Diaper Cake (Nappy Cake-UK)

A diaper cake is a great gift that can be utilized as a centerpiece or decoration for a baby shower. You can make them in all sizes and add lots of cute baby accessories to them or keep them simple and elegant. This is a very simple diaper cake that I made for my dear friend who just adopted two little girls from Ethiopia. I was primarily making it as a centerpiece for her "adoption shower" party, but hid a few surprises inside.

Things I Used:

12" card board circle wrapped in tissue paper (could use decorative plate as well)

55-60 diapers (size 3s)

55-60 - 12" pieces of white yarn (or small rubber bands can be used)

6-7 large rubber bands

2 yards each of two different coordinating 1 1/2" thick ribbon

How I Made It:

1) Set the diaper in front of you with the opening towards you and if there is a decoration on the waist face that up as well.

2) Tightly wrap up the diaper away from you (from the open end towards the folded end).

3) Keeping a tight hold of the wrapped diaper, tie a piece of yarn around it or secure it with a small rubber band.

(Note: I choose to use white yarn as it was what I had on hand at home, plus it blends in well with the color of the diapers and has a softer look than a rubber band.

4) Place a large rubber band around a special item to be in the middle of the cake like a little jar of candies for the mom, a baby bottle or a bottle of round baby soap/shampoo like I ended up using later. Start taking diapers and putting them under the rubber band next to the jar.

5) Keep adding diaper until you go all the way around the jar.

6) Add another large rubber band around the first circle and continue to add diapers around that first circle underneath the rubber band. By now you may want to place your ring of diapers on the base that you are going to use.

7) Add a third rubber band around your second circle and start filling in diapers to make your third ring.

8) Start making the second tier of the cake by doing the same as the first layer but with only two circles and again with an jar of goodies, using the top of the baby bottle from the first layer or just another diaper. Set the second layer on top of the base.

9) Create the top layer by again using a bottle or diaper for the inside, wrap with a rubber and stuff diapers around it.

10) Next take the ribbon and wrap it around the middle of each layer cutting the ends at a slight angle. I used a bit of tape to connect the ends. I centered all the seams towards the back of the cake.

11) Next I created a bow by leaving about 15 inches of ribbon and then wrapping the ribbon around in a large loop about 4-5 times and while grasping it tight in the middle I pulled out the loops on each side to create the bow.

12) Next wrap the alternate color around the middle of your looped bow while holding the middle tightly.

14) Secure the alternating colored ribbon with a small piece of floral wire (approx. 6 inches) and twist tightly.

15) Utilize the ends of the wire to secure the bow and ribbon to the top of the cake.

16) Feel free to add embellishments to the ribbon or the diapers like I did here with small dark pink flowers. When decorating for the center piece I sprinkled around more of the dark pink flowers and placed small paper doilies under the rim of the pink "plate" to dress it up a bit.