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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to find cake smashes a bit weird

145 replies

chompybot · 18/07/2015 11:16

Ok so there seems to be this thing recently where you can have a 'cake smash' photography session, I've seen quite a few mums posting on Facebook about it, and baby photographers offer it as a photo shoot. Basically the baby is sat with a big cake and encouraged to grab it with their hands and smear it over their face whilst being photographed. Anyone else think this is a weird photo to have on your wall?

Maybe I am over-thinking it or it had caught me at a bad time, with all these children in developing countries who are malnourished, and then there are these cake smash photos and it seemed to me it is celebrating the fact we have so much food in this country that we can waste it for a photo shoot.

I probably just need to lighten up!

OP posts:

Stealthpolarbear · 19/07/2015 22:00

I like staged (ie formal ) and spontaneous
Not keen on staged spontaneity.

BertieBotts · 19/07/2015 22:02

I think it's an American thing, at least most of the Americans on the birth forum I was on seven years ago seemed to be doing it and totally unsurprised by the rest of them doing it.

Similar to the "tradition" of smashing a slice of wedding cake in your spouse's face.

I don't get it at all. But it's not my culture, so...

Stealthpolarbear · 19/07/2015 22:03

It's a good thing I'm not an American baker. My cakes tend to be quite heavy. They'd get black eyes

Happy36 · 19/07/2015 22:05

Never heard of it. Sounds awful. If any of my Facebook friends starts posting that, he or she will be reduced to acquaintance.

slithytove · 19/07/2015 22:42

My awful cake smash
???? bollocks to you all, I think it's a gorgeous photo and that cake was delicious.

slithytove · 19/07/2015 22:42

Whoops, that sounds much more acerbic when the smileys fail!

Original poster

chompybot · 19/07/2015 22:44

I knew a few people would get offended by my dislike of cake smashes which is why I raised it on AIBU - it's a fair debating space! It's not an opinion I wanted to raise on Facebook or with my friends, in case it turned out any of them were into cake smashes and then I upset them.

I know that lots of food is wasted in this country, and in the grand scheme of things one cake isn't going to make that much difference, but it is the celebration of this waste that I don't like. I am never proud of myself when I throw food away. I know one or two said they managed to do it without wasting the cake, but in the photos I have seen that seems to be an exception.

OP posts:

Original poster

chompybot · 19/07/2015 22:48

slithylove, what a gorgeous baby you have! I would just love the picture more if it was just your baby not the cake. But that's just my view. Seem to have divided opinions on this thread....

OP posts:

slithytove · 19/07/2015 23:05

You can be proud of me for baking and recusing and then eating the cake! it takes a lot to put me off cake

He only messed about with the icing. And thank you for the compliment! I have a gorgeous dd now as well and am planning her first birthday probably a cake smash involved somewhere

slithytove · 19/07/2015 23:05

Rescuing, not recusing. Who recuses a cake.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 19/07/2015 23:07

Lovely baby, the cake looks gross and ruins the picture. I would not want a picture of my child covered in half chewed brown mush on my wall and that picture just confirms it.

Just to repeat - the baby is lovely! The brown mush is gross.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 20/07/2015 03:05

"So because a parent gives a baby more than a slice of cake, anything the baby does isn't spontaneous? One slice = spontaneity but any more is contrived? Seems a stretch to me."

Yeah, that's not really what I said or meant. Of course a baby is going to grab whatever is in front of it, that IS natural. The "unnatural" part of it is allowing them to do that with a whole cake, rather than the slice that you intend them to eat.

And I have no issue with taking photos of cake-strewn faces, as I said. Or even studio photos, or professional school/wedding/etc photos. You are stretching and extrapolating my point, which was purely about cake quantity.

LadyCassandra · 20/07/2015 04:35

DS2 had one, but that was because DH is a pro-cake maker and he was providing cakes to a photographer on a regular basis (and her cake smash business is BOOMING! )
Not something I would normally do, but then I don't really like posed photos, but they looked amazing blown up on DH's shop wall.
Interestingly DS was too scared to touch the cake for ages, I think being told "don't touch the cake" for 18 months had actually worked. We had to give him some kitchen utensils to play with.

sleepywombat · 20/07/2015 04:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HelloNewman · 20/07/2015 04:57

I agree, it's a bit of a naff trend. Also not keen on those newborn photos.

Someone has just posted on FB, a set of professional newborn photos which, to me, are verging on the grotesque.

In one, the tiny, naked apart from a circlet of flowers on its head baby has been somehow contorted into a position where it's bent in half with its head resting on its hands.

So incongruous and really very odd looking. I just kept thinking, poor little baby.

LittleBearPad · 20/07/2015 05:26

Newman I think I saw them too, very odd.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 20/07/2015 05:48

Do you mean like this one, Newman? I'm not so keen on those, not when they're so very little. They always seem to be asleep though so it can't be too traumatic for them.

MrsMummyPig · 20/07/2015 06:08

This ones even worse. How could you sleep through that?

mathanxiety · 20/07/2015 06:22

I hate the Anne Geddes photos too, and the babies wrapped in socks or hats or whatever trend too. Actually, all professional 'shoots' for childhood occasions make me boak but the cake smashes are truly horrible -- 'it is the celebration of this waste that I don't like' [YYY to this, OP]. For associated reasons I hate hot dog or pie eating contests and cake smashing by the bride and groom at weddings. This may sound weird, but there is a lack of respect for the food here, and for what food is supposed to be about. 'Just because we can' seems to be the only reason to do it and I don't like that.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 20/07/2015 06:50

MrsMP - ugh, that really does look uncomfortable! Drugs, maybe?

Fancyachangeinname · 20/07/2015 07:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

merrymouse · 20/07/2015 07:20

The memories are on my wall.

Maybe some Cif would help?

HelenF35 · 20/07/2015 08:33

YANBU, I don't understand them at all.

LittleBearPad · 20/07/2015 09:03

Do you suppose the baby in the second picture was a footling breech Wouldn't want the memory myself but...

LaurieMarlow · 20/07/2015 09:05

This idea of 'celebration of waste' is interesting. It's understandable that ppl see it like this, but it's certainly not the only perspective on it.

You could position it as a celebration of baby's love of food and the joy of discovering something fun, delicious & gloriously excessive.

Thinking about it, baby led weaning is a massive waste of food - rationally speaking. Yet because it's positioned as learning/development we forgive it multitudes.

Now, I get that a cake smash is more focused on joy/deliciousness than learning/development - but given its a once off celebration, I don't find that a huge problem.

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