Quarantine Birthday-Or How to make a birthday cake no one eats

Originally posted Summer 2020 *I am writing this piece realizing how lucky my family is that Covid has only affected us in superficial ways. Please consider donating to a deserving charity (see below) if you are as lucky as we have been during this difficult time.

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A no gift birthday, how to celebrate a birthday during quarantine

With the quarantine lasting this long, someone was bound to have a birthday. That someone was little M. This year was supposed to be a big all out celebration. This little dude has had some major ups and downs during his second year and I wanted to celebrate that we had made it to 2! I had the bounce house rented and the theme picked…and then stupid Covid came to town.

The good news is he is too little to have any expectations on his big day…but he has siblings and they were pumped and ready to party. So, this is how we had a quarantine birthday celebration.

If M were to write a birthday wish list it would be made up of food. Eating is truly his favorite pastime. Given this, I asked our family & friends to make a small donation to our local food bank in honor of M, in lieu of gifts. At 2 years old he won’t miss the gifts he doesn’t know aren’t coming and we would love to pass our good fortune onto other children who need the food.

If you are interested in donating please consider your local food bank.

Step 2- Birthday Breakfast

In our house we have always given the kids dessert for breakfast on their birthdays. Some years it’s leftover cake from an early party, sometimes it’s homemade and other years it’s a last minute cupcake grabbed from the grocery store. This year it was homemade IHOP sprinkle pancakes.

E (8) is probably the kid who’s been most affected by the pandemic. She desperately misses her social life, dance lessons and fast food. On our way to pick up the dance costume she won’t get to use this year, we drove by IHOP. It’s honestly not my favorite, but the kids love it for some reason. Realizing she hadn’t even seen IHOP, let alone eaten there, in months made her upset so we decided to make it at home.

We started the day with sprinkle pancakes, complete with whipped cream and extra sprinkles on top. M’s was shaped like Mickey Mouse (of course).

Step 3: Make a cake no one eats

I’m big on themes for parties and I like to go all out. The theme this year was supposed to be Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar (seriously, the kid likes to EAT). I decided I would at least still make a cake for the kiddo.

Now, when I start a project like this it never turns out the way I’m expecting it to…but this one looked great! Why wouldn’t it have turned out? No one would see it except through pictures. UGH- STUPID COVID!!!

To find out the step by step process, including our first time working with fondant, click here.

Here is the final product:

We sang “Happy Birthday”, we attempted to have M blow out his candles, I served up a slice for him and he pushed it away. The kid would’ve been happier with a third serving of pulled pork. I knew this going in but for some reason I really thought he’d at least try a bite!

The big kids had a few bites but were far more interested in the ice cream. So now, I have a caterpillar cake with no tail and half a head sitting on my counter. It seems apropos for the year. I think 2020 is truly a caterpillar who will never turn into a butterfly.

The good news is M LOVED his birthday gift (we did get him something in addition to donating to the food bank).

He had a great day playing in the water, learning to say “Bawoon” (balloon) and gorging on BBQ and really, what more could a mommy ask for?

For more at home celebration ideas check out our Disney Staycation