Just about a year ago Naomi Griffen-Olson of Mason City was looking online for a baby shower gift idea. She Googled “baby shower gifts” and eventually came upon an item that sounds … well … not like something you’d want to give a good friend: a diaper cake.|MASON CITY — Just about a year ago Naomi Griffen-Olson of Mason City was looking online for a baby shower gift idea.
She Googled “baby shower gifts” and eventually came upon an item that sounds … well … not like something you’d want to give a good friend: a diaper cake.
It was a big hit at the shower. “Everyone just absolutely loved it,” Griffen-Olson said.
She later did some research on the product and found “no one in this area is doing diaper cakes,” so after talking to several people who thought she was onto a great idea, she decided to launch a home-based business making them.
Thus Blessed Bundle Diaper Cakes was born, offering a variety of shapes and sizes. They’re attractive, practical gifts for new parents, consisting primarily of diapers arranged into a circle and tied up in a bow.
Customer Raquel Schoneman said she has bought a few cakes from Griffen-Olson. They are “cute and professional looking,” she said.
“It was a great way to give diapers instead of just being in a boring package,” Schoneman said. “Many people at the showers thought they were just adorable and had never seen a diaper cake before.”
Besides providing the attractively bundled diapers, the cakes can be tiered and/or customized to include wash cloths, receiving blankets, toys and/or teddy bears.
Griffen-Olson got the word out about Blessed Bundle by sending postcards, putting up fliers, contacting daycare centers and creating a Facebook site.
She makes the cakes in her house after buying the diapers and other materials. She uses safety pins, of course, and rubber bands ñ nothing that can harm a little one. “I buy a pack of diapers, come home, roll them up and go from there,” she said.
Mostly she tries for a “clean, crisp look ñ plain can be very pretty. But I can do special orders if the customer wants, and I can make them with a hidden gift box inside.”
Prices generally range from $15 for a plain cake to $35 for an elaborate three-tiered cake.
The cakes can be ordered by going to her Facebook page, Blessed Bundle.
