I'm curious. I saw on a fellow CC'ers site that she was having cake decorating parties... that's such an awesome idea. How many of the fellow CC'ers are doing that? If so, what are some ideas in this area. I would love to start having these types of parties, I'm just a little unsure of how to get started.

Thanks for your help.

I've never heard of this! Sounds like fun!

would the purpose be to sell cake decorating supplies? Or to show all of our friends just how much work really IS involved in making a cake?

I offer them as an alternative b-day party idea for kids. I have people inquire all the time, but I am yet to book one. One of my faithful clients called last week and said she was contemplating doing it for her 8 year old in september so I may have to wait until then to see how it goes!

I've had several customers (mostly with little girls) ask about this. I think it must have been in a magazine in the last year or so.

Debi -- the ones that I have heard about are where you supply the cake, icing, some supplies (maybe a mini kit), and a little instruction to let the participants decorate a mini cake, cupcake, or cookies. Usually there is a per-person charge.

I don't actually know where to start as far as pricing. I know that people here spend a lot of money on skate parties or bowling parties or horse ranch parties.

My daughter just went to a cake decorating birthday party a few months ago. They are GREAT!!! The decorator gave them all little aprons and chef's hats (they got to keep the aprons) and each one got a single layer, crumb coated 6" cake to decorate. She brought premade bags of icing with tips, as well as RI flowers and decorations. The kids ~ all 10 of them! ~ were relatively quiet and engrossed as they made their "cake art". They even said please and thank you when asking for a particular icing color to be passed!

Each cake was put into a little box for the child to take home, and the decorator cleaned up the whole mess. The kids had a GREAT time, the parents were stress-free, and eveyone brought something home. A really good time!

I did this with my friend's six year old. She had 4 other girls at the party, so I made 8 6" cakes (2 layers) ahead of time and had each one on a small cardboard circle all ready to go. I made icing in pink, yellow, light blue, and light green and had them all in icing bags with tips (drop flower and leaf) ready for the kids to use. I showed them how to use the bag and then let them go for it. It was crazy, but fun!

Later, I figured out that my food saver vacuum sealer will seal the ends of the plastic icing bags. If I do this kind of thing with kids again, I would seal the ends of all the icing bags to save a lot of mess!

I didn't charge as I usually do the cake as her present from me, so I don't know how I would work it for someone else.

I've done one cake decorating party. It was for a little girl's 11th birthday. I supplied 10 6" cakes, icing, fondant and some basic decorating supplies. The mother provided plain aprons with fabric markers. This was the overall agenda:
1. Decorate aprons
2. Learn to apply smooth icing to cake
3. Tint icing and fondant for decorations
4. Decorate cakes with cut-outs
5. Finish up cake with shell border
6. Raffle for small kit of decorating tools

The girls LOVED the party and I had a great time watching their creativity come alive. =)

I think these parties are a great way to keep the children busy without a lot of down time. Who knows, it might even inspire one to be a baker/chef someday. I am planning on doing one of these this summer with our kids Bible club.

Val Peterson and Janice Fryer addressed cookie decorating parties in their book "Cookie Craft" . They did it for kids but I am sure adults would enjoy it as well. Would be great for girls nite out with lots an lots of chocolate decorations!!!!!

As a cake n crumbs instructor, we can also do Birthday parties on the side for children, and the goal isn't to sell.. in fact it is strictly commission minus my supplies. I charge $10 per child... the going rate at most arcade bounce house places is $150 for 10 children in my area.... each child gets 2 cupcakes, they eat one at the party and take one home... the birthday child gets a cupcake and a single layer 6" round. It is really fun, and it is also advertisement for your biz because you can send the CC home in a box with your biz information on it... HTH!

this sounds fun, but very involved. It seams like you would have to charge a lot per child to make it worth it. Plus if you do it at their house; the prep, the overall time, the gas, the packing, and the cleanup. Its like worse than pampered chef. lol
what do you guys think?

gracecakes, that's what I was thinking. $10 a kid .... 10 kids = $100. I provide the BAKED cakes, icing, bags, tips, aprons, hats, set-up/clean-up and a couple of hours of my time, not counting the packing/unpacking and drive time .... for $100?

I dont' think so, Tim.

I do these for adults. I'm doing one next weekend for a woman who moved away, but keeps in touch with her friends still in the area. She organized the party as a get-together-with-a-purpose sort of thing. I'm going to teach the basics. They're each buying their own supplies and splitting a bucket of Sam's icing to work with in the class, and bringing their own cakes.

As a former WMI, these parties are way more fun than attending classes at the craft store, even if they are more expensive.

Deanna

oops I meant $15 per kids, sorry, hence the 10 at 150.... I don't clean up, I take home what I brought with me.... my trick to saving money this way too is anytime I have an order that has leftover batter I make CC's and freeze them, I also double batch my icing so I always have icing leftover.... It takes me roughly $6 to make a batch of cupcakes, including icing... if I am selling it at $150 then I am making a nice profit, even if I do use my own decorating items.... HTH.

This sounds a lot like a place I heard about in Colorado. Food Network did a feature on it; I believe the business is called the Makery.

Gosh, my mom musta been ahead of her time, because I've been doing cake decorating parties since I was 5 or so! (I'm 26) We'd often do this as part of our Spring/Easter celebration... Make a bunch of cupcakes or mini-egg cakes, and off we went! I'll probably do this when my girls get a LITTLE bigger too, it's just so much fun, and the kids get a kick out of making up their own designs!

I also did something similar to this for a homeschool group in my area... They brought in their own crumbcoated cakes, and they paid for me to bring fondant, and we learned how to cover a cake, did cutouts, shaped figures (for the older ones), and painted (I used WATER mixed iwth the colors for the kids, didn't want VODKA out with little ones!!! ) Anyway, it was a good time for all, and I wasn't out any money, just a little over an hour of my afternoon.

