Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To hate this smashcake craze?

588 replies

skerrywind · 09/04/2017 10:35

A close member of our family has just spent £100 on a smashcake for her 1st baby's birthday.
I find it quite disgusting to waste food like this. It surprises me that I have quite a gutteral reaction to this. I also find it disgusting to see people in baths of beans etc.

Anyone else feel like this or am I just a killjoy?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Glossolalia · 09/04/2017 12:20

Although the last time it was discussed on here, everyone tried to convince me that using a flannel on a reluctant toddler was an imposition on their bodily boundaries and bordering on abuse

MN is a weird place sometimes... why would cleaning your child's face be abuse. FFS, MN really does make me despair.

limitedperiodonly · 09/04/2017 12:24

everyone tried to convince me that using a flannel on a reluctant toddler was an imposition on their bodily boundaries and bordering on abuse...

I wouldn't go that far. It's just that when you have a toddler with a constantly streaming nose, wiping it off all the time makes it bloody sore.

So I'd wipe when it got really bad but otherwise ignore other people's tuts and do whatever made me and him happy. Principally him.

Bit like this thread really...

LaurieMarlow · 09/04/2017 12:31

My toddler and his nursery buddies waste a helluva lot of perfectly good pasta making god awful art and craft.

I don't see any handwringing about that.

ThreeLeggedHaggis · 09/04/2017 12:31

Disgusting trend that I hope dies out soon.

I'd also be interested in knowing how many of the appalled at the waste people had a posh wedding cake???

I didn't have a cake at all. There were hardly any leftovers from my wedding.

WhataHexIgotinto · 09/04/2017 12:32

I bloody hate them. But I hate mess so the thought of deliberately smashing a cake up and smearing it everywhere would bring me out in hives.

Biker47 · 09/04/2017 12:40

Pointless, I think less of the parents who chose to do these.

BewtySkoolDropowt · 09/04/2017 12:43

I guess people that have issues with cake smashes also have issues with playdough.

Both use flour that could be used to feed the starving. But it's very unlikely that, even if the ingredients weren't 'wasted' for play purposes, that they would reach the people that are starving.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 09/04/2017 12:45

I think it's part of this godawful "making memories" trend. Doing stuff for the photos and the Facebook likes.

I have photos of my kids with chocolates faces, or looking a bit muddy or sand covered or painty. But they were all captured spontaneously, not set up.

I will admit to having some studio photos of my kids wearing brightly coloured Tshirts and tickling each other though. And it's a nice memory because we sneaked off to do them secretly for DH's fortieth, the photographer was lovely and made it great fun and DH was absolutely made up with his present.

Foureyesarebetterthantwo · 09/04/2017 12:45

My issue with cake smashes is that babies don't look cute to me covered in food, I see plenty of children like that and I always think it looks horrible!

As for sensory play, if you do baby-led weaning, every mealtime is a sensory experience. You don't need to pay for a chocolate cake and take 'hilarious' photos of it covering your child.

Littlelegs19 · 09/04/2017 12:45

I don't even know what this is? 🙄

BloomingDaffodil · 09/04/2017 12:48

I agree, it is huge waste of food and money - my moral compass would dictate if I had £100 to spend on food that I planned to bin, I would donate the money to Oxfam - and then when the child is old enough, explain that to them

lazyarse123 · 09/04/2017 12:48

Gross idea and so false. I have a photo of my daughter practically asleep in her tea. Funny pic but not one i would show anybody apart from us. I also agree about the baby earrings and headbands (bit common and chavvy). Can i just say i work in a supermarket and we send all our unwanted food to a charity and have done for nearly 2 years, we just don't shout about it like some.

limitedperiodonly · 09/04/2017 12:54

Can i just say i work in a supermarket and we send all our unwanted food to a charity and have done for nearly 2 years, we just don't shout about it like some.

Of course you may

Screwinthetuna · 09/04/2017 12:54

It's tacky and I hate seeing babies covered in food, it's not cute

Shadowboy · 09/04/2017 12:55

I agree. Huge waste of food. And why? Kids look grim smeared in food- at least mine do! Why would I want to pay £100 to see them plastered in food when I get that opportunity on a daily basis.
It's all a bit 'ugly' in every sense

limitedperiodonly · 09/04/2017 12:56

my moral compass would dictate if I had £100 to spend on food that I planned to bin, I would donate the money to Oxfam

Does your moral compass start twitching at anything less than £100?

Photograph · 09/04/2017 12:56

Until recently, little kids could perfectly cover themselves in cake if you let them with a very standard cake. I love how everything now has to be a "thing". Toddler playing with bits and bobs= sensory development activity. kid not wanting to go to school= school refuser. (I wonder if my GP would sign me off if I become an "office refuser"). Kid eating like a pig = smashcake photo opportunity

Maybe I should feel guilty about never allowing my kids to go into a food fight on their birthday... or maybe not!

histinyhandsarefrozen · 09/04/2017 12:57

It's for idiots.

lazyarse123 · 09/04/2017 12:57

limited Thank you Smile

Jux · 09/04/2017 12:59

£1871.61, at 5% with no further deposits.

£21,202.10 if you were to add £60 a month to the account (that's a little less than £800 a year). That's one year's Uni fees and some to spare.

PickAChew · 09/04/2017 13:03

Babies can make enough mess with a single slice or cupcake. A whole big cake is a ridiculous waste and I agree with the pp who mentioned that it's disrespectful to the animals responsible for the eggs, butter, cream etc.

And I don't get the kids waste food all the time argument. Not deliberately and parent sanctioned, they don't.

TinfoilHattie · 09/04/2017 13:04

It's conspicuous consumption at the worst, isn't it? It's the antithesis of the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra and that's what doesn't sit well with me. We should all be trying to use fewer resources, or at least thinking about what we're buying and making sensible choices. Buying anything just for it to be destroyed for a few staged photos is utter, utter madness.

I don't get the comparison with wedding cake - we had one of those, it was eaten by the guests and the rest was shared with friends after the event. I didn't smash it up and render it inedible.

SideOrderofSprouts · 09/04/2017 13:05

Not for me

BearHunting · 09/04/2017 13:10

I don't like these at all.

I could talk about the wastefulness of it, but tbh, my main problem with it is that I've always found people getting covered in food rather repulsive.

I know babies get food all over the place when they're being weaned, some degree of that is unavoidable - but to deliberately set up a situation where you're planning to get your baby covered in food - that just makes me shudder. I don't find it cute at all.

(Although small children covered in other stuff, like paint, mud, sand, glitter etc doesn't bother me. Just food.)

TheBogQueen · 09/04/2017 13:13

Do the adults stand around encouraging the kids to smear themselves with cake?

It's a confusing world isn't it...

Swipe left for the next trending thread