Getting My Sealegs with a Nautical Themed Diaper Cake

Honest.com diapers, pirates and anchors

My best friend from college is having a baby boy...and that of course means a baby shower!  I wasn't the one throwing it, but wanted to do something special for her all the same.  I decided to make a diaper cake!  For this particular friend, we have a funny sense of humor and like to make light of things like diaper cakes as being over the top and a little obnoxious.  Something you would see a Real Housewife making - well, paying someone else to make - like a 6 tier diaper cake for her friends' baby shower, spilling over with frothy blue chiffon and lace.  But, I concluded that diaper cakes are also super practical and really very cute!  Since this friend and I share a mutual love for the Real Housewives, the obnoxious but also the sentimental, the practical and the adorable...a diaper cake it was!

I had gotten the idea from a blog I frequently read, at Honest.com.  I use their wonderful, biodegradable diapers on my twins.  They are totally chemical, fragrance, and chlorine free.  Safe for little ones' skin and bodies.  They are also SO cute.  I mean caaaa-yoooote!  Her shower was nautical themed and they have pirate diapers and blue anchors for boys.  How perfect!  They had some instructions to make a diaper cake and I followed it loosely, but perfected and made it easier for myself.  I also watched a few You Tube videos and I was ready to get 'baking.'

This is a shower gift that your friend or family member will never forget and you can customize so easily.  So give your old plain white disposable diapers  - chock-full of-chemicals destined to rot- in a landfill - forever -  a break!  Use some cute and chemical free diapers, customize the cake and make it your own!

To make a 4 tier cake:

 My helper sampling the goods

100 Newborn Diapers.  You can use other sizes, but make sure that you use the same size throughout so that your cake is even in all it's tiers.  The Newborn size made the cake a manageable width and height.  You will probably have some extra diapers with 100 count.  Just give the mother to be the extras - she's going to need them!  I used 80 in mine and had to fill it in with toilet paper rolls and tissue.  Extra diapers to fill in gaps would have been helpful.  It's better to get more then to not have enough!

Small rubber bands but large enough to secure a rolled up diaper.  1 for each diaper, so 100.  Get extra in case they break.  Roll each diaper individually, starting with the open end.  Make sure it's nice and tight.  Secure with a rubber band.  

A package of XL Rubber Bands.  You'll need 3.  They come in much larger packages, so you'll have extras.  I had to go to an office supply store to get the rubber bands in the XL size.  Take sections of 3 already rolled diapers and secure them together with more small rubber bands.  Wrap the XL rubber bands around the entire outside of the groups of 3, adding more groups of 3 as you go.  Fill in the gaps with single rolled diapers.  

Wooden Dowel -  24 inches tall.  Place your groups of 3 around the dowel and secure with XL rubber bands.  Do the next layer in the same manner, but make it slightly smaller then the first layer. 

Double stick tape.  Use double stick tape to attach one ribbon layer to the other.

16 inch cake plate.

Fabric or something 'purdy' to cover cake plate.  I used a small fish net that I found at a craft store, near the shells and sand for making decorations. 

Large ribbon, NOT see-through.  It will cover the rubber bands on the cake.  I did 1 1/2 inches and needed at least 4 yards.  This is the turquoise ribbon shown in the picture around each layer of my cake. 

Small decorative ribbon.  It just adds a special flair for your theme.  I used 5/8 inch white ribbon with crabs and starfish, 4 yards.

Glue Gun and glue sticks.


Wrap the double 'stuck' ribbon layers around the cake where your XL rubberband sits and secure with a small dab of hot glue.

Wired Ribbon for cake topper.  I used clear, sparkly 2 1/2 inch ribbon for making a decorative bow cake topper.  You can buy bows or have them made with your own ribbon at most craft stores for an additional fee.  I learned how to make them in my craft store employment days.  She's Crafty!

Decorations.  I went to the craft store and found a bag of misc seashells, starfish, a fishing net, cake plate and all of my ribbon.  You could do flowers for a little girl or butterflies.  You could go to the dollar store and get little plastic trucks for a different themed boy cake.  The possibilities are endless.  A fabric store will have more ribbon selection for cute theme-y ribbon also.  Go simple if you just want boy or girl or neutral colors. 

Hot glue your accessories to the ribbons (cardinal rule #1- NEVER glue anything to the diapers themselves).  Glue your ribbon or netting underneath the cake plate, so that no one sees it!

Set your completed cake on top of the cake plate.  No need to secure, just set it up so that it's the star attraction of the shower!

Accessories.  Soap, cream, wipes.  Some people use these as the insides to their cake.  I found this made the cake a little lopsided.  Instead, wrap up your extra diapers and the misc diapering supplies in matching paper.  I used black pirate paper to offset my white pirate diapers.  I used some of the ribbon from my cake to match and make the whole thing cohesive.  I even found a nautical sweater in little boys 3-6 months I put in the box.  Theme complete!

Voila!  Amazing, adorable, slightly obnoxious but always practical and cute!  A diaper cake made easy for the masses, but unique with personal touches.  Bon Appetit!