Alternative to birthday candles for a 4 year old?

[ringydinghy]

Hi all. DS has his 4th birthday coming up in the next two weeks and we will be having a small celebration at home. We have ideas for his presents, special party games to play at home but I'm in a little dilemma when it comes to cake. Since the COVID pandemic, we have decided as a family to stop blowing out candles on birthday cakes, as I'm sure many other families have as well. The idea of dripping wax and spitting on a cake to be shared has always made me feel a bit uncomfortable. So we threw out all the birthday candles in the house. But I am now unsure what to do now when it comes to the cake and singing happy birthday part.

I have seen people suggest putting the candles on a cupcake, or on the birthday boy/girl's slice of cake, but I'd rather just do away with the candles thing altogether and let DS see his big special cake while we sing to him.

I was thinking sparklers but I was unsure whether they'd scare DS..and besides I think giving him a little special something to do after the happy birthday song would be nice (if he was older we'd let him cut his own cake). Any other suggestions? Or should we just sing happy birthday and go straight to cake cutting and eating

@DappledThings I agree, surely it's a joke.

Otherwise I'm imagining this poor boy, who'll probably end up with OCD over cleanliness and when he's a teenager, having lectures from his mother about not kissing anyone because of germs 😂

Ahhh get over it. Presumably it's just your household joining the party?

@DappledThings

Lol 😂 temptation to spit on food. Well quite!

This obsession with spitting is so weird. Nobody spits on cake. Maybe a tiny bit of spit might come out with an exhalation of air but that's hardly the colourful picture of children up and down the land emptying the entire contents of their mouths all over their cake that OP is painting.

I'm starting to think I've been taken in by a joke post. If so excellent work OP, you totally had me.

I think you could be right - very amusing OP, you played it well :)

Maybe make some special birthday wands out of celery.
You can all wave them in time to the tune of happy birthday and then dip them into some houmous (in individual pots of course).

For all the posters saying this must be a joke, I really wish it was, but sadly this is not the first thread about about this:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3964544-to-let-ds-blow-out-his-birthday-cake-candles-this-weekend?

@ringydinghy I know this isn’t the point of the thread but I noticed you mentioned letting him break up and play with polystyrene. The individual small balls are dangerous as they don’t show up in xrays and if ingested in significant numbers can cause internal blockages. I really would not advise allowing a child to play with polystyrene.

[quote SnowmanDrinkingSnowballs]@ringydinghy I know this isn’t the point of the thread but I noticed you mentioned letting him break up and play with polystyrene. The individual small balls are dangerous as they don’t show up in xrays and if ingested in significant numbers can cause internal blockages. I really would not advise allowing a child to play with polystyrene.[/quote]
He doesn't eat them. He knows not to put those things in his mouth.

And it's only a little bit we always watched him as he played with it and cleaned it up after

Oh I remember the other thread too @SparkysMagicPiano

How have all of these people who are so obsessed with germs managed to pro-create, given all the bodily fluids involved in that 😂

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind

The other thread was hilarious and terrifying at the same time.

We celebrated my granddaughter's birthday just after that thread (complying with the covid regulations that were in force at the time) and I asked my daughter whether she was OK with me putting candles on the cake. Her response was "is this another crazy MN thing mother?"

Busted!

@ringydinghy they float in air so are very easy to breathe in, even as an adult I wouldn’t break it up.

This is hilarious to find this post in 2025 when candles are very much still a thing. I wonder if OP went back to candles as everyone still does. Was trying to find the video of the women claiming she looks in her 20's while holding a 36 candle.

Happy to report we still use our German celebration ring for wider gatherings. For immediate family we’re back to candles on a cake.

Some of my friends children, and children’s friends have questionable hygiene!