How To Make A Diaper Cake Or Diaper Jeep Cake – Cute for Baby Showers!

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Diaper Cakes – How To Make a Cute Baby Shower Gift On A Budget!

Making a fun gift out of diapers for a baby shower, or for expectant parents, is such a great way to present a baby gift. It does not take a lot of extra supplies to make a baby shower gift extra special. Just buy a box of diapers, and and of the other items you would be purchasing for a gift anyway, and then put it together as a super cute diaper cake or diaper jeep to leave a lasting impression with your gift.

There are so many baby items that are affordable. Plus, if you shop ahead you can get some great deals on diapers. If you are one of those who stockpile your free items here is a cute way to turn those frugal finds into gifts that look anything but cheap – make a diaper cake!

I remember getting a diaper cake at my last baby shower, and it is one of the gifts that stands out the most in my mind. It was so fun to receive, and they are so fun to make too!

Beyond Diaper Cake Ideas….

While a diaper cake is the easiest to make, I had so much fun doing this jeep diaper cake for an upcoming baby shower. I used the diaper box itself for the frame, and it only took one box of receiving blankets (3-4) and a box of baby wash clothes to wrap it and turn it into a jeep. Then you can decide what additional items you want to add beyond the diapers, if any. So it works nice with lots of different budgets that way.

I packed the back of this diaper jeep with additional gifts, but you could easily just add more diapers back here (I had plenty let over from my box of diapers, if you prefer to do it that way to save costs).

Here is more information on how to put together a diaper cake, or diaper jeep as your next baby shower gift. The idea is more to inspire you with the basic idea, and then you can take that and make it your own. There are a number of videos and tutorials online too, if you want to see more ideas on other takes on these cute baby shower gifts.

Ideas for how to get the items to use in diaper cakes or jeeps at BIG Savings:

• Check out our weekly Diaper Deals post for the best prices on diapers to use for the diaper cake!
• Check out the Amazon Baby Outlet Sales page here, for lots of great deals on items you can get to make a fun diaper gift for your next baby shower!
• Use Trial Size Baby Items to stuff in the diaper gift, as another idea on ways to save on this gift.

If you do not want to make your own, you can also find the diaper jeeps on sale on sites like Etsy here as well.

How to Make A Diaper Cake:

Diaper cakes are really simple. Since this is the simplest of the two diaper gifts, we will start here (skip down further if you are looking for the diaper Jeep How To Instructions). You can make them two or three layers (or more if you want), and then stuff them with additional items, or just gift it as diapers.

Supplies needed –

• You will need a base. Something as simple as some cardboard you have around the house can be covered with foil or you can purchase a nicer cardboard base at your craft store/ party store
• One bag of small rubber bands (about 50 ct and preferably the clear ones if you can find)
• About 8′ of 1″ ribbon
• All of those baby items you have been stocking (J&J buddies bars, diaper cream, shampoo, lotions, bottles, stuffed animals, q-tips…whatever you have on hand)
• The diapers you have stockpiled (approximately 50)
• Double stick tape (although you can make any kind of adhesive tape work)

How to make the diaper cake –

1) Roll each diaper up (so it ends up looking like a toilet paper roll). Secure with a rubber band. If you want diaper design to show keep design on outside as you roll, if not roll design side of diaper inward.

2) You will be making 3 tiers ( If you are short on diapers you can do two tiers and top with stuffed animal for third tier, or even just do a one tier cake, and decorate the top with items).

To assemble first tier start with one diaper as your center and stand 5 or six diapers around that. If you have a bottle you can use that as your center rather then a diaper for a more decorative look. You can also fill it will small items like pacifiers, etc. if you have those on hand. Secure outside of tier with ribbon (if you have narrow ribbon on hand you may want to start with that so you can use your one inch ribbon more concisely for finishing touches).

For second tier use similar technique only using approximately 15 diapers to create tier. Once again secure with ribbon.

For third tier use approximately 27-30 diapers. To make this big tier easier tie off a smaller circle of diapers and continue to build around that.

3) Take your cardboard base and secure the largest tier to the base with double stick tape (you want to keep it from moving around, but not end up making it difficult for recipient to take apart). Place second tier on top of that, again securing with tape. Lastly place the smallest tier on top, also securing with tape.

4) Wrap your 1″ ribbon around each tier in an attractive way.

