A diaper cake is not only a cute centerpiece but a useful gift for the Mother-to-be after the shower is over and the guests have all gone home. She can enjoy looking at the diaper cake for a while and then take it apart and use the diapers.
To make a diaper cake, you must first have a plan. Is it for a baby shower? If so, is there a theme for the shower, such as cars, ducks, Raggedy Ann or Winnie the Pooh. Then you can decide what color you want to use in making your diaper cake. Next decide how many layers you want your cake to have. The directions below are for a three layer diaper cake.
You will need approximately 70 diapers in size 1 or size 2, some ribbon, rubber bands, a wooden dowel, a glue gun and a base for the cake. You will want some items to decorate the cake with and perhaps a doily on which to place the bottom layer of the cake. If you have a theme, see if diapers come in that design. If you are making a three-tier cake, you will need a cardboard base that is approximately 14 inches.
Now it is time to get started making your diaper cake. You are going to roll each diaper. This is the most time-consuming part of the project. Start at the small end of the diaper and tightly start rolling the diaper up. Place a rubber band around the center of the diaper to hold it in place. Do this with all 70 diapers. Once all the diapers are rolled, you will start to construct your diaper cake.
Take 8 of the rolled up diapers, stand them up, and place one in the center, surrounded by the other seven. Place a larger rubber band around the outside of the eight diapers to form the top layer of your cake. Use a rubber band that is small enough to hold them in place but not so tight that it indents them.
For the second layer of your diaper cake, you will start with seven rolled diapers in the center and place 12 more rolled diapers around those seven. Again take a large rubber band and place it around the outside of the diapers to hold the second layer of your diaper cake together. Keep the rubber bands in the center of the layer because you are going to cover it later. If you have trouble getting the rubber band around them, enlist a friend to help.
For the third layer of your diaper cake, you will start with eight rolled diapers to form the center. Surround the center eight with 13 more diapers. Then put 19 additional diapers around the outside edge to complete the bottom layer of your diaper cake. Again you will need a large rubber band to hold them in place. Stack the three layers and stick a wooden dowel down through the center of the three layers. This will keep the diaper cake together while being moved. Be careful with the dowel because the diapers are your gift to the Mother-to-be so you don’t want to ripe them. We will now begin to decorate our diaper cake centerpiece.
Measure to see how much ribbon you need to go around each layer of the diaper cake allowing ends to overlap, and then cut the ribbon. Wrap a piece of ribbon around each cake layer to cover the rubber bands. Glue the ends together with your glue gun or cut a longer ribbon and tie a bow around each layer. It is your cake so decorate it the way you like.
You can place a small teddy bear, baby bottle, rubber duckie or some other item on the top of the diaper cake for decoration. Decorate other layers with more small items, such as artificial flowers, toy cars, curly ribbon or anything that matches your theme or the theme of the baby nursery. Just have fun with it and make a useful and decorative gift!
