You guys. I crafted. I mean, I was crafty. And I went to Joann’s all by myself to pick out ribbons and flowers. Then I came home and actually did something with them! Please, someone be proud of me. I did something that I don’t love and I survived. I may even do it again! 

Actually, I had to do it again two days later. I’ll explain:

I was having a baby shower at my house for this sweetheart of a new mom, who I have watched grow up over the last twelve years. Now, I’m trying really hard to get over my phobia of decorating because I just stink at it, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pull off the kind of decor that I wanted to do. I’d be in WAY over my head. Luckily I have a killer view out my living room windows that I knew would overshadow the lack of cute decor. I decided that if I had good food and a pretty table centerpiece, we’d be alright. 

Enter the idea of a beautiful diaper cake. You’ve all seen them before. Maybe you’ve made them before. The best part about them is they double as a gift. And I figured I’d be able to throw one together. Yeah. Throw one together. Ha! It wasn’t the putting it together that was the problem- that only took a half hour, maybe. It was the picking of the embellishments that was the problem. I spent more time comparing ribbons and flowers than I did creating the whole diaper cake. Heaven help me when my three daughters decide to get married! 

I ended up buying a bunch of ribbon I didn’t need so I could make my girls help me decide what to do. They were super helpful and talked me off the ledge a couple times. We had a trial and error session to get the ribbons to stay in place, but it went together pretty smoothly and I was pretty happy with the result. 

The funny part about this is I was telling my sister-in-law about it the next day and she said, “I have a baby shower next week. If I bring diapers over to your house can you help me make one?” Twice in one weekend, people. I was crafty twice in one weekend. And I didn’t even cry once! I was so proud of myself. 

What you need for your diaper cake:

1. About 80 size one diapers. Numbers and size can fluctuate, depending on how big you want the cake.  About 40 for the bottom layer, 25 for the middle, and 15 for the top. (I used Pampers because I liked that the diapers are mostly white). 
2. String, twine or thin ribbon to tie the diapers in place.
3. Ribbon and flowers to decorate the cake.
4. Straight pins to hold the ribbon in place.
5. An extra set of hands to help tie the diapers in place. 

What you do:

1. There are two ways to get the diapers to roll like you need them to. You can layer them on top of one another, then tip them up and roll them (which may take another set of hands), or you can start creating a circle with the top of the diaper in the center and form them from there. I prefer the latter… it just worked better for me. The goal is to get them tied in place (use that extra set of hands to get the knot tied tightly enough) and then you can space them out easily.
2. Once you have them tied in place, roll a few extra diapers and shove them in the middle of your circle for support. 
3. Repeat for all three layers and stack on top of one another. I didn’t secure the layers to each other, but it would be easy to do with wood skewers down the center of the layers- quick and easy! 
4.  Measure your ribbon around each layer. Cut the length you need and secure with straight pins. I tried double-sided tape- it didn’t really work. The pins were so much faster and much more effective. I used three different ribbons on my first cake. On my sister-in-law’s we had to improvise because it was a girl cake and I didn’t have a ton of girly ribbon. Luckily, I had a spool of gray tulle that we used to go over the ribbon and it looked pretty. 
5. Arrange your flowers or other decor! I didn’t even secure them in any way- I just tucked them in the top and under the layers of diapers to keep them in place. I positioned my leaves and flowers over the straight pins so they wouldn’t show. 

That’s it! You’re done! It took about a half hour for my first cake; less for the second. The real struggle was the placement of flowers because I lack an artsy eye…  But, if I can do it, anyone can. I promise that’s a true statement. 🙂