Tired of gifting the same baby registry items for your pregnant friends expecting buns in the oven? On the hunt for a fabulous and frugal DIY baby shower gift idea? Shake things up and whip up some cupcakes… using baby onesies. It’s a DIY baby shower gift that’s easy (no mess!), inexpensive and absolutely darling. You can credit the all-powerful Target for igniting my creativity on this one. That, and that I tend to focus at the mere mention of the word ‘cupcake.’
Looks a bit too fab to be true, right? Trust me, if I can do this, YOU can do this. (You all know I’m not much of a DIY person… except for cute random flower arrangements and that one time “Home & Family” required me to craft a holiday gift for my friend and on-air Design Expert Kenneth Wingard.)
But I know baking. I figured that no-mess cupcakes would be a CINCH for an aw-worthy surprise for my new tiny cousin… a project that I could enlist my older toddler girl in on to help. I also love this craft as an activity for a baby shower (for each guest to make one, to give to mom-to-be) or a DIY for older siblings to make for an expected baby in the family. (“Let’s make a surprise for when our new little sister/brother arrives!” Clever huh.)
To get started on your cupcakes, GO SHOPPING. Easy enough (as though all of my children’s clothing doesn’t already come from Target). Pick a few of your fave Circo onesies (around $5 each… I like to choose varied sizes so baby has options as he/she grows).
You’ll also need: 1) Clear tape (Target’s Up & Up brand makes a quality products that’s a fraction of the usual name-brand price… as I found out and was compelled to apologize for it a few years ago), 2) Cupcake liners (the crazy colored ones look best) and 3) Circo baby socks (I used 2 pairs). Then I enlisted my 3 year old’s help… which I was HAPPY to employ since I knew this was a no-mess scenario — no glue, no glitter, no paint to be smeared all over my glass kitchen table. (Please. That’s what preschool is for.) Spread out allllllll these cupcake cups for Mommy please… good job!
We soon found ourselves in my kitchen, way too excited and READY TO GO.
Before long… viola! Just be wary of hungry little hands. These babies DO look deceivingly delicious.
Just for fun, I displayed our finished cupcakes on a tray. Hey! There’s an idea for a centerpiece for the mom-to-be to take home the day of her shower! (Except I’d doll it up extra with real cupcakes, candies and a ton of frilly ribbons on a full-on cake stand or something… if you’re going to put the whole thing on display for a real party.)
You’ll notice, I stuck a little flower clip in the cupcake on the far left… if you’re gonna get girly, then GET GIRLY, right? Totally impressed myself with that move. Nabbing some of Circo’s baby headbands, and wrapping them completely around each cupcake, would be snazzy too. Wow I am on a roll here. Blame Target.
This whole operation took me… oh…. about 20 minutes. No time at all. And that’s WITH a toddler slowing you down, folks.
Now before I tell you to check out Target’s detailed and easy how-to video for making these fabulous onesie cupcakes, step by step, I should mention a few crafty clues that I figured out along the way: 1) In the name of amping the design up a notch, I took selected colored & embellished onesies (instead of plain ones)… just be sure to roll them up so that all embellishments/designs are on outside of roll when finished. 2) Roll everything up EXTRA TIGHT so that the tape holds everything together nice and snugly (i.e.: you may need to re-do your toddler’s rolls when they’re not looking). 3) Stack a few cupcake liners together to use as one cup… it ends up more sturdy that way. 4) Don’t limit yourself to onesies! I also mixed in some cutie-patootie Circo newborn-shortsets… but you might need to adjust the way you fold-and-roll, to make it fit into the cupcake liners. 5) Remove clothing tags if needed. I removed the tags on the bows and socks (duh), but I was able to leave tags on the onesies and shorts. FYI from me to you.
Now that you know my tricks, watch Target’s how-to video for the full deets:
Cute, right? And now… IT’S YOUR TURN! LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW (OR SEND ME AN EMAIL) DESCRIBING THE CRAFTIEST THING YOU DID FOR A NEW BABY AND YOU MIGHT WIN A $50 GIFT CARD TO TARGET! Target is providing TheFabMom with one gift card to give away. Winner chosen at random. All in the name of making onesie cupcakes of your own, of course. Enter contest by Sunday June 22, 11:59pm PST. Limited to U.S. residents only.
