Harry Potter Hogwarts Express Diaper Cake

Create a unique show-stopping centerpiece for a Harry Potter-themed baby shower with this DIY Hogwarts Express Diaper Cake. Complete tutorial for creating your own diaper cake below.

Hello Crafty Friends! I’m back today with one more Harry Potter related craft – in honor of his birthday today, July 31st. Today’s project is a DIY Harry Potter Hogwarts Express Diaper Cake!

I made this for a friend who absolutely loves Harry Potter. I thought it would be fun to make a diaper cake modeled after the Hogwarts Express! It’s such a great part of the books and movies and lends itself to being a great diaper cake.

This diaper cake is primarily made up of diapers along with a few baby-related items. I chose to use fabric to wrap the diapers since I needed to use the specific colors of red and black. If you wanted to go an extra step, you could use burp cloths or baby blankets in red and black – either purchasing them or making your own.

This was a blast to put together and would be a great centerpiece for a shower or a wonderful gift for an expecting friend! There are a lot of ways you could put your own spin on this and it doesn’t need to be the Hogwarts Express. It would be cute as a train in any color! 

How to Make a Harry Potter Diaper Cake:

Supplies Needed:

Here is a list of the supplies I used. I experimented a lot while creating this and because of that I do not know the exact measurements of ribbon and fabric used, but I have given my best guess. 

• 42 Diapers (I used size 3)
• 1 Red and 1 black pair of socks
• Red bib
• Munchin Disposable Diaper Pads – Or a similar sized baby item (5″ x 7.5″) that comes in a box.
• Cardboard
• 1.5″ Red ribbon
• 5/8″ Red ribbon
• 1.5″ Black ribbon
• 3/8″ Black ribbon
• Black paper
• Red felt – one 9″x12″ sheet is enough
• Red Fabric – (I used a scrap I had and didn’t measure it, but 1/4″ yard should be enough)
• Black Fabric – (I used a scrap I had and didn’t measure it, but 1/4″ yard should be enough)
• Straight Pins (optional ***Please read notes below about other safer alternatives)
• Hot glue gun, scissors, scotch tape, ruler, pencil
• Printed Hogwarts Express logos

*** The Hogwarts Express Diaper Cake is not intended to be a toy for children. It is a fun way to gift baby products to expecting parents and should be dissembled before the products are used. Pins are used to attach ribbon onto the paper wheels. It is a good idea to let the recipient of this diaper cake know how many pins were used so they can make sure to remove and count them before using the products. Alternatively, you could tape the paper wheels to the diaper rolls and hot glue the ribbon to the wheels to avoid using pins all-together – which is what I would do if I were to remake this :) 

Step by Step Tutorial

Rolling the Diapers

STEP 1: Roll the wheels! The diaper cake five wheels. To roll the wheels, layer the diapers in a row as pictured below. Keeping the bottom of the diapers on the outside makes for a cleaner roll. Tightly roll the diapers and wrap with a rubber band.

• 3 rolls of 5 diapers – large wheels
• 2 rolls of 2 diapers – small wheels

STEP 2: Roll the top of the train. The top of the train is made up of four diaper rolls.

• 1 roll of 6 diapers
• 2 rolls of 5 diapers
• 1 mini roll of 3 diapers folded in half before rolling

Wrapping Parts of the Train in Fabric

STEP 3: Wrap the top of the train. Wrap the largest diaper roll in red fabric. Iron your fabric and fold under the edges so the fabric is the width of your diaper roll. Wrap the diaper roll in fabric and tape it in place.

*Update: I didn’t measure the amount of fabric I used, since I was just using a scrap. I gifted this so I can’t go back and look how much I used but I cut a length of fabric at least double the width of the diaper roll and then folded it until it was the right width. Then I just rolled it up and taped it wherever it overlapped.

Wrap the remaining diaper rolls in red and black fabric the same way you did the large one – tying them together with a rubber band first will help hold everything together. Start by wrapping the right end with red fabric that covers almost the entire diaper roll. Then wrap the left side with black fabric, overlapping the red fabric.

