DIY!! Fancified Birthday Cakes!!

So for Lila's first birthday I actually made her own birthday cake and made some sad looking ducks. (I made 3 of them) they were cute and people raved about them but I wasn't very experienced and I don't have patience or the right tools so they didn't look very pretty.

I have photos in my camera but the cord to dl pics from my camera has a short in it and it is too frustrating for me to undertake with my toddler awake :) So look for this post to be updated later tonight.

Some people tend to prefer convenience over saving money. Which, if you have a lot of money, is okay...I guess. My mom and I were looking at cakes for Lila's birthday at Publix recently. They were very pricy - in the $30.00 range for a 1/4 sheet cake all decorated and fancied up!!!

I felt sick to my stomach thinking about spending that kind of cash on a cake!!! (I LOVE to watch Ace of Cakes but one time I found out how much they charge for cakes...and HOLY SMOKES!) Haven't watched the show? Go check out their gallery here.

The crayons to the right here? That's a cake!!! made by charm city cakes! :) They also have 50 flavors! can you imagine? What a creative person Chef Duff is! and he always REALLY impresses me with all of his charity work! I cry a lot when I watch Ace of Cakes. One time they took a bunch of cakes and toys to the Ronald McDonald house for the kids there. How awesome is that?! Such amazing people!! **MINIMUM COST FOR A CAKE? - $1000!!!!**

But..since very few of us have a cool grand laying around for us to buy a cake with we have to find alternatives! I'd prefer my alternative not be a $30.00 grocery store cake, although..they do have Dora and Princess Cakes and my child is ALLLL about the princesses. I went to My Four Monkeys today to check out her giveaway post and to go hijack about a bazillion giveaways to enter. Her first entry on my screen was this one about creating cakes. I especially like the sandcastle cake she made. seen here to the left!

So I definitely recommend checking out her post that I linked there above to find out how she gets inspiration for such things Jolly Mom also has tricks she uses to get fancified cakes for less that she posted about here.

Two years ago I was fortunate enough to sit in on a conversation between my sister and one of her best friends. They were talking about growing up together and birthday cakes. Apparently when they were something like 12 & 13 My sister was amazed that her friend had never had a store bought cake for her birthday. (That was almost all we had after my sister was like six so I don't think she remembered the cute bunny cakes of her little years) My sister saved up her money to buy her friend a store bought cake from Kroger for her birthday.

Her friend was also amazed that Brandy only remembered having store bought cakes, so I think for her next birthday her friend MADE her a home made cake. I believe they both decided that hands down...they preferred the home made cakes. I only have two months to decide. Let's hope I decide sometime soon!