Let's Have a Very Controversial Conversation About: Having CAKE on Your Birthday!! (Do You Still Splurge?!)

[seoulsearch]

Hey Everyone,

A long-distance friend recently had a birthday. Though I couldn't make it there in person for a celebration, I texted him a greeting and joked that I was just looking forward to the cake!!

He answered matter-of-factly that he was an adult, and that the time for having a cake on his birthday had long past.

I was a aghast!! Do adults not have cakes on their birthdays anymore??

I was thinking about his answer in contrast to a flour company commercial that's been playing all over my YouTube feed. A woman (probably in her 60's) says in summary, "Any gathering without a cake -- is just a boring meeting."

My own family is very health-conscious and some members avoid sugar as much as possible. Me, on the other hand -- I always say that I don't have a sweet tooth, but rather, a whole set of sweet teeth. Alas, birthdays in my family are celebrated with some kind of dessert that includes fresh fruit, and IF a cake is bought (usually only on my birthday because no one else really splurges,) it will be one of those jumbo cupcakes -- cut up and split among at least 6 people.

I don't find it worth it to buy or make my own REAL-sized cake because I'll be stuck with the majority of it, and seeing as sugar is already the bane of my existence, I just don't need the temptation.

So...

I am very curious.

* Do you (and your adult-aged loved ones) have cake on their birthdays?

* If so, what kind? (And does it need to be themed, have sprinkles, the latest trend in baking, etc.?)

* If not cake, what other treat do you celebrate with? Does just a nice meal suffice?

* At what age should someone stop having cake on their birthday?

I'm going to try to create a poll -- it allows about 10 answers and will be multiple choice -- but if you don't see your answer listed, be sure to come back and post it here!

Just for fun, the answers will be visible so we can see how our fellow CC'ers feel about this VERY important topic.

And you all know what I'm already going to say...

Let Them Eat Cake!!

 

[Lanolin]

Oh..I find all the choices overwhelming and bewildering Seoul that's why I rarely vote in polls.
But I will attempt to answer your questions cos they are so much fun.

Do chickens have feathers? Well yes, except when they are moulting. And they may do this every year, during moulting season.
So maybe if someone has cakes year round (some people do!) then they might not want one for their birthday, cos they are sick of cakes. I dunno.

I will need to think more on this. Or maybe you want answers to the questions you pose...not in the poll!

 

[Lanolin]

* Do you (and your adult-aged loved ones) have cake on their birthdays?
Yes, usually

* If so, what kind? (And does it need to be themed, have sprinkles, the latest trend in baking, etc.?)
Any cake, as long as it's kinda spongy and able to be shared. Although some have cupcakes with one candle on it, and share the other cupcakes.

* If not cake, what other treat do you celebrate with? Does just a nice meal suffice?
Yes a meal can suffice but there is a thing about cakes where you light candles and sing Happy Birthday and make a wish. Do you not do this ?

* At what age should someone stop having cake on their birthday?
There is no age where someone should stop having cake on their birthday. Someone will always bring a cake, if there is a birthday. Also cutting cake is traditionally the birthday girl/boy. And if you are older, the candles stop at ...21. then its too many so you just have the numbers, or maybe a few however many you want. You earned it. Sometimes they may put it in icing on the cake, but its not ncessary to reveal your age when you an sdult, unless it's like a milestone..like 50th, etc.

Wow...the cake isn't about the sugar or the sweetness...its more the social aspect of it. The sharing. I suppose you can just break bread, but a birthday bread isn't the same, as people eat bread everyday. Unless you are an addict, most people don't have cake everyday.

 

[Lanolin]

I think your friend is maybe a hermit, or just doesn't want it revealed how old he is. Also, he probably doesn't do any baking , so doesn't find it necessary or too expensive to buy a cake (can be pricy) I mean there's other excuses aside from being an adult. But its kinda sad.
I'm not a big fan of sugar, so only have tiny slice, and you can't say no to celebrating a birthday if someone brings a cake, it needs to be eaten.

Oh what about the huge cakes where someone hides in them and jumps out and says surprise?? I've only ever seen that in movies. They are not real cakes though they are fake like polystyrene with icing on them.

 

[Lanolin]

The embarassment of singing Happy Birthday, but if you don't like that song, you can sing 'For he's (or she's) a jolly good fellow'
and at the end you have to clap and say 'hip hip...hooray!' 3 times.

I don't know why, you just do.
Also making a wish, well, if you don't wish for something, it can't come true can it? The thing with wishes, is that you have to make them (don't need to tell anybody what it is) and give it a chance to work.

