How To Make A Baby Blanket Receiving Blanket Cake

In an earlier post, found here, I talked about my experiences with creating a gift that's very similar to popular diaper cakes. Only instead of being made of diapers, it's made of receiving blankets. I promised I'd write the instructions on how to make one. So without further ado, here they are.

How To Make a Baby Blanket Cake

Supplies Needed:

• 1 round plastic serving tray in a color of your choice (I found them at Party City, though the dollar store may have them too)
• Rubber bands. Lots of them
• Glue Dots (found in the scrapbooking sections of most craft stores. Or with the photos)
• 1 package of 4 flannel receiving blankets. I've typically tried to go with the gender specific colors of blues/pinks & purples for a boy or a girl. But using yellows and greens if the sex is unknown also work. 
• 1 bath thermometer (I've found all of mine at Babies R Us and they've either been the octopus or the yellow ducky.) 
• Travel sized baby bath products like shampoo, body wash, baby powder, baby lotion, butt paste, etc
• 1 package of diaper pins (for decoration purposes)
• 1 package of straight pins (I found them in the sewing section of JoAnn's Fabric, but I'm sure places like Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and other craft stores have them too)
• 1 package of 36 sized newborn diapers. (The entire package won't be used, but most will)
• Various  small bath  toys (stacking cups, squirt toys, etc)
• Various fabric ribbons to decorate (I have discovered that it's a lot cheaper to buy ribbon by the roll as opposed to getting it by the yard. The wire edged ribbons make for nice and easy bows. I found them at JoAnn's Fabric.)
• Scissors - for cutting ribbon
• A large flat surface to work - my friend's kitchen table or my cousin's kitchen table worked for me
• A friend to help

 Assembly

• Layer 1

1. Open the package of blankets and lay them out flat. Decide on which one will be the innermost layer (bottom layer). Decide which one will be the outside trim, which one will be the second layer, and which one the top layer.
2. Using rubber bands to secure them, roll up like logs 4 diapers. One rubber band wrapped around these four will be sufficient to  secure them. These 4 diapers will be to core of the bottom layer.
3. Roll 8 more diapers into logs and place them around the diaper core. Secure with rubber bands. Total numbers of diapers in this layer 12.
4. Fold the blanket you've selected to be the innermost layer into 3rds, lengthwise. 
5. Place the diaper roll onto one end of the blanket. Roll the blanket around the diapers like rolling up a sleeping bag. Secure with a rubber band.

• Layer 2

1. Roll 9 diapers into logs. Secure the bundle with a rubber band.
2. Using the second receiving blanket, folded into 3rds, but not the same height as the bottom layer, roll the blanket around the diapers sleeping bag style. Secure with a rubber band.
3. Place the roll into the center of the bottom layer. It'll take some work to have it fit snugly.

• Top layer - Layer 3

1. Roll 6 diapers into logs. Secure with a rubber band.
2. Take the blanket chosen for the top layer, and fold it into 4ths.
3. Roll the blanket around the diapers like a sleeping bag. Secure with a rubber band.
4. Place in center of middle layer.

• Outside Trim - Last blanket

1. Eying the cake, roll the blanket around the bottom layer leaving as much of the innermost blanket showing as you want.
2. Secure with rubber bands.

Decorate

1. Use straight pins to secure the blankets. Be careful not to poke through all layers and hit the diapers. The pins will allow the blanket edges that are loose to be pinned down and give the cake a more finished look.
2. Using ribbons, create "icing" trim along the cake layers. Secure with straight pins. Or tie the ribbon. Make sure to put one ribbon along the bottom of the cake at the base of where the blanket meets the serving tray.
3. Attach the ducky or octopus to the top layer as a cake topper.
4. Inside the folds of the blankets on each of the layers, stuff shampoo, lotion, body wash, butt paste.
5. Place the bath toys along the base of the cake attached to the serving tray. Use glue dots to secure. (I found it took about 6-8 glue dots per object to attach it to the serving tray as I'd used 2-3 per spot I wanted to attach it).
6. If there are any other travel sized objects that did not fit into the folds of the cake, secure them with glue dots to the serving tray.
7. Extra diapers may be tied with a ribbon and presented to the mother as well.

The finished product

Congratulations! You now have a beautiful, practical gift to give the mom-to-be. I've typically used the ones I've made as centerpieces on the food table at the shower. Or use it as a centerpiece on the gift table. Or just as a gift.

Baby Blankets and Blanket Cakes

So I've had the privilege of hosting/attending four baby showers in the last three weeks. I sure hope I"m finished with baby showers for a while. :)

My co-worker's shower was a luncheon held during lunch. I made her this blanket.

For the other three showers, I made blanket cakes. Well I can't take all of the credit for them since my cousin helped on one and my best friend helped on two. These three are the 4th, 5th, and 6th ones I've made and I've learned some tricks along the way.

The first one I made was for my best friend's first baby almost two years ago.

The base was a box lid covered in fabric. My cousin had the brilliant idea of using a roll of toilet paper in the center of the cake to roll the blankets around. We also used a LOT of glue dots, and tried to stuff the objects into the blanket rolls. Diaper pins were used to secure things. And ribbon was used to tie the toys on. Result - very pretty cake, but not easy to do.

The second and third ones were very similar to the first.

Cake 2

Cake 3

Both of these cakes used toilet paper rolls in the center to wrap blankets around. The bases were cookie sheets covered in fabric. I'd gotten a little smarter on these cakes. Straight pins were used to secure things. The third cake used 6 blankets instead of 4. And we added some diapers at the top for the octopus to sit on. Still using glue dots and ribbon to secure things. We also used clear packaging tape to secure the fabric as we discovered glue dots didn't work too well.



Cakes 4, 5, & 6
I got really smart for these next three. I went to Party City and picked up round serving trays in different colors. I used pink, purple, and blue. I also got fewer bath toys. I had the brainstorm of using actual diapers in the centers of the cakes and that worked well. Still used glue dots (they held much better on the plastic serving trays) and straight pins. Ribbons were bought from the craft store and used to tie around the cakes, secured with straight pins. Oh and rubber bands. Lots of them. And the results? Here we go.


Cake 4 - 4 flannel receiving blankets, 21 newborn diapers, bath toys, travel sized baby bath products, ribbon, round serving tray, straight pins, glue dots, and rubber bands. My best friend's husband tied a tie for us around the neck of the octopus.

This was made for my cousin who is adopting a baby boy.

Cake 5 - 6 receiving blankets, the remainder of the pack of 36 newborn diapers, 6 larger sized diapers (it's all my friend had in her diaper bag!), bath toys, travel sized baby bath products, ribbon, round serving tray, straight pins, glue dots, and rubber bands.


This was made for the shower my Small Group had last Sunday the 9th for a young couple in our Small Group. They are having a baby girl.

 

Cake 6 - 4 receiving blankets, 27 newborn diapers, bath toys, travel sized bath products, ribbon, round serving tray, straight pins, glue dots, and rubber bands.

This was made for my best friend's shower that was held on Saturday the 15th. This is her second baby and she's having a girl. I think this cake was my favorite.

Instructions on how to make the cakes in a separate post to follow.