Teddy Bear Diaper Cake: Craft Instructions
The cute bear diaper cake is a variation of the well-known nappy cake gift. It’s easy to make yourself and can be customised with lots of nice little baby gifts.
It takes about 45 minutes to make this cute teddy bear. Of course, this depends on how well prepared you are and whether you have and extra pair of helping hands. It’s easier to make with help, but still possible to make it alone. If you have everything you need handy, then you can put this together in no time.
Materials needed for the teddy bear diaper cake:
62 nappies, best in size 3
Wide ribbon
Construction paper in different colours
Rubber bands, pins, and tape
Coloured ribbons, approx. 2 meters
Wide black felt pen
Time required: 45 minutes
Difficulty: medium
Cost: 40-60 €
You can be creative when decorating your homemade nappy cake. A nice touch is to include practical little baby gifts like clothes or care products in the decoration.
For example, you can use:
A pacifier
A potty
A handkerchief or small cuddly toy
Step-by-step instructions for the bear diaper cake
Step 1: Making the body
If you have all the materials for your DIY nappy cake, you can get started right away. You will need some space to make the body, a large table will be perfect.Use a wide ribbon to help you keep the nappies in place while you roll them up. When you're finished, you can remove the ribbon easily. Alternatively you can use a strong string.
To make the bear you will need:
36 nappies for the body
20 nappies for the head
2 nappies each for the arms, legs, and ears
Place the nappies for the body slightly overlapping each other on the ribbon. Once you have placed all the nappies, roll the body up tightly. Make sure that the roll is nice and straight. Once all the nappies are rolled up, cut off any excess ribbon and tape the end secure. Alternatively, you can secure the roll with an elastic band and remove the wide ribbon. Finally, tie a nice colourful wide ribbon tightly around the body.
You now have a nice plump bear body. Do the same steps with the bear's head using 20 nappies instead of 36.
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Did you know, that...
With different sheets of coloured paper you can give the bear any facial expression. Attach eyes, nose, and mouth with matching-coloured pins.
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Step 2: Making the face
Now your bear needs a cute face. You can be creative with the design. Make some eyes out of construction paper.
For simple and cute bear eyes, cut out two circles of black construction paper with a diameter of about 5 centimetres. Then add two small white dots complete the eyes.
Alternatively, you can draw the eyes on white paper and cut them out. To make your bear extra cute, you give him big eyes and long eyelashes. After cutting them out, simply draw in the details with a black felt-tip pen.
Attach the eyes to the head of your bear with matching pins. For the bear's nose and mouth, cut out a larger oval shape from beige construction paper about 12 to 15 centimetres long. Cut out a smaller black oval for the end of the bear's nose and glue it onto the large oval shape. Lastly, draw a mouth and discreetly pin the paper to the head.
As an alternative to the paper mouth, you can use a pacifier. To do this, use your fingers to create space between the nappy layers and simply insert the pacifier. If it does not hold, you can fix it with two pins. Push them diagonally through the holes in the shield, be careful not to poke through the teat.
You can, of course, decorate the face with red lips made of construction paper, lush eyebrows, or stylish childrens’ sunglasses.
Step 3: Assemble the teddy bear diaper cake
Using all the parts, it’s time to assemble a sturdy and cute teddy bear diaper cake.
First attach the bear’s ears to the head. For each ear, take a single nappy and roll it up tightly. Fix them in place with a small rubber band. You can cover the elastic bands with coloured ribbons. Wide ribbons tend to wrinkle when knotted, so pin the ribbon in place. Instead of the ribbons you can also pull a baby sock over the nappy roll, this adds more gifts to the bear diaper cake and the ears will stand out nicely. Use pins to discreetly attach the two ears to the head. By the way, plain baby bodysuits are also suitable for rolling the ears, the technique is the same as for rolling individual nappies.
In the same way, make 2 arms and 2 legs - each from a nappy or a baby bodysuit. Use the legs to make sure your teddy bear diaper cake is stable. The legs should come out from the sides, so both legs and the body support the bear. Alternatively, you can place the bear diaper cake without legs on a potty. Plus, you can attach all sorts of useful care products or baby clothes to the potty as well.
Attach the head of the teddy bear diaper cake to the body using ribbons. Put the ribbon around both parts and tie it tightly.
Important: Always let the parents know that there are pins in the nappy cake. Then they can safely remove them and prevent any injuries.
Make sure you use pins with plastic heads to help prevent them from disappearing into the fabrics.
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Did you know, that...
If you put your teddy bear diaper cake in a basket or on a potty, you will have extra space to stash all kinds of practical baby gifts. Bodysuits, shoes, hats or baby care products - you're spoilt for choice.
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Step 4: Create teddy bear diaper cake for boys and girls
Your bear diaper cake almost finished, it just needs decorating. If you don't know the baby's gender yet, you can use neutral baby colours like green, yellow, white or grey.
A teddy bear diaper cake for girls will look cute in soft pink tones. You can decorate the bear with a pink baby hat, a pink pacifier and a bib or flannel cloth as a bandana. Matching bows will complete the cute bear diaper cake for girls. Make sure not to combine too many shades of pink, otherwise the newborn gift will look to busy. Add some grey or white in combinations with pink to keep the look calm. Bright red lips and eyes with long eyelashes and rosy cheeks will work well. Clothes for baby girls can be found in our stores or in the online store. Care products and baby toys will complete the gift for first time parents.
If your teddy bear diaper cake is to welcome a boy into the world, then decorate it with shades of blue. For the bear's ears, for example, use cute blue baby socks to cover the little nappy rolls. You can add a blue bow, a soft baby blue hat, or a cool cap to the head of the bear. Finally, adding blue bibs, bodysuits and care products to your bear will make a useful gift for new parents. Our boys’ baby products will give you enough choice for your unique bear diaper cake. Again, less is more and plain white or grey baby bodysuits create a soothing contrast to the numerous blue accessories.
Gripping rings, pacifier chains and a cuddly toy will complete your bear. You can find even more inspiration for individual baby gifts for girls and baby gifts for boys in our other step-by-step craft instructions.
Have fun crafting and giving!
