Sunday, March 7, 2010

Baby Shower Decor

I actually made this as a gift for a friend's baby shower, but I'm listing it here because it would also make a really cute centerpiece for a serving table, or for a focal point at the party.  I like the idea of a diaper cake because it's an easy, cute way to showcase a very practical gift.  I found the specific directions for assembling the cake here (there's a how-to video about halfway down the page).  By the way, the site that the link above goes to is a great resource for all baby shower related items!  I only did a two-tier cake for this gift, but if I were throwing the party, I might make it three-tier or bigger since it would be a decoration.

For the cake, I used the kind of diapers that the parent-to-be had on their registry list.  It's best to roll them as tightly as possible and then tie the string around them tight as well so they stay rolled.  To decorate it, I assembled things that the new parent would need.  These could come from the registry list, but I happened to find things that went with the parents' theme that weren't on the registry.  I noticed that the registry had a lot of basketball and duck themed items (big surprise, since my group of friends are all huge Oregon Ducks fans!).  So, I sewed a little duckling toy to go on the top, got a rubber duckie bath thermometer and some baby wrist rattles for around the sides, and wrapped the cake in basketball ribbon to cover the strings.   To keep the decorations in place, I used short wooden dowels (you could also use craft sticks).  I taped them to the decorations, then slid the dowels in between the diapers to the middle of the cake.  You can't see the dowels, and the decorations don't fall off!

Variation:  A lot of the guests at the shower asked if the cake was made out of onesies or baby t-shirts.  This would be another great idea, as a new parent can never have too many of these.  You could decorate each of the onesies before rolling it up, or just leave them plain.  This could really be made out of anything that you could roll up (that would stand up and stay rolled).

A note about hosting Showers:  If possible, it's nice to be able to use things for decorations (or for games) that you can give to the Mom after the shower since she'll be able to use them very soon!

3 comments:

  1. I love the cake! And the duck came out really cute! I agree with your idea of making the games and decorations something mom-to-be can keep. I threw my assistant a work shower last year and one of the games we played was the one where you have a bunch of things on a tray and people have to remember what was on it (and actually name the weird baby things, like a nasal aspirator!). All the things on the tray were all part of a first aid/health kit that mom could take home. For another game I got a nice woven basket and stuffed it full of diapers and guests had to guess how many diapers there were. Again, mom got to keep all the diapers and basket at the end of the shower. For my work shower, one of the games was the baby food guessing game. But instead of tasting them, the hostess just removed the labels and had a list of the flavors that guests had to match up. That way I got to keep the baby food in the end. Do you have any other ideas??

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  2. Those are great ideas! I've also seen one where you get a diaper bag and fill it with little stuff, then the Mom has to guess what's in there by feeling (not looking). Or one where you get a bunch of onesies and everyone decorates one with fabric paints or whatever, and the Mom gets a bunch of personalized onesies! I'm sure there are ways to do this for a bridal shower too, and give the newlywed things she can keep, but those aren't quite as top of mind!

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  3. Very cute! Can't wait to check out the rest of your site! Thanks for leaving me blog luv at mine

    Hugs
    Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
    party inspiration

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