All the fun crafts for baby showers that involve diapers involve disposables! That’s no fun for the mamas planning to use cloth diapers and their friends who want to make a creative baby shower gift. Diaper cakes- a staple at most showers- are far more expensive when you use cloth diapers, so what’s another way to creatively use cloth diapers as a gift without spending $300 dollars?

I first saw the sushi baby gift idea on social media and knew I wanted to modify it in a way that worked with cloth diapers. Initially I thought using flats or prefolds as the rice would be perfect but this resulted in human head sized sushi rolls. Instead, I chose to use only cloth wipes for the rolls and believe it or not, the sashimi is made from a regular cloth diaper and soakers.

A GroVia Experience Package in Persimmon (or comparable cloth diaper in color)

Two packages of Thirsties Cloth Wipes

Small amount of black fabric (I used a remnant)

Diaper pins or tape

White Elastic (or yarn, thread, white washi tape)

Chopsticks

Decorative plate

You can watch this video for a long and rambling tutorial to see exactly how I make the sushi from wipes and the diaper sashimi if you need a little handholding. If not these pictures below should be of help.



[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”20″ size_format=”px”]How to make Sushi Rolls[/typography]

Start by deciding the colors you want in each roll, keeping in mind one wipe in each package needs to be used in reverse for the “rice.” I chose the celery color both times. Each roll contains 3 wipes- two colored wipes and one white. You will also want to cut a long strip of your black fabric for each roll.

Fold each colored wipe inward longways and have the edges almost meeting, then fold from left to right (not roll).

Take the white wipe and fold in half then wrap it around the two colored wipes tightly. Secure with a rubber band if desired.

Use that long strip of black fabric (I folded both sides in longways so I didn’t need to worry about cutting straight lines!) and wrap around the wipes. Secure using a safety pin, tape, or another method you prefer.

To make Sashimi you want the diaper to be the color of salmon or tuna which are both commonly eaten here in the US and the most recognized. The persimmon color was a perfect match and the fact that I could order packages that included two soakers per diaper was perfect for sashimi– one soaker is snapped inside the diaper and one rolls up to go beneath it as a pad of “rice.”

Snap in the soaker (or use a stuff pocket diaper, a cover with a prefold inside, etc) and make sure the diaper is on the smallest rise setting if it has a rise adjustment.

First fold the tabs in to the middle to make the diaper one long rectangle, then start rolling it in from the back. When it is completely rolled secure the tabs around one another. Velcro was the easiest for this but you can make snaps attach to themselves if they have crossover snaps OR use the next step to secure them.

Using the elastic, secure it in the back if possible or hold it tight while wrapping around several times. I chose 4 as the number of lines to be seen on top. I tied each end together.

Take the extra soaker (or prefold, flat, microfiber insert, etc) and fold it up to match the size of the sashimi diaper. Place your sashimi on top and take another strip of black fabric and wrap it around the center then tie underneath.

I made a total of two sashimi and four sushi rolls. You can also make a smaller, less expensive version of this gift by making 1 sashimi and 2 rolls.

I plated them on a white rectangular plate that I found at TJ Maxx for a very reasonable price. White plates are always useful and while it isn’t baby related it will be used more than a throwaway plate and makes for a pretty gift. The free chopsticks from a take-out order tops it off. You can opt to buy and wrap the plate in plastic to keep it together as well.

Who wouldn’t be excited to get this at their baby shower?! I mean… how CUTE is this?