STEP 4: Prepare the cardboard. A piece of cardboard sits between the wheels and the top of the train and helps stabilize the entire train. Cut a piece of cardboard 4.5″ by 19″. Accordion fold one end of the cardboard three times starting with (from the left edge) 1″, then 1 1/4″ and finally 3/4″. Cover the cardboard with fabric (or wrapping paper). I tied red ribbon around two of the folded sections of cardboard to help hold the fabric down. You could glue the fabric which would hold it down as well.

Stacking the Train

STEP 5: Stack the train. Place the piece of cardboard on top of the five diaper roll wheels. The two smaller rolls go near the accordion-folded edge. Start by sticking lengths of 1.5″ red ribbon through each of the 3 large diaper wheels. Stick two lengths of 1.5″ black ribbon through each of the 2 smaller wheels.

When you lay the cardboard on top of the wheels you will notice a gap above the two smaller wheels. To fill this in, fold two diapers together to lay above the smaller wheels. Then when you lay the piece of cardboard over everything it should lay horizontal.

Place the fabric wrapped diaper rolls on top of the cardboard. Bring the ribbon up and tie around the rolls. I moved my knots to the other side and tucked the loose ends under the cardboard. If both sides of your diaper cake will be visible you could try hiding the knots inside the diaper roll wheels.

Creating the Train Cab

STEP 6: Tie the cab to the train. Using the 5/8″ red ribbon, tie the box of disposable diaper pads onto the train. You can use any baby product that comes in a box about 5″ by 7.5″. Wrap the box in red fabric (or wrapping paper). I wrapped my ribbon around the train, keeping it along the edge of the cardboard. (Shown best in the picture below). It will sit underneath the vertical 1.5″ ribbons and go across the front of the train along the folded edge.

STEP 7: Add the top of the cab. I placed the red bib on top of the disposable changing pads and then put my “roof” on. To create the roof, use two diapers and overlap them. Wrap them in black fabric. Tie them onto the disposable diaper pads with more of the 1.5″ red ribbon. I added a red decorative bow to the top of the roof. Tape, glue or stitch the bow to the ribbon already there.

Decorating the Wheels – Optional

STEP 8: Add the wheels! I used black paper pinwheels for each of my wheels. To create a pinwheel, I cut strips of black paper (1.5″ wide for the large wheels and 1/2″ wide for the small wheels) and then scored it every 1/4″. I then folded it accordion style and glued the ends together to create a loop. I placed a dab of hot glue on a tiny square of paper and then pushed my accordion-folded loop down on top of it to create the pinwheel. Hold it in place while the glue dries.

For more detailed instructions on making paper medallions, you can take a look at this post where I made Mother’s Day Medallion Pins. Still use the dimensions listed above.

Once you have all of your wheels made, attach them to the diaper cake. I stuck rolled-up red felt into the center of each diaper wheel and then used a straight pin to stick my pinwheels onto the diaper wheels. The red felt gives the pins something to stick to.

** Update: To avoid using straight pins on this diaper cake, you can tape the paper wheels to the diaper rolls using loops of masking tape or hot glue the tops of the wheels to the red ribbon going into each diaper roll. If you do use pins, write down the number of pins you used and where on a little Post-It and be sure to give that to the recipient. I used 13 pins total (7 on the wheels and 6 on the chimney socks)

I used decorative gold ribbon and gold straight pins to connect the large wheels. It can be hard to push the straight pins through the center of the pinwheels because of the hot glue, so you may have to go slightly above the center.

** You can also skip using straight pins on this step by taping or hot gluing the ribbon to the paper medallions. It will be just as effective and easier! If I made this again I would avoid using pins – just so I didn’t have to worry about them getting lost!

Adding the Finishing Touches

STEP 9: Make the sock chimneys! Roll two pairs of socks and tightly wrap them with a rubber band. I covered the rubber band with ribbon and a bow. Tape the chimneys to the train with tape loops or hot glue (if using fabric and not baby blankets). 

STEP 10: Finish the front of the train and decorate! I cut a large circle from black paper and pinned it to the front of the diaper cake. I printed off the insignia found on the Hogwart’s Express. If you google Hogwart’s Express, lots of images come up. I taped these onto my train. I also added a red bow to the front of the train.

The Hogwart’s Express Diaper Cake is complete! I love the way it turned out! It is so fun and is perfect for any Potter fan. Visit my Harry Potter Craft Page for more fun, crafty ideas and tutorials.