Owl Diaper Cake: Two Big Eyes and a Belly Made of Nappies
Owls on jewellery and clothing are really fashionable at the moment and are also a great design idea for a homemade nappy cake. Who can resist those big, cute eyes?As with many other baby gifts, the owl diaper cake offers a lot of options to store a few more little baby gifts for the parents-to-be. We will guide you step by step through how to make a homemade owl diaper cake and give you some helpful tips on colours and decoration.
Owl diaper cake: A step-by-step guide
With a pair of scissors, some coloured paper and a few nappies, you can create a personalised baby gift in no time at all. With two big eyes and a big belly, it is sure to be a favourite gift for the new parents.
Materials needed for the owl diaper cake:
50 size 3 nappies
A flannel cloth
A potty
Coloured clay paper
Coloured ribbon
Wide ribbon
Rubbers, scissors, wide tape and glue stick
And other gift and baby accessories
Time required: 60-90 minutes
Difficulty: medium
Cost: 35-50 €
The first step is to buy the materials for your homemade nappy cake and think about what colours you want. There are three designs: for a boy, a girl, or neutral colours. For boys, it is best to go for cool colours, like different shades of blue mixed with grey. Pink, white, and soft beige colours are more suitable for a girl's owl diaper cake.
If the gender is unknown or you want to avoid the cliché colours, then use colours such as green, yellow, and white. Alternatively, you could try complementary colours. For example, red and green, or blue and orange, or violet and yellow work well together. Decide on the main colour and then add accents of the complementary colour throughout the owl. The idea is that the two colours will enhance each other.
If you know the gender and the name, then you can personalise your DIY nappy cake. You might be lucky and find a necklace with the baby’s name on it, but if not then you can make your own name tag out of coloured paper.
Once you've got everything together, you're ready to go.
Step 1: Making the inner belly
For the belly of the owl diaper cake, you need to roll a wide cylinder out of diapers.
With one or two nappies, you can usually roll them without additonal help. If you want to roll more than three nappies in a row, your cyclinder may lose stability. To make this step easier, you can use a wide ribbon or some strong string as we show in the teddy bear diaper cake or the motorcycle diaper cake. Lay the ribbon or the string carefully on a table and position the first diaper at the beginning of the ribbon/string. Now line up some more nappies in the same direction. The nappies should overlap by about a third. For the first part of the belly, you will need 15 nappies. When rolling the nappies, make sure that the ribbon or the string stays in the middle.
When you have rolled up the first 15 nappies tightly, you can secure the roll with a piece of tape. If you wrap an elastic band or string around the rolled-up nappies, you can also remove the wide ribbon and use it again for the other steps.
Step 2: Decorating the belly with a bodysuit
Once the roll of nappies is finished, add a baby bodysuit over the inner belly to add some colour and dress your owl. Make sure that the bodysuit is large enough to overlap by at least 5 cm on each side. Place the bodysuit on the nappy roll with the pattern facing upwards and put an elastic band over it. Pin down any parts that are loose on the body. For example, if the bodysuit has sleeves, pin them to the back of the nappy roll. You can give the owl a personal touch if you use a body with a self-designed motif.
Important: Always let the parents know that there are pins in the DIY 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.
After the bodysuit has been properly attached to the nappy roll, roll another 21 nappies around the inner belly. Follow the same procedure as in step 1.
Step 3: Making the eyes
Like the belly, the eyes are rolled out of nappies. You will need 7 nappies per eye. If you want the eyes to be bigger, just add a few more nappies.
As described in step 1, roll the nappies onto a ribbon or string and fix them with a rubber band.
Once the two eyes have been rolled, they can then be attached to the belly section. Connect the two parts with a decorative ribbon. You can find the instructions for this in the article "bear nappy cake instructions".
Step 4: Making the wings
Now that you have the eyes and the belly, there is still one major part missing - the wings. To make them, place a folded flannel cloth over the owl. When folding the cloth, start by placing two corners diagonally on top of each other to make a triangle shape. Then fold the cloth to the width of a nappy. Start with the narrow end of the triangle and work your way out.
To find the centre of the folded flannel, fold the cloth so that the two ends are on top of each other. Mark the crease with a pin. Now it should be easy for you to place the exact centre of the cloth between the two owl eyes.
Pin the flannel cloth in the centre between the eyes, at the bottom of the eyes and on the belly with matching pins.
Step 5: Making the eyes, beak, and ears
For the eyes, beak, and ears use some coloured clay paper, a small piece of cardboard, a pair of baby socks, scissors, glue stick, tape, and pins.
For the eyes, cut out different sized circles from the different coloured paper. Make the largest circle out 8 to 10 cm in diameter and out of black paper. The next circle should be about 1.5 cm smaller than the black circle and you can choose a colour that matches your theme. If you want to use neutral colours, then green eyes will look great. You could also go for a grey, which will match any colour scheme. If you’re making an owl for a boy, then choose a shade of blue, and pink for a girl. The smallest circle, for the pupil, can be white. Make it about 2 cm in diameter.
When you have cut out all the circles, glue them all together with the black at the bottom, then the coloured one and finally the white one on top. Don’t align them all in the middle but let them point inwards a little to give the bird a bit of personality.
For the beak, orange clay paper works well. You could, of course, match a blue or pink if you like. Cut out an 11x11 centimetre square, roll it into a cone and fix it with a small piece of tape. The beak is simply stuck into the space between the eyes and the belly. Alternatively, you can use a small plastic tub or baby shampoo in the same colour as the beak.
For the ears, you can simply use a pair of baby socks. Cut a small piece of cardboard to fit inside the socks. Pin the socks between the eyes and the flannel cloth and bend the socks up a little. Now the owl diaper cake just needs decorating.
Step 6: Decorating with useful baby items
With the flannel cloth, socks, bodysuit, and potty all useful gifts have already been incorporated into the owl. Adding some finishing touches like a ribbon around the neck and a bow on the head will really bring it to life. There should also be enough room in the potty to add a few extra gifts. Perhaps a hairbrush for the baby, some spoons or other care products. The new parents will appreciate any of these useful items.
Choosing colours for a boy or girl
The traditional colours for boys and girls are blue and pink respectively. To get the colour scheme, you should consider the potty and accessories as well as the bodysuit, flannel cloth and socks. Also, try not to use too many patterns, as a mix of patterns can look uncoordinated.
You can find matching baby clothes for boys or girls in all our stores and in our online shop.
Many other baby gifts can be designed for boys, girls or in neutral colours.
You can find more great ideas for different baby gifts for girls and baby gifts for boys in our other step-by-step tutorials.
Have fun making and giving!
