A Smash Cake, ever heard of it? One loves it, the other terribly irresponsible. There are many pros and many cons, but one thing is for sure… it's a lot of fun to organize a cake smash!
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The word says it all… you smash a cake. It is a tradition that - how could it be otherwise - blown over from the US. It is now being used more and more in the Netherlands, and I have to tell you honestly… the photos of a Smash Cake are really something special.
As stated above… you have to love it. I think it's fantastic myself, but I also understand if there are people who don't really have much with it.
Why would you even want to think about a Cake smash (or Smash Cake, whatever…)? Well I can tell you that. Your child is (almost) one year old and that is a special moment. Your child's very first birthday is a special event that probably triggers some emotions in you as a mother. You gave birth a year ago and your little one is growing up so fast and has already learned so much. Such a moment is very nice to capture and cherish. A Smash Cake is a great opportunity for that and gives you such fun and funny photos that you look back on with great pleasure.
Why not do it? First of all, your child must of course like to do these kinds of things. Otherwise you will only tease him/her with it and that is of course not the intention. But secretly I think, which child doesn't like to smash a cake?
For a nice effect, colored buttercream is the most beautiful, but on the other hand, all those dyes are of course not very good for your child. Do you want that? In addition, you also teach your child that playing with food is fine… funny even. Perhaps that is at odds with the way you normally handle food. In addition, a Smash Cake can cost the necessary. If you have the smash done by a photographer, you will have lost about € 200 for a short moment before you know it. And then you have to have an outfit, a cake (of course) and the right decoration.
You can of course make it as crazy as you want, but we'll count with you if you don't cut corners…
For example, a Smash Cake easily costs around € 300.00. Of course it is true that you can cut costs here and there. You may already have suitable clothing at home, or you may decide to just use a nice romper! And if you go to a photographer who often shoots a smash, they may already have accessories in their house that you don't have to take care of. Unless you want everything in a color scheme that the photographer just doesn't have in stock, of course. In that case, I can recommend that you take a look at Hema or Bol.
You have to think of quite a few things for a nice Smash Cake and I would like to give you a few tips that you can take into account:
If I didn't have my aunt, who is a hobby photographer, I might not have done it, way too expensive. But I'm lucky that my aunt takes nice pictures and even has a special space for them in her house. She also took my maternity and newborn photos! And they turned out so beautiful that the choice to have a Smash Cake party at all was quickly made.
In addition, it also became a lot more personal for us because my aunt captured the cozy, funny moments.
Our Smash cake was very nice. It took me a lot of work, yes, but it was absolutely worth it! I'm not that fussy and pink. And because I like to make clothes and toys myself, I made the clothes, flags and some toys for the decoration for the Smash Cake. This of course saves costs!
I also made the cake myself, because I also like to create delicious things in the kitchen. I chose an unusual color for girls:blue (in combination with white).
It clearly had to be a girl smash, cheerful, but not dowdy. I made a kind of rock-and-roll dress from blue cotton with white dots with a petticoat underneath and a matching hairband. Deliciously American.
I made the flags from the same fabric and because there was still some fabric left (and time) I also made matching blocks and a cuddly owl. From some empty boxes and different types of wrapping paper in the same color scheme I put together a number of presents and the setting was ready!
It was actually the intention to have balloons as well, but the little lady had more eye for the balloons than for the cake. So we said goodbye to the balloons, after all it is a Smash Cake.
My aunt, my mother (who happily helped out) and I waited anxiously for her to throw herself on the cake. After playing with the presents, cubes and the owl, she finally saw the cake. The index finger and thumb carefully moved towards the cake.
The blue buttercream was taken and stuffed into her mouth. She did her very best to get it in her mouth as neatly as possible. Will always see you, was not the intention at that moment, but I was proud of her that she wanted to eat her cake so neatly.
The blue gunk was tasted with full focus. Then the eyes got big and she said:"Hmmmm". Her hand soon went back to the cake, she had a taste for it. She continued to eat neatly with two fingers, but luckily the aiming did not go very well and it was still a nice spread. She really enjoyed it and you can really see that in the photos.
Her sister later joined. Also for her I had a rock-and-roll dress made of the same fabric with a matching hair band. It was a real party that way and they enjoyed the cake together.
Then of course the ladies had to clean again. I wondered if they could even be smurfed at all, that's how blue they were. One in the bath and the other in the shower. And voilá, after some polishing from grandma, my own girls came out from under all that blue again. And if you think the fun ended there… well, you're wrong. The biggest fun came a day later. “I have blue poop!” it sounded through the house laughing.
So it took some time and effort, but we had so much fun and the photos turned out beautiful. I am very grateful to my aunt for the nice memory and the fantastic result.
If you would also like to organize a Smash Cake yourself, then you might find the inspiration below useful. To make you happy, right?
Also a good tip… have the Smash Cake followed by a nice bathing session and also capture that in the shoot, as below. Super cool!
Got enough ideas? Let's hit the cake !
