on reading for everything you need to know to recreate this easy recipe, including pictures to help you get the beach scene just right. 

1 – Make The Cake

Begin this fun desert by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. And prepare a 9×13 baking dish by spraying it with nonstick spray. This will keep the cake from sticking to the pan. 

Combine the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl according to the cake box instructions. Then add the juice of one lemon to the bowl and blue sprinkles. 

Now that the cake mix is finished, pour it into the prepared 9×13 baking dish. Spoon it out with a silicone spatula to get an even layer across the pan.

Place the baking dish into the oven and bake for 45 minutes (or whatever the package says). Insert a toothpick into the cake and if it comes out clean then it’s done. If not, then bake the cake for two to three more minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean, then remove from oven. 

Once the cake is done baking set it aside to cool until you are able to cut it into bite-sized pieces. You can also cut a biscuit cutter to cut out discs that fit perfectly in the buckets if you’d rather not go for the crumbled cake look.

Once cut, set aside until ready to assemble. 

2 – Make The Pudding

While the cake is cooling, prepare the pudding by combining the cheesecake pudding mix and the cold milk. Whisk to combine the ingredients together.

Then add in the blue food coloring until the perfect shade of blue and the pudding starts to thicken. Set aside while you begin to assemble your cups, refrigerate if you are not assembling immediately. 

3 – Assemble Sand Pudding Cups

Line 10 buckets up and add pieces of cake to each bucket until it is roughly half full.

Then evenly distribute the pudding on top of the cake. Or if you want to make this more of a parfait, you could always do one layer of cake, one layer of pudding, and then repeat. Then just finish off the layers of pudding with the crushed Vanilla Wafers on top.

If you’re just doing one layer of each, I recommend starting with about 2-3 tablespoons of pudding in each cup then add more until it’s evenly added into each one. You want to fill each bucket almost to the top. 

Next, to make the sand, place Vanilla Wafer cookies in a food processor (I love my little Ninja for small things like this) until you get fine cookie crumbles.

Then sprinkle the cookie crumbs over the blue pudding. Feel free to get creative, cover the entire pail with crumbs, or leave some blue showing to create a beach feel. 

Add a drink umbrella on top and a cute little teddy graham hanging out on the beach.

For a beach blanket, you can use a couple of different things like Extreme Airheads or a fruit roll-up by cutting them into small strips and laying them over the sand. Or grab some peach rings to make a floatation device instead. 

4 – Serve

You now have a fun summer treat that’s great for birthday parties or just a summery snack for the kids. This also makes a fun activity for kids (add it to your summer bucket list), let them decorate and be creative with the sand and decorations.

Or just put a bunch on a cake stand and serve alongside this shark punch for some fun beach themed fun!

Expert Tips & Storage Info

Make the cake and pudding ahead of time so it is ready to go when you are wanting to assemble it. Then just assemble it right before you’re ready to serve.

Wait to put sand and decorations on ​until you are ready to serve so the crumbs don’t become too mushy. 

Skip the sand pails ​if you’d prefer and use any clear plastic cups for the same sand pudding dessert, just not quite as cute.

Store in the fridge ​for up to three days, if there is not a layer of sand on the pudding, cover with plastic wrap. 

Make it big. If you want a bigger dessert (not individual), you could always just do this in a trifle dish instead of little sand pudding cups. It would be kind of like this Oreo dirt cake but golden sand pudding cake instead! This could be a great idea for something like a beach themed birthday party or to have at the end of a beach scavenger hunt!

Recipe FAQs

More Easy Summer Recipes

If you liked this fun sand pudding dessert, make sure to check out these other summer desserts!

• Summer charcuterie board – pile this summer inspired board full of fruits, summer treats, and fresh sandwiches!
• Mermaid punch – a tropical drink with a mermaid twist (and color). This is a new recipe that’s been a huge hit!
• Campfire cupcakes – the cutest chocolate cupcakes that look just like a perfect summer campfire! The perfect summer party dessert!
• Pool party cookies – creamsicle cookies that belong at every summer pool party!
• Oreo ice cream cake – is there anything more summery than ice cream? This cake takes it to another level!