5) Now the fun part, begin to stuff all of the freebies in each tier in a decorative way.

How to Make A Diaper Jeep Cake:

Supplies needed –

• 40 to 60 diapers (depending on how you want to add them to the jeep – I used size 1 – I also bought them in a diaper box vs bag, so I could use the diaper box for the jeep frame)
• Diaper box
• Packing tape
• Rubber bands
• 3-4 receiving blankets
• 3-4 washcloths
• two paper towel rolls
• Safety Pins (optional)
• 3 inch wide ribbon (optional)
• Stuffed Animal to drive jeep (optional)
• Baby Booties for side mirrors (optional)
• Items to fill jeep (optional)

To make your Jeep Diaper Cake:

Start by cutting your cardboard into the shape you will need for the base of your diaper jeep cake. You can use scissors or a utility knife for this step. I cut off three flaps, and left one for the front of the jeep hood.

I then cut out the front of the jeep (so you can create the grill), tape the hood part to the sides, to make it strong, and cut out two strips of cardboard from the excess to make the roll bars.

To cut out the roll bars, I measured the width of the box (that is how long you will need to bar to go across the top) and then decided how high I wanted it to come up on each side. Then make sure you have the main part (width of jeep box) and the two sides to make it come up (and fold it where you will want it to bend).

I also reserved some extra cardboard to create the seat inside and a license plate (totally optional).

Once you have your cardboard cut out, it is time to cover your jeep body with blankets and wash clothes. There are lots of ways you can do this, so just play around and find what works best for the look you are going for.

For my jeep I used the wash clothes to line the inside of the box (securing with packing tape) and then used one folded receiving blanket to line the outside body, and one to go across the hood (also securing these on the bottom with packing tape). I then used a receiving blanket for each of the roll bars (so 4 total for me) but again, there are a number of ways you can wrap this and this was just the one I chose. Play around with it some, to see what look you like best.

Once I had my jeep wrapped, it was time to work on the front grill. You can do this a couple of different ways too, but this is what I chose to do. I bought two sippy cups I used for bottom lights (you could use bottles, or just wrap diapers in a washcloth too). I then rolled 4 diapers to use for the top light and secured with a rubber band. Folks do this step in lots of different ways, this was just what I liked for my jeep best.

To make the middle part of the grill, many just use diapers (use around 9 diapers going vertically in this space). I chose to use around 13 diapers set horizontally, and cover them with a striped washcloth I had on hand for my jeep. Play around with this step to see what you like best.

I then set in a piece of leftover cardboard to act as a seat (also covering with a second striped washcloth I had. Another idea here is to put two diapers over this to look like seats). Then I added a pack of baby wipes here, to use as the seat for the stuffed animal I planned to have drive the jeep.

To Make the Wheels –

I used 7 diapers for each wheel – 6 to roll up, and one to wrap around it.

Start by lining up your 6 diapers as shown above. 

Then wrap one set around one side of the paper towel roll.

Roll the 7th diaper around the outside of the wheel to balance it out,  and secure with a rubber band.

Finish it off by taping some of your ribbon around the rubber band to disguise that. Do this for all four wheels, and then you can set your diaper jeep on top of these to finish the look.

To make the roll bars for your jeep, lay out a receiving blanket, and the strip of carboard you made earlier. You could also use felt for this step instead of a receiving blanket. The felt looks a little nicer, but I liked the idea of using lots of things that were also baby gifts to complete the jeep. You decide which way works best for you.

You will roll up the blanket to cover the cardboard bar. I secured my blanket using safety pins, but you could use tape if you prefer.

Then bend (where you already had the bend marks made) and insert in your jeep to look like roll bars!

This step is completely optional, but I used two baby boots to make side mirrors coming off both sides of the diaper jeep cake.

I used safety pins to secure mine, and it turned out so stinking cute!!

Once you have all the components completed, rest the diaper jeep body on top of the 4 wheels you made, and fill her up! You can really customize this so many different ways, depending on your own style and tastes, so play around with it until you love the way it looks. I then rested my completed diaper jeep cake on a piece of foam board, to make it easy to transport to the baby shower.

This is such a cute and memorable gift for the expecting mother you know. You could even just buy the diapers and use it as a way to display them in a very memorable way for the mom to be you know!