Easy Diaper Cake & A Baby Shower

Saturday night I helped with a baby shower for our church's wonderful Children's Director, Stephanie. I decided that I would tackle my first diaper cake to make for Stephanie. If you look on Pinterest there are tons of amazing diaper cakes. I mean, woah, people really go all out. Mine may not be as snazzy as some of them, but I was pretty proud of how it turned out. I did some pre-cake-making research to find some of the best methods and documented below how I did it. It was really so easy, anybody could do it!

 

Here are the steps:

1. I bought a pack of 65 Pampers Swaddlers (size 1). For each individual layer I lined them all up, slightly overlapping, design side up (so the outside would be white). I miss those sweet tiny diapers and I love the smell and softness of Pampers Swaddlers. Definitely the best diapers ever. 

2. Start at the end that has the diaper the most wedged under the others (since you slightly stacked and staggered them) and begin rolling inward. Use your other hand to keep the roll tight and in line. This would be easier with a helper but I managed to make it work by myself.

3. When your diapers are all rolled up put a rubber band around it to keep them in place.

4. For the bottom 2 layers, I rolled up 15-20 diapers and then went back around the outside layer and inserted more diapers. I found it impossible to roll up the amount of diapers need in the bottom layer, so I think I did like 20 and then added 10-15 more around the outside, keeping the layered look going.

5. Make sure the rubber band is aligned. This helps keep the diapers straight looking when you stack the layer. The good thing about using Swaddlers is that they have a yellow line in the middle (the wetness indicator) that you can use to line everything up.

6. This photo is of my 3 layers before they are completely assembled. I think I used 9 in the top layer, 15-20 in the middle, and the rest (maybe 30?) on the bottom.

7. Use an empty paper towel roll to keep the rolls centered and together.

8. I used a hot glue gun to attach a ribbon to each layer. I glued the ribbon so that it would stay tight. I did not want to glue anything to the diapers so that they could actually be used. 

9. Repeat with other layers. Then the best step - decorate with cute baby things off the registry!

I also made Stephanie this banner using her vintage baseball theme. I found a link that has easy printable banner letters for sports themed parties. I love how it looked hung over this fabulous mirror (the party was not held at my home).

Stephanie (in the middle) and some of the ladies from the best small group ever.

I did not make anything else pictured but I want to share some of the other great decor! Stephanie's mom made it and I like how she layered felt for a textured effect. 

Another friend made the cake. We had cupcakes too so it was decided that we should send this home with Stephanie for the rest of her family (husband and kiddos) to enjoy the next day. I bet it tasted good. (Ooh - I did make those yummy zucchini squares on the left using my grandmother's recipe. Yay.)

 To make the flowers go more with a boy themed shower they put them in baseball gift bags. How creative is that?

For one of the shower activities we all decorated onesies for baby Brewer to wear. I thought mine was cute and funny, but it was early on and I didn't realize how funny some of the other ones would be. Also the paint got smeared on mine. Therefore, for my own pride, I am choosing not to show mine and instead feature this one that our pastor's wife, Kim, made. This was awesome! Stephanie, make sure to put Brewer in Kim's onesie and not mine, my feelings won't be hurt.

 The whole group -  I hope Stephanie (and Brewer) feel so loved!