DIY Diaper Cake

I see people post these crazy looking diaper cakes on Pinterest, and I've always wanted to make one mostly just to see if I could actually do it. However, I never really had a reason to put all the time and effort into making one. When I volunteered to be in charge of the decorations for my best friend's baby shower, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to try out my diaper-cake-making-skills. Challenge accepted! I probably should have read or watched a tutorial online before attempting this creation, but I'm pretty crafty so I just decided to wing it. I'm sure there are plenty of other and probably much better ways of making a diaper cake, but this is the way I came up with for doing it and I must say I was pretty pleased with the results. Presenting, one way to construct a diaper cake...

Step 1: Go buy a whole bunch of diapers. This cake took exactly 160 size 0 (newborn) diapers to complete. I used a foam cone, like the ones you get in the floral section of the craft store, for the main structure of my cake. I used a 14" cake circle as the base. Secure the foam cone to the cake circle with hot glue, making sure that the cone is directly in the center. You will build your diaper cake around this structure.

Step 2: Start rolling diapers. I was going for a fuller look so I decided to use 2 diapers per roll. Roll the diapers backwards so that the front of the diaper ends up on the inside of the roll. That way you don't see the design on the front of the diaper exposed. Secure the rolled diapers with two small rubber bands, one at the top and one at the bottom. Using two rubber bands will make it so that you don't have edges of the diapers poking out as much.

Step 3: Begin placing the diapers rolls around the cone, standing upright. Yes, I realize that the diaper designs are exposed in the photo below. After I completed this row, I figured out that if I just rolled the diapers the other way the design would be hidden. Remember, I was just winging it so I learned as I went along. Once you have filled up the entire row all the way around the cone, secure that row with a large rubber band to hold all the diapers in that row together. The most important thing to know when making a diaper cake is that you want the diapers to actually get used after this is all said and done; therefore, you don't want to ruin the integrity of the diaper. Alas, you can't use any glue or adhesives to attach the diapers to each other or the structure because that would ruin them, so instead we use rubber bands to secure the diapers. Make sure you get a giant bag of rubber bands in a variety of sizes because you will definitely need them.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 and create another row of diapers around the outside of the first row. Repeat again until you have 3 rows of diapers on the bottom tier. Yes, you will need a really big rubber band to stretch all the way around that final row of diapers.

Step 5: Continue to attach rows of diapers, stacking them in tiers until you have a pyramid. My cake had 3 rows on the bottom tier, then 2 rows on the next tier, and then one row on the final tier. I had some left over foam at the top that wasn't going to be covered so I cut off the top of my foam cone using a box cutter and made it level with the final tier of diapers. For the top of the cake, I rolled up 4 diapers and secured them with two rubber bands. Then I stuck a wood skewer (yes, like the kind you use for cooking kabobs) through the diaper roll and into the middle of the foam cone. This secured the diaper roll to the top of the cone well. Now, you have a bunch of diapers in the shape of a cake! Time to start decorating it!

Step 6: Assemble the layers of ribbon to each other using hot glue before attaching it to the diaper cake. This makes it easier to wrap the diaper cake in the ribbon.

Step 7: Wrap each tier of diapers using your assembled ribbons. Make sure that when you hot glue the ends of the ribbon together to secure it that you only glue ribbon on top of ribbon. Do not get hot glue on the actual diapers.

Step 8: Create something as a topper for your cake. I used extra ribbon to make a big bow. Attach the topper to the cake with hot glue.

Step 9: Attach other decorative pieces to your cake using hot glue if you choose to do so. Remember, only hot glue these pieces onto the ribbon not onto the diapers. I used painted wooden pieces from the craft store and I made a sign out of cardstock.

Voila! Your diaper cake is finished and ready to be displayed. It makes for a prefect centerpiece, decoration or gift for any baby shower! The best part of all is that once the baby comes you can take the cake apart and actually use all the diapers. It's cute and practical. Mommy perfection.