DISCLAIMER: This post is part of a sponsorship with Babycenter.
I’ve been looking for this and thanks to you, I finally find it. I am so amazed by the cuteness that these cupcake onesies, so I decided to make my own and surprisingly they turned out so wonderful. And now, I’m searching for more DIY ideas and this one is really perfect. Thank you for sharing!
I wanted a baby girl for my first grandbaby so badly, that I kept all his momma’s frilly dresses and lace socks! It was o.k. though, HE was a keeper 🙂
The craftiest thing I ever did for a baby was make a little dress for a niece born in another country. I had never crocheted before, especially without any pattern, but it was made of soft white cotton yarn, and then I tied little teeny bows of pastel yellow, pink, and blue all over it. I had to admit it came out cute, and sent it off. I forgot about it, until I saw one of them posted a baby picture on Facebook with her in it, and it fit perfect! I had no idea if it would fit when I made it.
We made glittery elephant decals for the nursery 🙂
katherinedibello (at) gmail (Dot) com
Cute! What is it about elephants that just go with babies… So sweet 😉
What a cute idea! Love target
I made some different wall art for my brother when he was expecting his first child. I used watercolors and incorporated different industrial elements like copper, brass and metal.
Copper, brass and metal is something I’d like to hang in MY house! Modern and edgy… love it.
Love target! I like to make growth charts out of old pallet wood!
Love it Kara! That’s SERIOUS DIY (when you involve wood)… 🙂
I bought a small basket and added homemade jams for the parents and a few of the smaller items of their registry for the baby!
Super cute Vanessa!
I just had 3 friends have babies. I crocheted mini blankets for them each. They looked like a giant granny square and then I added a little animal in one corner. A monkey for one person and two elephants for the others. They were so easy to make while I watched TV, though they took several hours each.
Adorable! Way to be productive while binge-watching your favorite shows! I think I need to learn to crochet so I can tell my husband “look, I’m doing something legit” while catching up my Real Housewives… sssshhhhh… 🙂
The craftiest thing I ever did for a baby shower was to string a clothesline in the living and have everyone bring at least a onesie and hang it on the clothes line. Turns out more people brought beautiful dresses (they knew it was to be a baby girl) and hung them up – so it was a really pretty clothesline of gifts for the mom-to-be 🙂
Kim, I have this picture in my head of a gorgeous scene… where the mom-to-be gasps at how beautiful her shower is! What a nice idea!
I made a really cute diaper cake for my best friend. I put old photographs of her and her husband when they were both babies. She said that was the best part!
Amanda, including baby photos of the parents is GENIUS! Fun…
I made really cute wall frames using old sheet music and dried flowers for my niece. They turned out really cute! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
Erin
fairyfractal at gmail dot com
I love the sheet music idea!!!
The craziest thing I did for a child was help make a hello kitty cake. It took us a long time to make her bow and whiskers. Yes! The smallest was the the hardest but it was fun!
I give you credit! Making cakes in the shapes of kids characters is no easy task!!! Bravo!!!
I am not very crafty but when my best friend was pregnant with her first child I made her a cross stitch birth announcement. She had always made them for other people however I knew she would have no time to do one for herself and I was right. She loved it. It took a really long time to do, thank goodness I had 9 months!
Love it! Isn’t it so worth the long effort when you see how happy it makes someone? That’s a hard thing to do (cross stitch)… what a fabulous friend you are! So sweet… and she will have it FOREVER.
I haven’t had the pleasure of having many friends with babies yet and my baby girl is due in October, so I don’t really have crafty things I’ve done. However, for our sex reveal, I made a pink sign with baby girl’s name on it and had a pink onesie in my future diaper bag for all the grandparents to open. I thought that was a crafty take on the sex reveal. 🙂
I like it Shannon… fabulous way to make it exciting for grandparents… plus it takes effort and patience to do that (especially when you probably just wanted to shout “It’s a Girl!”)
