Alright, so I decided to try my hand at making one of those “carousel diaper” things for my cousin’s baby shower. Saw a picture somewhere, looked fancy, figured how hard could it be, right?
Getting Started
First thing, had to get the supplies. This involved:
- A giant box of diapers. Size 1, I think? Felt like hundreds.
- Rubber bands. A whole bag of ’em.
- Cardboard circles. Cut some out from an old box. Not perfectly round, but hey.
- A couple of paper towel tubes, the cardboard middles.
- Ribbons. Lots of blue and yellow ribbon.
- Some small plastic horse toys I found cheap.
- Hot glue gun. Naturally.
Spread everything out on the living room floor. Looked like I was ready for… well, something.
Putting it Together
Okay, the rolling part. You gotta roll each diaper up real tight and slap a rubber band around it. Did about 60 of these. Took way longer than I expected, listening to music didn’t even help much after the first 20. My thumbs were definitely feeling it.
Then came stacking them. I put the paper towel tube in the middle of the biggest cardboard circle. Started arranging the rolled-up diapers around it, standing them on end. Used a big ribbon to hold that first layer together. This was tricky. Had to pack ’em tight so they wouldn’t just fall over. Did a second, smaller layer on top of that one, using another cardboard circle to separate them.
For the carousel top, I tried making a cone shape out of cardstock paper. Glued it onto the top tube. Didn’t look amazing, a bit lopsided, but it gave the idea.
The Decoration Bit
This was supposed to be the fun part. Wrapped more ribbons around each layer to hide the rubber bands. Tied some bows. Then I got out the hot glue gun – always a bit risky for me. Carefully glued those little plastic horses around the base layer, trying to make them look like they were marching around the carousel. Nearly glued my finger to one, but managed to avoid disaster.
Added a final ribbon streamer thing to the top point of the cone roof.
Finished… Sort Of
Stepped back and looked at it. Okay, it wasn’t gonna win any awards. It was a bit wobbly, the horses weren’t perfectly spaced, and the roof was definitely crooked. But you could tell it was supposed to be a carousel made of diapers. It felt pretty good actually, having made it myself instead of just buying something. Took way more time and rubber bands than I thought, but it was done. Wrapped it carefully in that clear cellophane stuff. Hopefully, my cousin likes the effort!
