Diaper Cakes-->How-To!

I absolutely love making diaper cakes because they're super easy and I get to totally spoil the mom-to-be.  Depending on  your budget, diaper cakes can run anywhere from $40 to $100+ to make.  Whoa!  Of course that has to do a lot with the type of diapers you use.  The specialized Dr. Seuss diaper cake cost about $110 to make (but that's what happens when the diaper cakes are special ordered).  So, I'll attempt to explain how I made this little jewel :) 

Supplies:
1 cake tray ($1 a the dollar store)
60 sz 1 or sz 2 diapers
100+ rubber bands of various sizes (at least 3 giant stretch kind, bought a huge bag of them for $1)
Safety pins to secure fabrics
3 bottles
Onesies or blankets (something to wrap around the large base to hide the diapers and give extra gifts)
bibs for decoration
ribbons
ribbon stuffing (ripped paper stuff)
Cake topper (like my little elephant)
Candy to fill the middle bottles if you want to surprise the mom-to-be

1. First, roll all the diapers like a newspaper and secure in the middle with a rubber band.  Some people unfold the diapers, then roll, but that takes too much time and ruins the diapers in my opinion.

2. Once all the diapers have been rolled, start securing them around a bottle with a rubber band to form a circle around the bottle (as shown in the photo above).   Repeat this step for all three tiers, arranging diapers as needed to create 3 different sized tiers.  Wrap at least one giant rubber band around each of the tiers to secure all the diapers.

3.  Wrap the blanket around the bottom base and secure with safety pins.  I couldn't find a Dr. Seuss blanket anywhere for a reasonable price so I bought this fabric at Joanns and sewed a small blanket myself.  You may also use onesies for this step by attaching them together with safety pins to create length, then wrapping around the base.  You may repeat this step for the middle tier by wrapping washcloths or something, or you may leave the middle tier naked and decorate with ribbons.

4. Stack the middle tier on top of the base.  Let the bottom bottle push the top bottle up to help stabilize the two tiers. Add the top base.

5. If you want to add bibs, the best way to do it is between the tiers hanging on the bottles.

Start decorating!

6. Stuff the ribbon paper between the blanket and middle tier to cover the diapers.
7. Add little lotions, soaps, Desitin, etc.. around the top tier for display
8. Wrap ribbons around the tiers to create bows
9. Add the cake toper and secure with ribbon and/or rubber bands to the top bottle (you might have to get creative on this one...it can be tricky)

 FINISHED PRODUCTS

The bottom of the Princess cake was made with onesies.