Diaper Cake

i'm attempting to make a diaper cake. any of you ladies know how to make one? how many diapers would i need? which technique did you find useful? having each diaper rolled up and tied or bunching them together? are there other techniques? i would like to make one that's approx 2ft tall... give or take. do you also have photos to share to give me ideas on how to pretty it up? TIA everyone for helping me out!

Re: Diaper Cake

Message edited 9/16/2011 6:52:19 PM.

Re: Diaper Cake

What you should do is buy a cake platter or some sort of platter. They are cheap. Then you roll the diapers whichever way you prefer and wrap them with CLEAR PLASTIC HAIR TIES made for little girls. It is so much easier. Than you take the yellow/pink/blue ribbon and wrap it around the middle where you placed the ties, after you assemble the entire cake. Each tier will have a ribbon.

Re: Diaper Cake

thank you ladies for all your input. great photo, by the way! and teh clear plastic rubber band's a GREAT tip! i'm gonna use that for sure!

Re: Diaper Cake

~Instructions for Diaper Cake~

Ingredients:

* 68 diapers appropriate to age (or any size but each layer will be deeper the bigger the diaper)
* 2 receiving blankets (to go around and hide the diapers) for bottom and second layers
* 1 crib sheet for third layer (top)
* 1 baby bottle
* 1 newborn cap
* 1 pacifier
* 1 travel size baby shampoo, powder, lotion, and bath oil
* 1 teether – animal or fish shapes are cute
* 1 infant spoon
* 1 package of disposable changing pads
* 1 infant soft brush
* 1 infant comb
* 2 bibs
* 2 pair of booties or socks
* 1 pair of newborn soft shoes
* 8 baby wash clothes
* 1 long sleeved onesie
* 1 small stuffed animal

Additional:

* 8 diaper pins
* Ordinary rubber bands
* Card board for base
* Fabric lace and curly ribbon in color scheme
* Hot glue or regular household glue

Remember that these items are only suggestions. You can personalize it however you like. Choose colors appropriate to baby’s sex if known. Follow a theme if the parents have chosen one for the nursery. Coordinate it to the theme of the baby shower. Use family keepsakes.

1. First decide on if you want the Mom & Dad to be able to use the cake right away or if you want them to use it as a room decoration. Use newborn or size 1 diapers if you want them to be able to use right away. If making a cake to be used later use baby blankets instead of receiving blankets.

2. Roll each diaper as you pull them out of the package and rubber band them to keep them rolled – there is no need to rubber band them all if you do not want to. I find it works better if you do though.

3. Fold receiving blanket length-wise to match the height of the diaper when it is standing on end. Bring ends together and over lap a little to form a circle. Pin the top and bottom to keep the ends together. Now you have the start of your first layer. On a hard surface fill the blanket with diapers. Use the banded ones first for the outer edge of the circle and then fill in the rest of the center with the non-banded ones until it is solidly filled. Stuff it tight enough so that you can pick it up without any diapers falling out. Repeat the process with the other blanket(s) and crib sheet but over lap them more until you get the desired size for the second and third layers. (You will use the crib sheet for the top layer)

4. Now you are ready to put your cake together, wrap each layer around the middle with a ribbon. This is so you have a place to tie your items to. Now put all three layers together, largest on bottom to smallest on top. Measure from top to bottom with ribbon and double the length. Cut a little extra so that you have room to tie a knot. When you have all the layers on top of each other (stacked), look down on the cake, you can see the diapers. Thread the end of the ribbon down thru the diapers. It's a tight squeeze so you may have to take out a diaper. Then when you have it threaded through all the layers, put the diaper back in. Bring the ribbon out to the front and tie. You can pull the ribbon knot through to hide it in the diapers. Repeat three more times evenly around cake.

5. Find cardboard piece large enough to fit bottom layer of cake. I used a 12" one but the size will depend on what size your blanket is. Use an ordinary box. Put the cake on top of the cardboard and carefully trace around cake and cut out. You don't have to, but I cut a piece of felt the size of the cardboard circle and glued it down this helps the cake stay in one place. Next, glue the lace around edge of cardboard.

6. Place cake on top of cardboard base. Start by putting bottle in the middle of the top layer, you may have to take a diaper out so it will fit. You can stuff that one in somewhere else. You can start by stuffing the small stuff in between the diapers. When you’re done with that, start tying the bigger stuff to the ribbon you had tied around middle of cake layers. Roll cloth items (washcloths, onesies, etc.) and tie with curly ribbon and attach to cake. Make sure you cut a little extra ribbon so you can make curly Q's. You should also have enough of the item sticking out so they can be seen.

7. If using as a gift, you can wrap using cello wrap or a large baby blanket. A cute idea is to write out or type up a recipe card with all the ingredients in the "cake". I put the poem first, ingredients second and third the daily allowance:

Attach a poem to the cake:

Here's a special gift I made just for you,

I didn’t have to sew or even use glue,

It's filled with lots of things you see,

But most of all it’s filled with love from me!

Contains 100% of daily allowance of thoughtfulness & love.