I don’t usually do craft posts - mainly because there are so many great craft blogs out there already! I’m making an exception for the nappy cake - because it is such a great gift idea, for friends with a new baby.
You need:
65 (or so) disposable nappies
85 (or so) elastic bands
Ribbon to trim (blue or pink)
Lollies (lolly pops, snakes, marshmallows work well)
A round plate (about 30 cm or 12 inches in diameter)
8 (or so) wooden skewers or disposable chopsticks
To make :
Roll all the nappies into cylinders and secure them with an elastic band.
Group them together in 5 or 3’s and secure the bunch with an elastic band. Bunch a number of these together to form the bottom layer of the cake. Wrap the layer with decorative ribbon. Do the same with a smaller number to make the next layer, push a skewer or chopstick between the 2 layers to vertically secure the cake. Keep building, I generally make 4 layers.
Once the structure is together, place lollies in the crevices of the nappies. Big Sis and Little Bro love helping with the cake and this is (of course) their favorite part! It makes an especially good gift for a household with an older child - I found lolly pops can be great distractions when getting the breastfeeding of the new baby underway!
The only thing you need to check is that the new mum is using disposables - otherwise it can be a faux pas. Thinking about it - I’m sure you could do a variation with cloth nappies, has anyone come across a cloth version? If you have please leave a comment.
It’s such a great gift - as decorative as a bunch of flowers but much more useful!
Craft, Gift, nappies, newborn
August 5th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Very cute! I have seen these being sold at craft stores and at a churches yard sale. very useful.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:24 am
I haven’t seen them for sale in Australia but its a great idea - some enterprsng person should offer to deliver them to hospitals. You could even decorate them with flowers - more useful than a bunch of flowers (particularly when you are receiving 20 other bunches at the same time!)
August 6th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I dont know about promoting disposables like that……..and promoting Kimberley Clark (huggies) as well…. Do a search on the Greenpeace website to see what they think of this company. Maybe 100% biodegradable nappies might be an ok middle ground nappy to make the cake with- see www.naturescradle.com.au for the 1st nappy of this kind - i haven’t tried it so i can’t vouch for it. We are cloth fanatics… nappy cakes are not for me… Controversial post leisa…
August 6th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Good points Gina. I actually did cloth nappies (cheating with a nappy wash service) with Big Sis and Little Bro for the first few months. I did some research on presenting a post on the environmental impact of nappies (both cloth and disposable) but got quite confused by the information out there - how you factor in components like water, power to wash etc? I think my problem was that it was hard to work it all out when I have a guilty disposable nappy conscience - so to speak! Would you like to do a guest post on using cloth? I think a lot of people would be interested in a personal story of how it can be made to work in a family scenario. Possibly people think it’s harder than it is?
August 6th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
thats just like the baby scottsdale cakes! Just BIGGER hgahaha
August 7th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
ok Leisa i could give it a go.. im not much of a writer but i can get some help.
Yes i definatley think people think cloth is harder than it is - although disposables will always be easier. I don’t think many people are aware of the options available with all the different modern cloth nappies. It is hard for these small businesses to compete with the advertising and marketing of companies like Kimberely Clark - it is not a level playing field so to speak. Yes there are many aspects to the debate… it is not black and white..