Cake Decorating Ideas for Boys Parties

Birthdays come once a year rather we are ready for them or not. As the mother of three boys I have had to become somewhat inventive when birthday time rolls around.

Anyone who has shopped for cake decorations knows how expensive it is to put on a themed party, and every little kid who watches TV has a favorite character, who when asked what kind of birthday party they want, will promptly let you know. Now as the mother of a one working parent family, it is now up to me to come up with some wonderful ideas that will make everyone happy while not breaking the bank, and match the character they have chosen.

Let's start with the basics, a pan. Personally I use the standard 13x9 rectangle, I'm not real imaginative in this particular area. If you are a little more adventuress than myself your local Hobby Lobby www.hobbylobby.com has shaped cake pans which will give your creation an actual character look (i.e. NASCAR www.NASCAR.com or Strawberry shortcake.) With shaped pans you then have the task of icing all of the different planes of the cake where as the standard 13x9 just has 6 straight sides. Next you need a cake, homemade or box doesn't matter, again depending on your adventure level, Icing, and an idea.

My favorite and most in depth cake I ever created was a car cake for my 5 year old son. He wanted NASCAR www.nascar.com and nothing else was going to do. I started off with my standard cake pan, white icing and a prayer, I had to be inventive. Hot Wheels www.HotWheels.com are a great gift idea for little boys, a great stocking stuffer, and there are enough of them that you can get them with some security that you won't get to many of the same ones. Great now I have to figure out a way to recreate a race track. While mulling this over in my kitchen I looked upon my bowl of Halloween candy. What could I do with Dum Dum suckers, 3 musketeers' minis, and the other contents of the bowl? I decided to put my food processor to work. I used a pack of chocolate chips and ground them down to make the track surface, I then cut the 3 Musketeers in half length wise to create the safer barrier wall and placed them cut side toward the track on either side. The Dum Dum suckers I unwrapped and placed every so many candy bars apart as track lighting. Next I place five cars randomly apart to look as if they were racing. Finally I alternated the rectangles of a Hershey bar and a cookies and cream bar to look like the checkered finish line.

The next idea that I have used was similar to the race car that my oldest wanted except I used motorcycles instead of cars and made the track a complete oval. This one did not come with safer barriers or track lighting but was still a hit, and both had useful cake toppers that the kids could continue to play with long after the cake is gone. Another idea that I have used was an attempt at Sponge Bob Square Pants, with to much yellow food coloring in my white icing he came out looking a little jaundice but at 2 years old my son wasn't concerned.

With the New Year comes another round of birthdays and three more chances for me to attempt creative genius. What will it be this year, Thomas the Tank Engine with pretzel sticks for tracks and blue icing, or Blues Clues with tiny dog bone candies from the local novelty candy store? Who's to say, with a little thought you can create lasting birthday memories of your own that save you money and mean more because they come from your heart and imagination.