DIY Diaper Cake

If I haven't told you yet - I love DIY projects, especially if it means I'm going to save money (I'm cheap). My cousin and his wife are expecting their first baby this summer, and so its baby shower time! My aunt is throwing it for her this weekend, and I wanted to get them something they would like that wouldn't also break my budget. I was getting to the shopping a little later than everyone else in our families and the pickings were slim. Anything I would have gotten would have been mashed random things and wouldn't be as cute. I thought about the different things I could get and went over some stuff in my head. I kept coming back to "those diaper cake things", they're simple, cute, and what new parents don't need diapers?! I looked on Etsy to see about buying one already made - one serious case of Price Tag Shock later, I decided to make one myself. (You'll notice some of the same materials I used as the one this chick wanted to charge $99   for! insane)

There are LOTS of instructions on-line about how to make a diaper cake, the concept isn't that hard at all. I, however, did not look it up on-line (because I always think I already know how to do everything). So I just got some supplies and winged it! Again, this isn't the most elaborate diaper cake, I've seen some with pacifiers and lotions and all kinds of crap hanging off of it. But since I wanted it to be a budget cake - and plus I don't really like the look of all kinds of crap, I went simple.

Here are the supplies I got -

• 2 packs of diapers, 90 total

• Ribbon, 1 inch wide, patterned to fit the baby shower theme (jungle) I actually already had this in my scrapbook stash

• pack of 4 receiving blankets

• Paper crinkle to match the ribbon and blankets

• Decorative animals to match the theme

I just jumped in with the rolling - With absolutely no idea how many on each layer I would include... I thought I would figure that out along the way. This wasn't an issue at all - but if you're hyper type-A you may want to plan this out. I ended up using 20 in layer 1, 30 in layer 2 and 40 in layer 3. Worked just fine. To do this, you just take the diapers, one at a time, roll them up tight, starting from the butt of the diaper and rolling it to the waist. The tighter the better. I also taped the diapers in the rolls - using a removable tape I already had as well, they should be able to peel the tape off no problem when they go to use the diapers. These are the inner diapers for the cake and also the most time consuming part.

Once I figured out how many in each layer I wanted, I just stood them up on the table and tied a ribbon around each bundle - scientific I know. Looking at some of the instructions now, I feel like people try to make this step more complicated than it needs to be. Its really pretty straight forward. Once I had all three layers bundled, I stacked them on top of each other to make sure the proportions were correct. Beginners luck - they were.

After that, I simply wrapped the receiving blankets around each layer and pinned them in place, at which point i untied the ribbon already on it and re-tied it on the outside of the blanket - then removed the pins. I found the felt and wooden animal decorations at Michael's for .59 each - you can't beat that, they're so cute. I hot glued them onto the ribbon, careful as to not ruin the blankets.

Then I wanted to add the crinkle paper stuff - also careful not to ruin the blankets or diapers. So, I cut up sone paper plates (also that I already had) and hot glued the crinkle paper to that instead of the diapers or blankets. I thought about not gluing it at all and just setting it around it and that was a disaster - would never have stayed on.  You'll notice on the middle two layers, I only paper crinkled the outer rim of the plates. I figured you wouldn't be able to see it if I did the middle anyway, and hey, waste not want not, right?

Once all the individual pieces were created, all I had to do was stack it. I kind of wish I had a cake platter thing to stack it on, but I tied the ribbon pretty tight so it didn't go anywhere. I also made a topper with the letter "E" for Evan (not pictured), the baby's name just for fun. I'm so proud of how it all turned out, I really hope she likes it. Especially since I had no clue what I was doing! What do you think - is it a winner?

And the best part is - the cost breakdown:

• 2 packs of diapers - $10 (thank you, Kroger digital coupons)

• Ribbon (already had) - $0

• Pack of 4 receiving blankets - $13

• Paper crinkle - $4

• Decorative animals - $1.77

• Tape and Paper for topper (already had) - $0

Total spent $28.77.... Eat your heart out Etsy. I couldn't believe the difference in price - especially since I used some of the same materials I found at Michael's for less than a dollar. These aren't hard to find materials or anything. I mean come on, what is she thinking charging more than triple the cost to make? Ouch.  Total savings of $ 70.23 (not including the shipping cost). 

Tell me about your DIY cost saving projects. What about any others that you were pleasantly surprised at how well they turned out?





-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



@ achina90 :  This thing isn't letting me reply to your post - I got them at Micheal's, they were in the wood craft section.  Below is a link for the same ones, but they're a little more expensive because they come in packs of 6.  I hope it helps though!
http://www.woodcrafter.com/animals-2.aspx