I make name blocks for gifts! Custom, handmade and super cute. My husband cuts the 2x4s and I paint and Modge podge them!
Trisha that is REALLY creative! I’m impressed…
I made a photo “collage” – took pictures of things in nature that looked like the letters of the baby’s name and arranged them in a line to spell out his name. 🙂
FABULOUS decor idea!
I have made multiple baby blankets, burp cloths, and a hooded towel and washcloths. It was all for my niece, hence all the crafts!
Sweet! That way everything matches! Right?
I am the least crafty person in the world – believe me! I tried to make a diaper cake once and it was so ugly we laughed about it all throughout the shower and even now the subject come up once in a while (15 years later) for more laughs – it was terrible!!!
Haha Susan! I always say to give CREDIT whenever anyone attempts something out of their comfort zone. Good job, regardless of how “ugly” it may’ve been! That took TIME… regardless of how it turned out. (But I bet it wasn’t as “ugly” as you say)
The craftiest thing I did was handmade knitted baby beanie and shoes.
That IS crafty! If I tried to knit it’d look like a tangled string of yarn (it WOULD be a tangled string of yarn). 🙂
OMG this is so cute!
The craftiest thing I’ve ever done is make cupcakes with a cake-ball baby ‘head’ on top – this was before cake-pops took off. I stuck a toothpack in the cake-ball, dipped it in a combo of peach/pink/white candy melts, then drew on eyes with icing and stuck a candy pacifier on for the mouth – then the whole thing went on a cupcake. Then, for some of the cupcakes, I stuck another toothpick with a glued-on letter that spelled out the baby’s first name.
Also – thank you for being so ‘real’ – seriously I think you read my mind about getting glue on your dining room table – I think I utter the words ‘that’s what preschool is for’ on the daily. Play-dough on my carpet – um, no: that’s what preschool is for. Pen marks on my butcher-block topped island: that’s what preschool is for… 🙂 We do crafts in the ‘safe-zone’ i.e. in specified toddler-proof areas in the house and backyard.
“That’s what preschool is for!” haha! Yes… AGREED. And, I can’t even begin to talk about baby pop “heads” — DO YOU HAVE A PICTURE? That is worthy of a post, a tweet, an Instagram #ThrowbackThursday… SOMETHING! Amazing. And cute. And probably good for a giggle too (a bunch of little baby heads on pops ha!) Tweet your picture to @jillsimonian, or email jillsimoniantv@gmail.com. Amazing.
I love making scrapbooks for new babies in my life. I love DIY projects too, and I always need good gift ideas. Your cupcakes are so fun and your daughter is just adorable! Thanks for the giveaway!!
Thanks for entering! There are so many great ideas coming in from all of you… I wish I had unlimited gift certs to give away (Target is only providing ONE… not fair if you ask me.) 🙂
I am not as crafty with the diaper cakes. But I have made baby basket with baby items in a laundry basket.
Baby supplies in a laundry basket is one of the cutest ideas for showers… someone gave me one of those ‘bins’ with a bunch of useful stuff… it was perfect! Just what I needed at the time!
The cutest thing I’ve done is make a cake in the shape of a cupcake with pink cake and blue frosting.
I can go for some pink cake right about NOW! Adorable!
A comment compliments of Emelina (emailed to me):
Really, i have no crafty bone in my body…..but for a friend, I put together a basket of developmental teething toys, Orajel, even ear plugs (lol) with really cute packaging…..I am an Armenian speaking Speech-Language Pathologist, and I believe oral motor development and exploration is necessary for mastication and speech development. I always try to gift my favorite oral motor development toys 🙂
Made a diaper bassinet since everyone does the cakes, I put a money baby in it since her theme was all monkeys, I even found a gum cleaner in the shape of a banana, it was adorable and all her guests commented on it. Wish there was a way to post a picture
Kim that is ADORABLE! Would love to see a picture… feel free to tweet it to me @jillsimonian and I will retweet!
Love to shop at target for my baby!!!