Our parties are always fun because everyone gets to laugh at what passes for decoration on my cakes. I'm with you; they taste fine but never turn me loose to decorate anything.

Our Halloween baby (Rebecca) is the easiest. She expects orange and black sprinkles on a chocolate cake with witches or black cats.

And she always has to retell the story of how she was born in a toilet. She wasn't but it was a very near thing. Her version is much more exciting and I'll never convince her it didn't happen.

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I've done 2 cakes myself and neither came out super good but I was proud I made it myself! Here's some pictures:

http://www.girlonfire.net/sebastian/art/scrappages/84.jpg

I don't have the teletubbies cake pic online but that one was even worse! I probably spent around $50 on this cake since I had to import everything to make it since we're not in the USA and they don't have all of this stuff here.

I decided to stop making them myself and for the last birthday we bought this cake:
http://www.girlonfire.net/sebastian/art/scrappages/234.jpg

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My daughter just turned one a couple of weeks ago. This was my first ever attempt at serious cake decorating. The party theme was Blues Clues and my SIL mentioned a cake pan. I jumped on it.

But who knew Blues Clues cake pans are impossible to find? EVERY Michaels we went to was out of them. My SIL finally found one for rent; yes, you heard me, for rent, at a party store. This is all so unbelievable to me but maybe it is b/c I am new to the children's bday party scene.

Regadrless, we stayed up until after 1am on a Thursday night (yes, I work full time) making Blue. That night it didn't even resemble the darn dog, but later after my eyes adjusted to the lack of sleep, I realized it was wonderful! We had a lot of fun. It was labor intensive and verrrrrrrry time consuming, but worth every minute for my munchkin!

I don't have a picture here at work :(

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Last year I found a place in Southern California called Paper Cake Designs. I had them do present cakes with four different designs on them. They were the hit of the party! And they delivered for a reasonable price since they were two hours south.

The year before we lived in New York City and used a bakery in the West Village called Polka Dots Cake Design Studio. We had them do individual 3" round cakes with flowers. Each cake fed two people.

Both places I found on the web! Enjoy.

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Julie, I also became a baking freak during my son's 88 day stint in NICU. I used it as my way of dealing with the stress. The NICU staff was extremely well taken care of while we were there. I baked for them at least once a week, usually more.

For his first birthday, I baked him a 3D teddy bear as his smoosh cake, and a 3 layer cloud cake with teddy bears sliding down a rainbow. It was my first(and last) experience with fondant. That stuff is difficult to work with, and it tastes nasty. For my daughter's 3rd bday that year, I made her a sheet cake with a color flow Belle. (Color flow takes several days).

For my son's 2nd bday this year, I made a 3D Thomas the Tank Engine cake. For my daughter's bday, which is today, but party Sat, I am making a 3D Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses cake. ( At least that is the plan, I had all 4 wisdom teeth and a molar extracted this morning, so I hope to be feeling well enough by Friday to spend that much time and energy on a cake.)

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Michelle

Happy Birthday to your son.

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I've had a great time making simple cakes in fun shapes. I cut a couple of bread pan shaped cakes to make a train engine, used a Bundt pan to make a space ship/UFO, and used every rectangular pan in the house to make a robot. The easiest was the caterpillar made from a dozen cupcakes for a 2nd birthday. The cake has sometimes been out of a box, frosting too, but they definately have looked "homemade" and been fun to make and decorate together. I generally use candies or other edibles for the decorations. By the time my kids are ten I'll be a pro!

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Ann, Thank you. It's hard to believe my teeny-tiny preemie is a big 2-yr old already! And my sweet little girl is 4. Where does the time go?

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Hi,

My tradition started when my daughter was in the NICU. On her four-week birthday, I made a huge batch of cupcakes with her initial on them for all the nurses and doctors.

Then, on her first birthday, I made another batch of the same cupcakes. I plan to do this every year as a tradition.

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