My baby boy is turning 5 tomorrow! I can’t believe it. Today I have a lot of preparations to do, including figuring out what I’m going to do for his cake. I never buy those really expensive theme cakes with the two-inch thick layer of butter cream frosting. First of all, no one really wants to eat it. Second, it’s way too much money. Why spend any money on cake no one wants to eat?
Usually I can find some kind of decoration to go with the theme, but my son’s request is Transformers flavored frosting. I asked him if he wants chocolate cake. No, he wants Transformers cake. Vanilla? No, Transformers. Ice cream? No, he just wants Transformers cake. I asked aloud what Transformers frosting would taste like. My cousin answered, “Metal.” Wow, this is sounding so delicious.
I am embarrassed to say, when my older son wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cake, I was too cheap then to order a good one, but I couldn’t find any decorative candies with that theme or anything. So I cut up a Ninja Turtle plate and stuck it in the cake as a decoration. How lame am I? He loved it though. Hahaaaaa! I wonder how long I’ll be able to get away with that trick? I am not talented enough in the art department to pull off decorating with frosting and have it actually resemble whatever characters my kids want.
I tried really hard when it was my husband’s birthday to make him a camouflage cake. All right, it did resemble it, I guess, but it looked pretty unappetizing and the fact that I couldn’t get that pattern down indicates that it would be a disaster were I to attempt frosting robots. A friend of mine has the gift, but she is bombarded with requests all the time.
I try to make up for my sad cake making skills with entertainment. When my oldest son turned 4 and we had very little money, I suddenly had the idea to fill his room with balloons while he was sleeping. It worked great and when he woke up, he yelled, “MOM!!! DAD!!!! THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!” There were over 80 balloons in there that I blew up with my very own lungs. I think my singing skills came in handy.
We’ve done the balloon thing a couple times since then and it’s always a hit. Really tiring, and our fingers start to bleed from tying so many (I really should get some clips), but worth it when you see the look on their faces when they wake up. Another time we hung streamers all over the place, creating sort of a tunnel.
Feel free to steal my ideas. Not sure if anyone else has ever done that, but I sure like to tell myself that I am the only parent who has ever shoved a bunch of balloons into their kids’ room while they’re sleeping.
I’m off to the store while Grandma has the almost birthday boy for the day!
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