Happy Birthday to you...

I have been scouring through magazines and websites for cake ideas for my daughters 2nd birthday for awhile now. I should mention that her birthday is 8 weeks away. Still, I get a thrill from planning these parties for wee ones because I know that probably by next year my daughter will have a say in what kind of party she would like. For now though, I get full reign so I will relish every minute. Of course I always ask her what cake she would prefer - a castle or bugs (to name the latest 2 options). This will change though by the time her party is only days away.

People ask me why I bother with all the trouble and my answer is simply that birthdays have become a convenience. I like the "trouble". It would be very easy to order a cake from the grocery store and rent out a room at the coolest play place. Now this is not to say that my girls won't ask for this either but I will certainly try to have that "home party" as long as I can. Growing up I remember my mother making my birthday cakes in shapes of frogs and owls and clowns and I LOVED them. They were home made with love and that is exactly what I would like my daughters to feel on their birthdays. While the cake in question is still a question, my oldest daughter has picked out her cake for her birthday...which happens to be about 26 weeks away. Is it too early to plan?