 

[Lanolin]

Also you must blow out all the candles.
You can have help, but if you've still got breath in your body, you can blow out candles.

 

[Ceph]

I wish my birthday wasn't celebrated, but my family celebrates it anyway. Not that I hate that they do it, but I do feel a sense of being 'wasted on', because I don't really regard being a year older as anything significant, and they insist on giving me some sort of gift when I already feel all set.

I love having cake tho. Lemon cake, lemon icing. There was a time when I thought I would bake myself a cake every week as a 'food supply' hack, since cakes are big and the mix is cheap. I found myself eating the whole cake too fast and getting sick, so I haven't done it in a while.
Might try it again.

 

[Billyd]

Ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. No candles, they overheat the house.

 

[Ceph]

Ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. No candles, they overheat the house.

Overheat the house? Do you live in a 2 sq. ft shed?

 

[seoulsearch]

Ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. No candles, they overheat the house.

Overheat the house? Do you live in a 2 sq. ft shed?

Lol!!!

It depends on how many candles that cake will require.

I'm at the age now where, if I included all my candles one-by-one and lit all of them at once, I would definitely be in danger of setting off the smoke alarm!!

 

[tourist]

The embarassment of singing Happy Birthday, but if you don't like that song, you can sing 'For he's (or she's) a jolly good fellow'
and at the end you have to clap and say 'hip hip...hooray!' 3 times.

I don't know why, you just do.
Also making a wish, well, if you don't wish for something, it can't come true can it? The thing with wishes, is that you have to make them (don't need to tell anybody what it is) and give it a chance to work.

I'm trending towards the jolly good fellow concept.

 

[NightTwister]

The cake is a lie.

 

[NightTwister]

"The cake is a lie" is a famous catchphrase from the 2007 video game Portal, representing a false promise or a manipulated reward. It originated as graffiti left by a previous test subject to warn the player that the AI villain, GLaDOS, was deceitfully promising cake to lure them into fatal tests.

 

[Billyd]

Overheat the house? Do you live in a 2 sq. ft shed?

85 candles make a pretty big fire, and it takes me a while to blow them out.

 

[seoulsearch]

The cake is a lie.

"The cake is a lie" is a famous catchphrase from the 2007 video game Portal, representing a false promise or a manipulated reward. It originated as graffiti left by a previous test subject to warn the player that the AI villain, GLaDOS, was deceitfully promising cake to lure them into fatal tests.

While I'm not familiar with the game, I've heard this catchphrase used a lot in pop culture.

It made me smile when I saw you posted it -- and made me wish I had been clever enough to include it in my original post.

Guess I didn't have enough coffee.

Can I borrow a few of your 240 coffee makers?

Obviously, I need to step up my game!

 

[seoulsearch]

The embarassment of singing Happy Birthday, but if you don't like that song, you can sing 'For he's (or she's) a jolly good fellow'
and at the end you have to clap and say 'hip hip...hooray!' 3 times.

I don't know why, you just do.
Also making a wish, well, if you don't wish for something, it can't come true can it? The thing with wishes, is that you have to make them (don't need to tell anybody what it is) and give it a chance to work.

The suggestion to replace "Happy Birthday" with "Jolly Good Fellow" is brilliant!!

I know most of my friends and family would still cringe either way, but you're spot-on in that this would be a tad less embarrassing than announcing to everyone that the recipient is getting old!

 

[seoulsearch]

Ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. No candles, they overheat the house.

Overheat the house? Do you live in a 2 sq. ft shed?

85 candles make a pretty big fire, and it takes me a while to blow them out.

LOL!!

This really made me laugh.

When we celebrate @Billyd's birthday, we might want to do so at the local firehouse.






Congratulations Billy! A life so well-lived is an amazing blessing from God!

 

[NightTwister]

While I'm not familiar with the game, I've heard this catchphrase used a lot in pop culture.

It made me smile when I saw you posted it -- and made me wish I had been clever enough to include it in my original post.

Guess I didn't have enough coffee.

Can I borrow a few of your 240 coffee makers?

Obviously, I need to step up my game!

240? This is becoming like the story about the fish that got away. It grows larger every time you tell it.

FWIW, I don't really like cake, although the Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory is to die for.

 

[Mem]

This is fancy enough for me.

 

[seoulsearch]

240? This is becoming like the story about the fish that got away. It grows larger every time you tell it.

FWIW, I don't really like cake, although the Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory is to die for.

Oh no, I'm fairly certain the number is accurate.

Whenever I mention a new number of coffee makers, I'm just making up for all the ADDITIONAL coffee makers you've likely acquired in the meantime.