Supplies We Use

(Diapers and Skin Care Products)
When choosing a baby shower gift or a new baby gift, it's important to think practically. In those first sleep-deprived and emotional weeks, new parents appreciate any item (no matter how small) that makes their lives just a little bit easier. With this in mind and as parents ourselves, we strive to anticipate the needs of the new mom and dad as we choose the new baby supplies that we include with our diaper cakes. Let's explore those items, their uses, and our reasoning for choosing to include them in our diaper cake gifts to give you a better understanding of how truly practical and useful this gift is.

Disposable Diapers

On an obvious level, the most practical item a brand new parent can possibly receive is a great supply of disposable diapers. From the moment a new member of the family arrives, mom and dad can count on a new line item in the family budget: diapers and wipes. There is simply no way around it - and the cost of these items adds up quickly. By giving the gift of disposable diapers, you are not only saving the new family money, but there is a good chance you are saving them a late-night run to the convenience store as well.

For our diaper cakes, we use only the best name-brand disposable diapers on the market today: Pampers Swaddlers. These are the diapers that most hospitals use for newborns and that baby will most likely be sent home with. We choose them because of their luxurious softness and top-notch absorbency, as well as their trusted status as the #1 choice of hospitals. When mom and dad see that their diaper cake is made from Pampers Swaddlers, they know that you have chosen a gift with real value.

Is mom using cloth diapers for her newborn? Most cloth-diapering moms will tell you that it is especially handy to have a few disposables around those first few weeks. Newborns need to be changed 8-10 times per day, and since cloth diapers are expensive, many new moms need time to build up their supply. Also, cloth diapers need to air dry after they are washed and that takes time. It's easy to find oneself in the situation that all the cloth diapers need to be laundered, or are still in the process of drying out. In those moments, it's a huge relief to be able to reach for a disposable diaper. We applaud new parents who are willing to go the extra mile to keep our planet healthy - and so we offer a line of ecofriendly diaper cakes made from Seventh Generation disposable diapers to appeal to the new mom and dad who are intent on keeping their diaper choices green.

Skin Care Products

New babies have famously delicate skin. What works for one baby may not be a good choice for another baby, even within the same family. Since we understand that every baby is different, we offer two choices for skin care products: Johnson's products, and all-natural Burt's Bees products.

Johnson's products are used by most hospitals and have been around for many, many years. While they offer dozens of great products to care for babies' skin, we include the most basic five products in our diaper cakes: lotion, body wash, shampoo, powder, and diaper rash cream. Each of these items is an essential in caring for a new baby's skin, both at bath time and during diaper changes.

Burt's Bees products are an all-natural and luxurious line of baby skin care products. We include a tube of Nourishing Lotion, a bottle of Shampoo/Wash, a tube of Diaper Rash Ointment, a bottle of Nourishing Baby Oil, and a bar of Buttermilk Soap in each cake that is ordered with Burt's Bees. We use Burt's Bees baby care products on our own daughters, the youngest of whom is 2 years old at the time of this writing. These wonderful products truly deserve their high-end reputation. They smell heavenly and are remarkably effective at caring for delicate skin with only all natural ingredients.

We use only travel-sized skin care items on all of our diaper cakes, and we've already mentioned the reason: babies have extremely sensitive skin. Even within families, new arrivals can have vastly different sensitivity to any given skin care product. Sending a gift with travel-sized skincare items is a smart idea...it allows mom to test the product on her delicate newborn without being stuck with a full-sized bottle of a product that she may not care for. If mom (or baby) doesn't like a product, then you have saved her the money it would have cost her to purchase the item for herself and discover that it doesn't work for her family.

(Soft Goods)

Want to know more about what supplies we use for our diaper cakes, and why we choose them? You've come to the right place. Read more of this article to find out more about the diapers and skin care products we use.

Receiving Blankets

A few of our diaper cakes include receiving blankets, which are wrapped around the layers of the cake like fondant. Receiving blankets are useful when baby is a newborn because newborns love to be swaddled. Swaddling instantly calms many fussy newborns because it reminds them of being in the womb. The benefits of these handy blankets don't stop after the newborn stage - they make wonderful nursing cover-ups, infant carrier covers for when baby is sleeping or there is a chill in the air, burp cloths, changing table covers, and much more. It is a great idea to have half a dozen or so of these blankets around. When our daughters were small babies I kept one in almost every room of the house, as well as an emergency extra in my bug-out bag in the Jeep. These blankets will be used well into baby's first year and beyond. (And if you happen to have girls, they will use them as doll blankets for years beyond that.)

Baby Washcloths

There are some baby care essentials that you simply can't have enough of. Baby washcloths are one of those indispensable items. We found that we needed a stack of these ultra-soft cloths for bathtime (one for the diaper area and a separate one for baby's face and body), as well as a stack of them in the kitchen drawer (for post-mealtime face and hand washing.) Many cloth-diapering moms use baby washcloths for reusable baby wipes as well, since they can be laundered instead of throwing away disposable wipes. Since most moms will go through five or six per day (more if they are used as diaper wipes) it is really useful to have lots of these on hand.

We use Gerber brand baby washcloths on almost every diaper cake we offer. They have a serged edge and hold up through trip after trip through the washing machine. Since mom will be washing those sticky little hands and faces for years to come, this is a very practical item to have on hand and one she will get lots of use out of.

Scratch mittens

Scratch mittens are another item that is an absolute must-have, but most moms don't realize they need them until it is too late. Babies are born with sharp little finger nails, but you can't trim them for the first few weeks because they are still attached to the delicate skin at the end of baby's fingers. This can spell bad news if baby likes to grab her face, as many newborns do. The real trouble starts when mom realizes (in the hospital) that she has no way to protect her newborn's delicate little face...and unless she wants baby to look like he has been in a bar fight for those much anticipated newborn photographs, something must be done! Off dad goes to the hospital gift shop, where he will pay way too much for a low-quality pair of scratch mittens...that have been hanging in the gift shop for heaven knows how long, and can't be laundered prior to use. Ick!

Having a couple of pairs of freshly washed, high-quality newborn scratch mittens in the hospital bag is a life-saver. We include Gerber brand scratch mittens so that mom can wash them and have them ready to go when her sweet new baby arrives. We have to protect that newborn photograph!

Baby socks

No one tells a mom-to-be that shoes for babies are a ridiculous hassle. Those tiny shoes are adorable and hard to resist...it's true. But the truth is that no matter the brand, no matter the price tag, they simply DO NOT stay on baby's feet. Newborns can tend to have poor circulation and need those precious little piggies to be well protected - so in lieu of a cute (but largely useless) pair of baby shoes, we include a nice stretchy pair of newborn socks with many of our diaper cakes.

Not only do baby socks stay on baby's feet much better than a pair of shoes, they can also double as scratch mittens in a pinch, or a pair of "baby mittens" to keep baby's hands warm on a chilly day (or in a chilly grocery store!) They keep those sweet feet toasty as well and further protect baby's feet from the hands of strangers who endlessly seem to pinch their little toes as they lie in their baby carriers. (Shame on you, strangers!)