DIY craft: Diaper Motorcycle & Diaper Baby Carriage

These are the cutest things you could make and give to a new mommy to be as her baby shower gift.

Every mom needs diapers (the rate at which babies poop, every mom needs plenty of diapers!), so you know it would be a much needed and useful gift. But if you take a little time out and get together a few other baby items, you can put together a really sweet and thoughtful baby shower gift.

Saturday, we threw a couple baby shower for one of our Indian friends who is expecting a little baby girl. It was supposed to be a surprise for her husband and her and am glad we managed to pull it off as such.

I remember seeing a motorcycle diaper cake on pinterest (or was it craftgawker;I forget where I saw it, either way both are such inspiring sites!). And I thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Sweetapril’s blog has other creative stuff but this definitely was the winner for me, and now I knew what I would give to my friend as a present.

For the diaper motorcycle cake Sweetapril suggests to use the following:

34 diapers Pampers Swaddlers Size 1 (17 for each tire),
8″ cake pan, 2 rubber bands,
2 receiving blankets (30×30 approx),
2 bibs,
1 chain link toy,
a pair of socks or mittens,
a baby bottle,
1 washcloth,
scissors,
pins,
a stuffed animal (size approx between 15″ and up to 20″), and
decorative ribbon

I made a few changes to the list- changing it to whatever I could find.

One, I used a 6 inch cake pan instead of an 8 inch one because I don’t have an 8 inch one. I own two 9 inch round pans and one 8 inch SQUARE pan but no 8 inch round pan. And since I had a smaller sized stuffed animal (that’s all I could find in our town that was cute enough- actually I found it one hour away at our closest Safeway), I knew a 9 inch tire would be just too big and a 6 inch tire made more sense.

Two, I could find no chain link toy in our supermarket and the ones on amazon were just too many. I just needed one, so instead I used a ribbon to tie the receiving blanket handles together.

Three, I left out the washcloth altogether. And it still looked fine!

Four, my stuffed animal was smaller.

Even with the changes, I liked the result and was surprised how quickly it came together-. It just took me a total of 30 minutes to put it altogether. I love gifts where your own personal touch shows, and that’s what makes this a perfect baby shower gift.

To make your own diaper motorcycle, check out Sweetapril’s tutorial.

Since I bought a 40 pack pamper pack, and since I used a smaller cake pan size, I was left with quite some diapers.

I don’t have a baby of my own, so these diapers were of no use to me.

Initially I thought of using these diapers to decorate the place we were having the shower. But my friend and I decided to use tissue paper pom poms and balloons for the decoration.

I did play with the idea of just handing her the extra diapers but I really wanted a better way to present it.

Instead I googled a bit, and found images of diaper baby carriages that I thought would be another great gift for her. But, I couldn’t find a tutorial online that didn’t ask for shoe boxes or other materials like receiving blankets etc. (The baby shower was the next day, so I did not have enough time to shop for other materials. I had to work my way with what I had).

Looking at the pictures I managed to make something that looked like a carriage and even though the motorcycle beats it any day on the cuteness scale, I still found it pretty and thoughtful enough to gift. Better than just handing her the extra diapers, don’t ya think?

I have put together a tutorial for the baby carriage I made. (excuse the photography because I made them under not so favorable light conditions and I was too lazy to move my craft station)

For the diaper baby carriage, you need:

18-20 diapers (pampers swaddler size 1)
safety pins
rubber bands
decorative ribbons
2 small pink ribbons

Step 1: Make the base of the stroller.

Take about 10-13 diapers (oops, sorry! In my excitement to take pictures I forgot to count the number of diapers I used for the carriage bottom). Stand the diapers on end in a rectangle shape. Wrap the rectangular shape with either twine or a rubber band. I used a rubber band. (I did alternate the diapers so that the thickness remained the same on both sides)

Step 2, 3, 4 & 5: Make the tires.

Roll a single diaper tightly into a wheel shape. Pin with small safety pins to secure.

Take one of the small pink ribbons (about 10 inch in size- you will probably use less than 10 inches but that can be cut off). Pass it through the one end of the tire to the other (Step 3 &4). Tie each end to the rubber band on the rectangle diaper bottom (step 5).

Repeat for the other tire.

Step 7, 8 & 9: Make the Rounded hood of a carriage

Place two rolled diapers on top of the back of the stacked diapers. To make the hood, open a diaper and wrap across the top of the two rolled diapers and pin the ends of the “hood” diaper to the diaper base so that the hood is secured to the base (step 7). (I actually secured the hood first and then stuffed in the rolled diapers)

Step 10, 11: Pretty it up!

Wrap a piece of 1 inch wide satin ribbon around the diaper hood and bring the ends to bottom, where the tires are. The safety pins can be covered by the satin ribbon. Either pin or tie the ribbon ends at the bottom. Take another 1 inch wide satin ribbon and take around the rectangular diaper base, covering the rubber band that secures the base. Pin the ends of the ribbon at the back. And in the front of the diaper carriage, make a small bow and stitch it or pin it in the front of the carriage, as shown.

Besides the two diaper cakes, I also made homemade gol gappas (from scratch!)and chicken tikka (sadly I did not take pictures of either, so no recipe this time but hopefully soon!). The theme for the food menu was street/snack food and each lady contributed with their region’s street food. Being from the north of India I got gol gappas and chicken tikka. My friend, whose house we had the baby shower at and who is from the south, made vada, sambar and dosa (and she was kind enough to give me some dosa batter to take home; and I managed to make some nice crispy dosas for the first time!). Another friend, who is from Gujarat got Dhoklas. And another got vegan chocolate cupcakes and stuffed mushroom caps. For the dessert my friend made gulab jamuns that we turned into a cake for the mommy-to-be to cut into.