To be sick to death of cake smashes?

[Noteventhebirdsareupyet]

I am so sick of this strange new phenomenon. It might even be worse than baby showers, at least you don't normally get people sending a million photos of those! What a ridiculous American (no doubt) thing to do - waste of cake, fake set-up pictures, expensive clothes bought specifically to be ruined...... ok rant over!

@WhyDontYouComeOnOver -to be fair you are judging people calling them tacky and how you wont be friends with someone who has different views than your own.
But lets not turn this thread into a typical mumsnet bashing. No point crying over smashed cake!

It also explains why people shouldn't judge when they don't know someone.

Well you're the one who started laying down the law about who you will or will not be friends with, so how are any of us supposed to know friendship is a sensitive topic for you?

I usually say each to their own, but being wasteful is vile.

Who said friendship was a sensitive topic for me? And why are you attempting to derail the thread constantly? It's about cake smashes, get a grip

Yep OP it's a thing. I saw someone on Facebook advertising cake smashes for landmark birthdays, complete with a picture of a grown woman in a little tutu smashing a cake the way a baby would. I found it really creepy! Go on, google it, I dare you!!

It just seems so crass and vulgar to waste food in that way when many people in the uk and abroad don't have enough to eat.

Sparklingbrook - LOL! Couple's cake, what the fuck!

LordPickle - I find that very hard to believe! Just Google American cake smash if you want to see kids smashing cakes dressed in stars and stripes/cowboy hats etc. Don't get me wrong, the British ones are tacky as fuck but let's not pretend the Americans didn't start it!

Having been so skint that I needed food parcels I hate cake smashes, sensory play with food etc. That tin of spaghetti could have been a meal for a hungry child. That cake could have been shared out at a homeless shelter or community centre. If that makes me joyless and po faced then I'm guilty as charged.

As for waste of food, is the play dough, coloured rice, spaghetti, cornflour, potato stamps, dried orange slices, moon sand and toddler baking considered the same?

But all those things are cheap, and the child is creating or learning something. Smashing a cake is destroying something that someone else has gone to the trouble and expense of creating, and there's no learning or creativity in it for the child. As pp said, quite often the child doesn't even want to do it.

Does that figure of 30% of food thrown away apply specifically to household waste, or does it include food waste by restaurants and supermarkets? I very rarely throw food away, I can't imagine throwing away a third of what I buy. How many people can afford to do that?

I don't use food products in my sensory play when I'm teaching early years. Plenty of natural materials out there to use.

but being wasteful is vile

It just seems so crass and vulgar to waste food in that way when many people in the uk and abroad don't have enough to eat.

I don't disagree.

However why does this particular practice evoke such ire, while much more serious, substantial and widespread food waste goes on all the time without much comment?

As I said up thread, 30% of all food purchased in the UK is binned untouched. Restaurants waste vast quantities of food that people won't take home with them. Food waste goes on all the time in sensory play, BLW, arts and crafts.

Does that figure of 30% of food thrown away apply specifically to household waste, or does it include food waste by restaurants and supermarkets?

Household waste only. Figures on food waste in restaurants and supermarkets are difficult to come by (but must be mammoth).

But all those things are cheap, and the child is creating or learning something. Smashing a cake is destroying something that someone else has gone to the trouble and expense of creating, and there's no learning or creativity in it for the child.

I don't see that sensory exploration of a cake is any different to sensory exploration of spaghetti. Destruction is a developmental phase children go through. And the basic ingredients of a cake (flour, eggs, sugar) aren't particularly expensive.

@letbartletbebartlet the pizza had "it's a boy" spelled out in pepperoni, lovely way to tell family and everyone got to eat pizza, win win.

However why does this particular practice evoke such ire, while much more serious, substantial and widespread food waste goes on all the time without much comment?

Because it's so deliberate and portrayed as cute/funny.

the pizza had "it's a boy" spelled out in pepperoni, lovely way to tell family and everyone got to eat pizza, win win.

Klassy.

It’s a disgusting tradition, gluttony dressed up as celebration, a product of a privileged society where no one has to worry about where their next meal is coming from. Hideous message to send to children.

Because it's so deliberate and portrayed as cute/funny

I do understand this.

However, I think that given the amount of waste involved in a cake smash (minimal in the overall scheme of things) parents creating an enjoyable moment for their baby (assuming it is enjoyed) is much less reprehensible than people mindlessly chucking away almost a third of the food they buy on a regular basis. Which is what the average person in the UK actually does.

To reiterate, I wouldn't do a cake smash myself. But I do think the reaction against them is over blown, given the much more substantial problems we have with food waste.

It smacks of consumerism / throwaway society to me - that the cakes, clothes etc are bought specifically to be ruined / wasted. I also don't like the continual need for people to make a documentary out of their lives. I don't need to see their glass of wine & feet up in front of the telly every bloody night. I'm not that invested in their lives. A friend of mine used to make artisan cakes & regularly get orders at £60-100 for children's cake smashes. She always had to ask so she didn't put any structural stuff to hold the tiers (yes, really) together.

But, I would never, ever say as much in RL, it would feel quite rude & I'd hate to upset them. Those moments obviously matter to the individuals concerned. I do regularly mute people on FB, though. Or just not look at their updates.

gluttony dressed up as celebration

That's true of most of our celebrations to be fair. Think of christmas dinner tables heaving with food, people being so stuffed they can barely move.

We regularly throw away a third of the food we buy

But NEVER cake.

The mere thought clutches pearls

I don't like any food waste.

And the pizza? That absolutely has to be a joke, surely?!

I envy you! Picture little people dressed in wedding clothes, sat in front of a giant cake which they are then encouraged to destroy for a tacky photo shoot!

I can’t be the only one who thought OP meant little people as in adults with dwarfism, right? I had a very different image in my head to the one with toddlers 😂

A baboon with pink or blue inside .. Brilliant

I made a cake for someone, hadn't realised it was for a cake smash even they ordered it...took hours of icing then it was destroyedobviously, I made my money, but I hate waste and felt really down when I saw the photos afterwards

All food waste is dreadful.

I never ever waste food. I certainly don’t chuck out a third of what I buy.

People treat a lot of food disgracefully. Like it’s not an absolute privilege to have it.

So I wouldn’t do it. And I don’t like professional photo shoots of the kids. But some people do and it’s fheir choice.