Yes, I made a so-called “diaper cake” last week and I’m feeling pretty proud of myself. This is now on the list of things I never expected to do, along with creating curb appeal for a deserving gnome, and knocking on a stranger’s door to ask if I can take a photo of the mushroom city in his yard. You never know where life is going to take you.
Truth is, though I am a seasoned baby shower attendee, I had somehow never even heard of a diaper cake or seen one until a few weeks ago. Before that, I may have incorrectly assumed it was an edible cake shaped like a diaper and filled with chocolate pudding. (Gross! But that would be pretty funny – surely that’s been done before?)
It has been raining babies in this neck of the woods, lately, so I have attended three showers in the last month. For the panda-themed shower held for my friend Stefanie, her sister got this adorable decoration on Etsy:
Voila! That whole thing is filled with…diapers. When I got home that afternoon, I was compelled to pay a visit to my good friend Google who suggested this excellent how-to diaper cake video:
I was pretty sure I could do this, provided I could find a free moment. Apologies to Sandra (shower #2): alas, that free moment didn’t arise until after her shower. I wasn’t able to tackle this until two weeks later, for Sara’s baby celebration (shower #3).
Anyway, I went to Staples for small and XXL rubber bands, purchased some tiny diapers, and went to Michael’s for some flowers and ribbon. Baby bottles serve as the stabilizing structure on the inside. You basically roll up about 60 diapers, secure them with the small bands, then layer them around the baby bottles and secure those layers with the bigger bands. Just keep truckin’ until you have three tiers.
I added some bow-shaped hair clips as a decorative element and picked up the topper toy at the trusty local Target:
I sure hope this baby turns out to be a girl. I probably could have gotten wider ribbon that would conceal the rubber bands more thoroughly, but live and learn.
In all, baking making a diaper cake is an easy process and the video above is extremely clear. Rolling up the diapers as if they are scrolls is the most time-consuming part. If you have a shower coming up, I recommend this as both a gift and a decoration: I guarantee that shower attendees will ooh and ahh and you will be overcome with a sense of crafty accomplishment.
In fact, I don’t have any more baby showers on the horizon, but I enjoyed this project so much that I think I’m going to bring a diaper cake to all of my upcoming social events: Holiday Party? Sure. Superbowl party? Why not. Art opening? Go crazy. Emphasis on crazy.
Thanks for reading – have you ever made one of these? Apparently, there are a few different schools of thought, as far as technique…
