Birthday Cake/party

Why not just have cupcakes, or something like that for the kid party?

I would say that if you could arrive with the cake already cut into pieces that you could just pass out, that might not be weird. But then you wouldn't get to sing happy birthday and blow out the candles...unless you just did it for his piece....? And how would you keep it cold...?

But if I saw a cake that already had a hunk of it missing, I'd think it was tacky, honestly. Not offended...just tacky.

Do cupcakes for the kids' party. Save the ice cream cake for the family party. An ice cream cake at the pool will be a huge melted mess!

I don't know how RUDE it is...maybe TACKY. I might wonder if it were left over from some other event. Part of the fun of having a cake at a party is seeing it in all its splendor. If you choose to have only a partial cake, then I think that you should have it already cut into serving sizes.

Oh, wait--you're talking about saving it for how long? No, no--no leftovers to guests!

Happy birthday to your little guy!

New party = new cake.

It's... sort of practical. But that's about all the good I can say about it. As soon as you cut a cake and serve it, what's left over is a leftover. And this will be quite a leftover - maybe even several weeks. I hope you don't really want to do this.

Don't tell your son he'll have to wait for the ice cream cake until the party. Tell him he GETS to share the ice cream cake with his friends at the party.

Or get a small-sized ice cream cake for his actual birthday, and get another cake - or cupcakes - for the summer party.

Do the ice cream cake on his birthday and get cupcakes or a smaller cake for the party. Don't serve leftover cake at the party.

Um, no don't save and reserve leftover cake several weeks later. Even frozen it won't be as fresh and that is just weird IMO.
Why can't you just order two smaller cakes, one for his actual birthday, and one for the party?
Or serve homemade cake or cupcakes at his party, if cost is an issue.

Based on your SWH I see that you already know that you need a new cake for the party. Just wanted to say that we run into this all the time because we frequently celebrate the kids' birthdays with a kids' party and then do family separately, then try to make the actual day special too. Sometimes the same child will blow out candles 3 or 4 times by the time we're done. For the actual birthday, I'll pick up something small and special from the bakery case at the grocery store (they usually have small ice cream cakes, birthday cakes, or other special desserts) and then do a bigger cake with family and/or kids.

Why don't you bake a cake for one occasion and buy an ice cream cake for the other? Let him choose whether he wants the ice cream cake on his actual birthday or if he'd rather save it for the party.

With only five kids coming, you might want to do cupcakes instead, since there will be a lot of cake left over otherwise.

You definitely can't serve half a cake at a party though, especially one that is several weeks after the first event.

I think the solution is to have the ice cream cake on his actual birthday with family and just make some cupcakes for the party.

If you want a bought cake for one of the days, do that. Then buy a box of mix and bake for the other. Or do cupcakes.

It would be tacky, and kinda nasty to eat several-week-old-frozen-already-cut cake at a party. Cake mix and icing costs about $5. You could buy and bake 2 or more cakes for the cost of one store-bought.

Ice cream cakes come in a variety of sizes, so I'm not sure why you can't buy a cake for his birthday and another for the party. Is the expense prohibitive for you? Or do you have a special bakery that provides these and so it's not possible to buy a small one? Most supermarkets have quite a selection in the freezer section. We've always bought some that serve 10 with moderate portions, which leaves a little bit of leftovers for the next day.

I think 8 year olds aren't as wrapped up in the candles and singing "Happy Birthday" though, so I'm not sure you really have to have cake & candles, unless he wants them. If he does, then do it. He hasn't had a birthday party before, so I wouldn't deprive him. However, if you are expecting friends to bring gifts, then it's best to have something to indicate it's really a birthday!

I suppose, if you are determined to have just one cake for some reason, and you are sure that the leftover cake from his actual birthday was re-frozen quickly and survived without freezer burn, you could cut it into servings and put them on plates, then present the plates to the guests. You could do this when they all sit down together and your son opens his presents. I wouldn't bring out a half cake in one piece though, because it tells the kids you are serving them leftovers.

If expense is an issue, then cut back somewhere else. 8 year olds don't care about party decor - they'll be happy with the pool party and all the fun. A lot of parents go crazy with goodie bags but I find that it's a huge expense and it's almost like people feel they have to "pay" their guests for coming.

I congratulate you on keeping the party small! We always did that, and we never succumbed to the pressure of having 25 kids at an expensive venue. Too many parents are going broke trying to put on these extravaganzas, and then everyone feels they need to reciprocate, and soon every family is spending $20 on a gift for this kid or that kid every other week. It's a huge problem. Kids don't need that - they need the fun. And a pool party in particular needs to stay manageable so that you have enough adult supervision to make sure everyone is safe, no one is diving in the shallow end, no one's holding someone under "just for fun" and all that!

I'd still give him his gifts and have a small family party on his actual day. 8 is still a little young to have to wait a month for some celebration. If you have decorations for a home party, you can certainly bring those out again at the pool party. We have reused our party decor many times over.

Don't serve the leftover ice cream cake.
Buy that (a smaller one) for his actual day.
For his birthday party just make your own round or sheet cake & put cute
decorations on top from the party store in the "theme" he's chose for his
party w/his friends.

We often have to postpone my kids parties a few weeks due to their dads travel schedule. What I do is on their actually birthday I get some small cupcakes or something from the store (Carrs, Walmart, wherever) and we have it for dessert after dinner with a song and a gift, and then I get the fancier cake for the actual party.

I have three kids with January bdays. This year two were getting a party and I told them they needed to wait until we were further out from Christmas. We made box cake together on their bdays, and I bought a nice sheet cake for tge parties.
I wouldn't say it's rud to serve a cake that's already cut. In fact you could just cut it and serve. But, I would just buy a small ice cream cake for his real bday, and I little bigger one for the party-so he can blow out the candles etc.

Glad to see you aren't serving a cut cake - it would look like you are offering leftovers to your guests. What about just baking some cupcakes or making a homemade ice cream cake for his actual birthday? They are easy to make and inexpensive. Also, an FYI, I have a son with a summer birthday. No one is ever around - make sure the kids you intend to invite aren't going to be on vacation. You might want to discuss with their parents now (or before the end of school) if you haven't already.

Make cupcakes instead of a cake, and just make one for everyone. Or make 2 smaller cakes instead of one big one.

I felt really bad for you, that you were so poor you couldn't let the guests eat all the cake....

That's what your guests would have thought if they'd have seen a cut cake being served.

If you're going to have a party for goodness sake, have a cake and some ice cream, not sugar free either, that's nasty and bad for the body.

It's not like they fill up on sugar all day and all night. It's a birthday party. Let them eat some cake and stuff and don't worry about it.

Is there any reason why you can't get cakes for both events? Why not have a cake on his actual birthday and another one for his party? I realize that this would be an additional cost, but two smaller cakes shouldn't be THAT much more than one larger cake...

On a related note, having 3 children with summer birthdays, we've had many a birthday party at our pool. You may find that having an ice cream cake outside at the pool is not practical. Why not have an ice cream cake for his actual birthday and serve a "regular" cake or cupcakes (or even a birthday pie--my sons and husband much prefer pie to cake!) at the pool?

Whatever you decide, I hope he (and you) have a fun party!