Weekly Roundup: Homemade Birthday Cake Edition
My daughter’s birthday is coming up first of the week and my wife has been busy baking a homemade birthday cake, complete with homemade icing and her own version of a Camp Rock cake topper. A couple years ago my wife attended two series of Wilton cake classes hosted by a local Michael’s store where she learned the ins and outs of cake decorating. While I remember griping about it at the time, it turns out the classes were a great investment!
This summer, when my wife injured her ankle and was in a cast, I had to visit a local Publix bakery and order a small sheet cake for my son’s birthday–$27.99! I guess my wife has spoiled me by making the kids birthday cakes for the last couple years, or maybe I had just forgotten how much those things cost! Either way, I’m glad she is up to the task this time around.
Now that you are caught up on the exciting happenings around the Frugal household, I’ll share a few of my favorite articles from the past week.
The Roundup
Millionaire Secrets of the Super Rich: The Big Problems They Keep
Finding Contentment While Others Around You Want More
Why the Recession Will Be Good for Us as a Country
When Your Financial State Improves, Do Your Frugal Standards Change
Lending Money to Family and Friends
Make a New Year’s Resolution for SMARTER Goals This Year
Paying For a Missing Item
Have You Checked Out Lending Club
20 Largest Stock Funds 2008 Performance: Nowhere to Hide.
Case Study: Paul and Melanie Want to Buy a House.
Other Happenings
“Frugal Coast2Coast“ radio show debuts. I enjoyed listening to Lynnae (Being Frugal) and Jen (Frugal Upstate) discuss frugal topics last week. They even managed to work in a “FrugalDad.com” mention in their first show (thanks guys). The show airs on Mondays at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST.
I’d like to welcome The Secure Student to the list of sponsors here at Frugal Dad. Mike Young, Founder and CEO, and I have traded a few emails over the past couple months. He’s even written a guest post here at Frugal Dad. I’ve enjoyed watching the progress he’s made in building a program that gives “students and parents the wisdom they need to succeed with credit and money.” Definitely a timely mission!
Another excellent round-up. I especially enjoyed the “paying for a missing item” post. Thanks!
I make all our birthday cakes as well and with six kids, it definitely pays off.
I would love to have your wife join my birthday cake roundup at Lifeasmom.com: http://www.lifeasmom.com/2009/01/friends-romans-and-countrymen.html Would love to see Camp Rock!
I’ve always wondered how come those cakes cost so much! Such a better idea to make a cake from scratch, you know what goes into it, they usually taste better, you can limit food coloring and other chemical additives. I’d love to see a picture when it’s done! Thanks for the roundup!
Thanks for the mention and Happy Birthday to your daughter!
Happy birthday to Fugal Kid! I’ve been making my kids’ birthday cakes for some time now. After shelling out $300 or so for the party (I’ve sworn off at-home parties after the last two debacles), it’s an easy place to save money, esp. since the kids don’t eat the cake most of the time anyway. I’ve also made cupcakes, but their preference seems to be for an actual cake.
I let them pick out a small toy which functions as the cake topper. My Little Pony, an Ariel Polly Pocket, and a Pokemon something or another are among the toys that have graced their birthday cakes, and gone on to become favored playthings thereafter. Currently trying to figure out how we’ll do a Hannah Montanna cake!
I discovered how inexpensive it is to MAKE a cake just this year! I have always bought them, and it costs about $3 to make one! I hope you’ll check out my post today on “10 Ways to Invest in Your Child’s Future.”
As a cake artist I am offended by this post. Just Kidding. The reasons that are stated here for making your own kids cakes are the ones that provoked me to take those same classes. Now I make a living at it. We’d love for you to share pictures of the cake.
We just stick with cupcakes for kids’ birthday parties.