The Birthday Cake Debate

February 19th was Annabelles first birthday!!! I can’t believe she’s 1! I can’t believe she’s taking steps on her own! This year has been a wild and crazy ride and as tired as I’ve been I’ve loved every single second of it.

In the first year I’ve kept Annabelles eating pretty healthy, she likes most veggies and hasn’t gotten any ‘junk food’ at all. She hasn’t even had any juice (unless you count organic coconut water) She drinks water, raw goat milk from a local farm and breastmilk (yes, I’m still pumping and nursing). Most of her food is organic, prepared at home with love by mommy. Yes, she has eaten carnitas from Chipotle and nibbled a tortilla from Rosas Tortilla Factory but those days are the exception not the rule. So I wasn’t sure what to do about her birthday cakes. 2 since her party was a week after her birthday.

Intially I ordered a cake and a smash cake for her and then I thought about how I really don’t want her eating cake. It was going to be pink with a little girl doing gymnastics to match her Little Gym theme, it was going to be so pretty! So I figured I’d order a cake for the party and make a healthy smash cake just for her. But cakes aren’t cheap and I wondered why I was going to get a cake that I wouldn’t even let Annabelle eat. Next year when her digestive system is better developed she’ll get a cake. So we went the cupcake route for the party and I planned on making her a smash cake at home.

Annabelles not really sure what to do with her cake but she sure did like her frosting!

For her actual birthday I made her a cake with rolled oats, whole wheat flour, bananas, blueberries and organic apple juice concentrate instead of sugar. The icing was made with cream cheese and maple syrup. Everything was healthy, everything was organic and she LOVED it! It was more the consistency of a bread than cake but she didn’t know the difference and we ate it for breakfast for the next few days minus the frosting.

Annabelles smiling face after her deliciously nutritious cake. I really thought she'd make more of a mess, which is why she's shirtless!

Since we were doing cupcakes for her party I thought I might just let her have a mini cupcake and pray that it wouldn’t upset her belly. When I was trying to figure out where to get the cupcakes I searched Spiral Diner and decided to get Annabelle an organic, vegan cupcake. They were delicious! Andrew and I had to sneak bites of her cupcake and frosting to keep her from engulfing it all. I’m glad we ate some of it for her because she was up ALL NIGHT screaming in pain from a tummy ache and constipation. I don’t even want to imagine the pain she would’ve been in had it been a standard sugar filled smash cake. I’m SO glad I decided against that.

What about the rest of the food? I wasn’t really sure what else to serve. I’m not really sure what kids eat, I just know what Annabelle eats, and it’s pretty healthy. I really didn’t want to serve a bunch of stuff that I wouldn’t let Annabelle eat at a party and I knew I wasn’t going to have time to make anything at home so finger foods it was. We finally decided on: Cheddar cheese cubes, apple slices, pretzels, carrots, pita chips and hummus and a box of cuties. I’m not sure how that ranked on deliciousness for the kids but I thought it was all kid friendly. What do you think?

What did you / will you do for your munchkins birthday? What kind of snacks do you serve at your kids parties? I’d love to come up with a list to share with other moms looking for ideas. Share your tips and tricks!!