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Baby showers seem to be a constant in my life. It is always a wonderful thing to celebrate a new life. Here’s a great baby shower decoration – a diaper cake!

A diaper cake makes a great centrepiece at a baby shower – either on the buffet table or on the gift table. Not only is it adorable, but it’s also practical too!

With a few decorations, you can turn a case of diapers into a beautiful diaper cake.

Supplies to Make a Diaper Cake

• Diapers – typically cheaper by the case. You’ll want at least 80. I prefer to get a case so that I know I have enough. Consider the age of the baby with regards to the size – it’s usually better to err on the side of bigger, just in case. I bought Pampers brand as that is what was on sale at the time.
  TIP:  check out sales at big box stores for case sales.
• Elastic bands – I got a bag of various sizes from the dollar store. You’ll want some small ones for the individual diapers, but you’ll also want some larger ones to hold the whole thing together. Remember, you can always wrap the larger ones around a couple of times so don’t worry about getting a mix of sizes.
• Long cardboard tube – something like a paper roll towel. I used a tube that my vinyl comes across. This adds stability to the diaper cake
• A piece of cardboard to act as the base – I just used an Amazon box. Just cut it to size after the fact. No one will see it.
• Box cutters to cut the cardboard
• Painters tape or masking tape – this secures the diaper cake to the cardboard base
• Long skewers or even take out chopsticks – these will help stabilize the layers together
• Wide ribbon – it has to be wide enough to cover your elastic bands, but not wider than the length of the diapers. I got burlap ribbon from the dollar store that was 2 inches wide. The colour and style can be anything you want to match the style or theme of the baby shower.
• Glue gun – to help secure the ribbon.
• Decorations – more on this later.

How to Make a Diaper Cake

1. Roll individual diapers and secure with an elastic band in the centre. I prefer to roll with the open end first – I find it makes a cleaner look.
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   This may seem like a big task, but don’t worry – it doesn’t take long. I did a whole case while watching one episode of Grey’s Anatomy. This is an easy task to do while watching TV!
   

   

2. Assemble the base layer. Stand up a single layer of rolled diapers around the cardboard tube which is sitting on the cardboard base. Secure the entire round of diapers with a large elastic band – they’ll fall over otherwise.
   

   

   Add more diapers around by pulling that large elastic back and inserting more diapers. Add more layers until it’s at least 3 layers deep. The number of diapers you use depends on the number of diapers you have, as well as the diameter/size of the cardboard tube.
   

   

   
   

   

   
   For my diaper cake, I used 46 diapers for the bottom layer (Pampers, size 2).
   TIP – for the outside layer, I rotated the diapers so that the seam faces inwards. This way it’s all “smooth” on the outside, all the way around. This is purely for aesthetic purposes.
3. Assemble the second layer. Just like the base layer, stand up a roll of rolled diapers around the cardboard tube. Secure with an elastic band. Add more to make the layer bigger – but not as big as the bottom layer.
   

   

   
   

   

   For my second layer, I used 24 diapers.
4. Assemble the third layer – just like the second layer. Make sure it’s smaller than the second layer.
   It should look like a 3 tier wedding cake, made of diapers!
   

   

   For my third layer, I used 10 diapers.
5. Attach each layer together by sticking a long skewer or take out chopstick down through all 3 layers. Do this a few times around the entire diaper cake. If you can’t get the skewer down through the actual diaper, you can tuck it under the elastic that is holding the rolled diaper together.
   

   

   
   

   

6. Wrap each layer with wide ribbon – this will cover up all the elastic bands. I used burlap ribbon and so I secured it with my glue gun. You would probably do something similar for any kind of fabric ribbon. If you are using a lighter, or thinner ribbon, double-sided tape may even work.
   

   

   
   

   

7. Since my cardboard tube was taller than my diaper cake, I covered the tube with wide ribbon and added a fourth layer. I inserted 4 diapers within the actual tube. Alternatively, I could’ve just cut off the excess tube, but I thought it was easier this way since I still had diapers.
   

   

8. Slide your diaper cake on to a piece of cardboard. Trace around the cardboard. Remove the diaper cake and using box cutters, cut the base out. Using wide painters tape or masking tape, make a large loop and put it on the cardboard base. Put the diaper cake back on. This secures it to the base. This simply makes it easier to move. I use low tack tape because I was worried about the tape wrecking some of the diapers (because of being too sticky). I just needed enough to secure it to the cardboard base.

Now you have the base of your diaper cake. You could leave it just like this – it looks great and would make a wonderful centrepiece. But if you want to decorate it more, read on.

I made 3 layers, but if you have fewer diapers, you could make 2 layers. There is a lot of flexibility in making a diaper cake. Make what works for you, based on the look you want and your budget.

How to Decorate Your Diaper Cake

There are so many possibilities for decorating your diaper cake. Here are a few suggestions.

• I made a cake topper with the baby’s name to put on the top. Here’s how to make a cake topper using your Cricut cutting machine.
  

  

• You could also top your diaper cake with a toy, like a personalized stuffed animal. Here’s a post on how to put HTV on stuffies.
• Wrap a garland around the cake. The diaper cake I made was a fall theme, so a dollar store leaf garland wrapped around, dressed it up nicely.
  

  

• Using your Cricut, or another cutting machine (or even scissors!), you can cut out shapes that go with the theme. Think ABC’s, animals, baby symbols like onesies or diapers. You could cut out the baby’s name or first initial as well.
  

  

• Add small baby items to the cake – top it with a baby bottle or sippy cup. Add a soother, baby thermometer or other, small baby items throughout the diaper cake, on various layers. These little extras will all be helpful to the new mom. Secure with double-sided tape or looped painters tape or masking tape.
• You could even wrap the entire cake in tulle or cellophane. This makes it easier to move and transport.
• Artificial flowers make nice decorations as it really mimics a cake.
  

  
  

Displaying Your Diaper Cake

As mentioned, this cake makes a wonderful centrepiece – either on the buffet table or on the gift table.

Want to get extra fancy? Put the diaper cake on a cake stand!

There are so many possibilities that this crafting project can be customized and personalized in any way.

What a practical and adorable baby shower decoration! For my diaper cake, I used a total of 84 diapers. The number of diapers you use depends on the size of the diapers, as well as the number of layers. You can easily make this with fewer diapers (just 2 layers) or more diapers (wider layers and more layers).

Looking for other baby shower decoration ideas? Check out this blog post here.

Have some extra diapers? Turn them into table centrepieces – stay tuned for my next blog post where I make table centrepieces with diapers.

Want to remember how to make this adorable diaper cake? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.