How to Make a Diaper Cake for a Baby Shower

If you are hosting a baby shower and need a good centerpiece idea, or are going to a baby shower and want to bring a decorative and useful gift, a diaper cake is just the thing. They can be made to fit any theme or color and are fun to give and receive. Read on to learn how to build and decorate a diaper cake and for some great theme ideas.

What's Needed

Diapers (how many you will need depends on how big your cake will be.)
Three cardboard bases, each about an inch smaller than the next
Rubber bands (one for each diaper)
Variety of decorating materials (such as ribbon, silk flowers, and buttons)
Round central object (baby bottle, round shampoo or lotion bottle)
Bibs, receiving blankets or onesies
Small baby items (such as teethers or pacifiers)
Double-sided tape and pins

Building the Cake

Lay a diaper, unopened, on a flat surface. Starting from the bottom end of the diaper, roll upwards towards the top of the diaper, in the same way you would roll a beach towel. Tie a rubber band around the rolled diaper to keep it from unrolling. Do this for all the diapers.

Roll up the onesies, receiving blankets, and bibs to about the same height as the diapers.

Set the round cardboard base on a flat surface. Place the round centerpiece object in the middle of the cardboard base.

Stand the rolled diapers upright around the round central object. Once you get one layer around the central object, place a rubber band around that layer before beginning the next. This will hold the diaper cake in place and make it more sturdy. Line up the onesies, receiving blankets and bibs along with the diapers while building the cake. Put them in the inner layers as a surprise when the mother-to-be disassembles her cake or put them in the outer layers so they show.

Place two more layers of rolled up diapers around the centerpiece.

Place another, smaller cardboard base on top of the finished tier of the diaper cake.

Build the second and third tiers by repeating Steps 3 through 5, using one less layer of diapers around the central object for each tier.Decorating the Cake

Now comes the fun part! The decorations you put on your cake will depend on its theme. See below for some theme ideas.

Tie ribbon around each tier of the diaper cake to hide the rubber bands. You can tie the ends into a bow, or just cut the ribbon to go just around the cake.

Use small pieces of double-sided tape to attach buttons or charms around each tier of the cake. Use pins to attach silk flowers or fresh flowers to the cake.

Prop small baby items, such as teethers and pacifiers, up on the layers of the cake.

Place a small doll or baby item on top of the cake as the cake topper. Tie a bow around it.

Diaper Cake Theme Ideas

If the baby shower has a theme or color scheme, you can reflect that in the design of your cake. You can go with a basic color scheme, such as pink for a girl and blue for a boy. You can choose to go with an animal theme. Or you can choose a theme such as bathtime (include towels and washclothes, shampoo and body wash, and a rubber ducky as a cake topper), bedtime (include bedtime lotion, a blanket, and some pajamas) or a beach-themed cake (include sand sifters, shovels, sunscreen, and sunglasses).