Diaper Cake

I made my first diaper cake last week.  I had really no idea how to start one, or how to assemble one.  I googled construction ideas and found two common ways to form the layers.  You could individually roll the diapers and form your circle, or you could leave the diapers open and stack them sideways to form a circle.  The first way seemed like more work and I didn't like that the sides of the "cake" wouldn't be smooth.  I also thought it would be annoying for a new mommy to have to go through and unroll each diaper.  So, I decided to try option B!

One way to make a diaper cake...

The way I decided to make the cake.  

I laid the diapers in a cake pan to help create the circle shape.  My layers were 6-9-12 inches.  The tutorial I used showed an empty paper towel roll in the center of the cake, but after the first layer, I decided I didn't like that (mostly because I couldn't keep it centered), so I just removed it and packed my diapers in tight.  I used two rubber bands to hold the diapers together.

These were the supplies I had picked up to make the cake! I wanted the cake to look baby themed, but not too babyish that it lost all sophistication.  I also wanted to make sure it wasn't too busy because sometimes less is more.  I wrapped my bottom layer in my biggest blanket (the whale/navy & white stripe).  The middle layer was covered in a small navy & white receiving blanket.  The top layer was covered with the back of the red & white onesie.  My top and bottom layers weren't completely covered by the blanket & onesie, so I used an additional bib and onesie to fill in the difference (it was the back of the cake and no one knew).  I used 2 rubber bands on each layer to hold the sides in place.  I used some packing tape and taped the blankets, onesies, and bibs in place.  I made sure that the tape wouldn't be showing once it was stacked. 

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the steps, but I didn't!  I laid my extra baby items between the layers, so the bottom and middle layer had a bib on top.  I stacked the cake, added my thick rope (then I cut off my rubber bands that were holding the layers together) and wasn't impressed.  It needed more nautical looking things.  I made a quick trip to Michaels and purchased the fishing net.  It was an improvement but still needed something.  I called my mom and asked if she planned to go to Walmart anytime soon because I wanted a pack of bath letters.  She picked me up a set, but unfortunatly they were all in shades of pink and green.  I had some red paint, so I painted an A, H, O & Y.  I hot glued them together, then glued them to my rope.  It finally looked complete!

My splurge was the little octopus car seat toy.  He was $16 at Babies R Us, but seemed like such an adorable addition to the cake.  And every cake needs a topper, right?!  (Austin seemed to love it too and I felt bad I didn't buy him one.  Maybe I'll go get him one soon.) 

As I mentioned above, I used packing tape to hold the layers together.  I couldn't find anything online as far was what other people used, and the tape seemed to work just fine!  It traveled really well too.  I displayed the cake on a cake stand which gave it a little extra "oomph".  I was happy with the end result, and the mommy-to-be loved it! 

The diaper cake was the centerpiece of the food table!