instructions for a diaper castle

I am hosting a baby shower this month and wanted to make a diaper castle. any one know how to do this?

I don't have specific instructions but a few tips. I had a baby shower last summer and there were two diaper cakes. One was made with a hot glue gun and the other rubber bands. I could only salvage a few diapers from the one made with glue. It pretty much ruined the rest of the diapers. If you roll all the diapers and tie them with rubber bands it works great! They also put a bottle of baby dish soap in the middle to hold it all together. Very cute! Here are pics of both:

You can get very small, clear rubberbands in the hair section of a drugstore or grocery store. Use those on each diaper and then use some bigger rubberbands to put the diapers together.

Yes, I just made a rather large one for a baby shower last month. However, I just got home and am too tired to pick my brain to post how I did it. But I promise I will do so tomorrow

thanks Andrea and Leah!! I will get those clear rubber bands tomorrow.

LOL queendiva - i know how you feel.

Andrea - your friends did a really good job on yours!

Sorry-I don't know how, but I googled diaper cake directions for you. I found a good link for the cake here.Here's directions on how to make the castle. Here's some pics for decorating ideas. I hope that helps! Be sure to post pics so we can see the final product!

P.S. Andrea, those are cute!

Okay, here goes. You don't need to get the clear rubber bands because they're not gonna show anyway. You need the following:

Small rubber bands (like the ones that come in the pack that are black or different colors

About 100 newborn pampers (depends on the size of the cake you're making)

(1) 8 oz plastic baby bottle (the normal shape ones)

(1) 4 oz plastic baby bottles

Glue gun

Wide satin bias tape or ribbon that is about 1-1/2 to 2" wide

String

Other items that you want to add to the diaper cake (receiving blankets, bottle scrubber, baby wash, baby booties, thermometer, etc.

A large piece of heavy cardboard or light wood that you will build the diaper cake on.

1. Roll all the diapers from the "butt end" to the waist end. Secure with the small rubber band around the middle of the pamper

2. After all the pampers are rolled, glue the 8 oz baby bottle to the middle of the board using your glue gun.

3. To start "building" the castle: One by one, surround the baby bottle with a rolled up diaper (placing it vertical, so it is standing the tall way). Do this until you you have a tight circle of about 5-8 diapers. Tie a string tightly around it to keep them in that position. Make sure the rubber band and string is around the middle of the pamper so that it will be covered with the ribbon, and snip the strings short (not too short!). Repeat, tying a string each time, until you have a large circle. Sorry, but I don't know how many times I usually do this as I do these often and just kind of eyeball the size It also depends on the size castle you want to make. For a smaller castle, you would probably need to go around (for the bottom tier) about 5 times. For a larger, maybe about 7.

4. For the middle tier: You will notice that part of the baby bottle will still be sticking out of the middle of the bottom tier. Start building around the bottle, directly on top of the bottom tier. For a smaller castle, you will need to go around about 2 times, for a larger, about 3-4.

5. For the top tier: Apply a small amount of glue to the bottom of a 4 oz bottle (with the glue gun), and place this bottle on top of the 8 oz bottle that is supporting the bottom and middle tiers. Build the pampers around this 4 oz bottle to make a top tier. You will need to go around probably just once for a smaller castle, and about 2 times for a larger castle.

6. Take your wide satin seam binding (it may be called blanket binding) or wide ribbon and cut enough length to surround the bottom tier plus about 3/4". Fold under about 1/2" and glue to secure. Wrap around bottom tier, about the middle to hide string and rubber bands, and glue to secure. Make sure seam is at back of the castle. Repeat with other tiers.

7. You now have 3 tiers and can start building the 4 "towers". Look at the attached drawing for placement of the towers- they will be the 4 smaller circles. To build the towers: Place an unrolled pamper on top of another unrolled pamper and roll them together as done earlier. Repeat this 3 times. Place a SMALL amount of hot glue on the bottom of the "tower" in order to stand it on the bottom tier. Look at diagram for placement. Repeat with the other 3 towers.

8. To build the turrets: I usually use a cardstock that has little stuff on it like "little prince", etc. I can usually get about 2 cone shapes from each 12x12 sheet. I don't really have a pattern for them, I just kind of roll the paper on a slant to get a cone shape, then I cut it and glue the seams together, then trim the bottom straight. Make 4 of these to put on the 4 towers. Make sure the bottom of the cones are wide enough to fit on top of the tower with a little bit of overhang.

9. The rest is your creativity!

Some suggestions:

Before wrapping the ribbon around the tiers, fold a receiving blanket lengthwise until it is the same width as the tier. Wrap it around the tier and secure with a baby diaper pin or safety pin. Then wrap the ribbon around that. This gives the diaper cake a more finished appearance where it resembles a wedding cake because of it's "smoothness".

Cut out little flags and glue to toothpics that you can stick on top of the turrets (cones)

Buy little medieval men on horses, to put around the castle cake ( I have one pictured)

Then just place your extras by tucking them between the pampers of the tiers, and other various placement.

Hope this helps!

Rolled Pamper:

1st Layer of Bottom Tier:

1st Layer of Bottom Tier (side view):

2nd Layer of Tier:

Medieval toy on horse:

I've made a few of these (with rubber bands) and they are a lot of fun! I googled directions for each and the mom absolutely loved them.

Good luck and post pics.

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!! i was googling all over the place and could never really find directions for the diaper castle that i found the picture for. this helps a ton!!! i will make sure and post pics and directions!!!