Now for a business idea, I'd of course charge, but this was kind of a get-to-know you thing for me as well, so it was all good... I would think I'd charge per CUPCAKE or whatever than per CHILD... But then again, I've never charged for this kind of thing. I'm curious to see what people have to say about this!

ok now! What "I" want to know is....are you guys taking home the tips and stuff that the kids used??? So, you are filling and brining the bags with you....how many bags per child or just like 3 bags of one tip and one color? does that make sense?? Do you just bring crumb coated cakes or fully frosted?

SugarBakerz-does your company JUST do this child's birthday parties or do you have to be an instructor too?

IF some of you do this...do you have to be legal? I mean...YOU are brining the party to THEM...the cake and all. OR how many of you are legal?? Because if you are baking at your home and then doing it at their home....hmmm?

sorry for so many questions!

step~ I did this before I became a CNC instructor, I just do it now more because if I mention to a mom that I do them (usually once they have booked a CNC party) they want to try. Boys love it too. I use Decopac and Bakery Craft and by the large bags of rings and toppers, ribbons, and sprinkles. I forgot to add that I also do mini doll cake, sports ball cake, and sugar cookies for additional charges. I premake the icing in bags, usually black and white and 4 other colors (boy or girl specific if necessary) .... if it is a unisex party I will make black, white, and 2 colors for each sex or primary colors only. I take usually only bring the star tip and a writing tip like a 4 or so.... I put all of the colors in the center of the table and once they have (with adult assitance) spread on the icing from the bowl, they can decorate... they REALLY love it and when they take it home they are little walking advertisements..... plus sending a CC home lets mom sample a bite too while getting my biz information off the box...

I use disposable pastry bags and plastic tips. The tip is just the plastic kind, I believe a 3 or 4. I make up a "bucket" of each color and the kids can pick what color they want to use. They only get one bag each so they better decide what they want...lol. Each 6" cake is pre iced with white icing. it may not be very pretty, but they are kids. They are not looking for spectacular...its just a blank canvas for them to create their own design. I do offer a discount on a birthday cake if the mother wants to oder on in addition to the cakes in the party.

I am a legal home baker, so this is worked into my business plan and license.

I run my biz from home yes, but I have a licensed kitchen in my detached garage. Decopac and BakeryCraft are places I order my toppers and stuff from.... I buy big bags of rings like Dora and stuff like that and they can stick them in their cupcakes... I have all different characters and all different kinds of cupcake picks like balloons, shoes, balls, etc.... I put a basket in the center of the table and they rummage through it to find something they like.

oh...then I don't think I will be able to do this. Sounds like soo much fun! I guess I should be figuring you would have to have a licensed kitchen...I don't want to draw any more attention to myself since I am a home baker.

Thanks for all the info Sugar Bakerz! Glad you like your job!

Great topic! I never would have thought of a cake decorating party. I think Iâm going to try this for my niece next birthday. She is only 6, but she loves to bake and decorate.

Thanks

I do offer parties as well, but usually, I make it simple I have found that the kids (even as young as 2) love using the rolled fondant to make cupcakes. I make the cupcakes and put a white circle of fondant on them. Then, depending on the age of the kids, I make rolled buttercream and either color it or have them color it. They make all kinds of creative things with that. I usually have them do two-- one to eat and one to take. I had one mom not let her children eat them because they were too pretty to eat. She ended up throwing them away because she kept them too long as a centerpiece on her dining room table.

For adults, I usually have them bring their own 6 or 8 inch cake. I teach them the Melvira method and then provide the icing. They color it, fill the syringes (I'm odd -- I love the older decorator's syringe rather than messy bags). At the end, I give them the option of buying supplies through me. It's really hard to get these things here in Taiwan, so I do the purchasing for them from websites I know and trust, and since they often have flat rate shipping, I get my shipping on what I order free.

I charge about $30 for the adults (usually a longer party with more prepared supplies) and $15 for the kids. Per kid/adult, of course. I have them at my place, and I do cleanup. I don't provide any of the "extras". They use my aprons and we can't buy stuff to put on a cake here, so I don't bother. It's great fun!

I have been hosting Kid's parties for the last 4 years thru a kitchen gadget/cooking school here.

We charge $20 per child for a 6" boxed cake for each child. I make XX amount of bags up for the party (depending on the number of guests) using 5 colors. They each get to frost the cakes and decorate with the bag I give them. They can then swap out the bags and use whatever colors they want. They are so polite when asking the other party-goers to swap bags. I provide the cake, boxes, frosting (Sam's), tips and disposable bags. The boxed cake is their take-home goodie. I have a simple 1/4 sheet for the party guests to eat.

In the summer, we do a Kid's camp for $35.00 and it usually has a theme..Food cakes (tacos, spaghetti cupcakes, chicken pot pie, etc...), animal cupcakes, or the hula doll with the mini-doll cakes, or decorated cookie bouquets. Kid's love them and I usually have a full house for 2 sessions (younger 4-9 in the morning and 10-up in the afternoon).

I'm so glad I asked about these parties.... I think I'm going to add that on to my services on my website.

You guys are AWESOME!!!

I feel so honored to be among such talented people.

Thanks guys!!!

step ~ many of the cake n crumbs instructors do these, and they don't have bakeries or even licenses... some of these women have never even considered a bakery, just love cake n crumbs.... maybe you should look into cake n' crumbs, do your show requirements and then start hosting birthday parties a CNC instructor, the fee for each kid is yours, not CNC... IF they order supplies from you for the party (things other than you normally offer in your package) you can create it as an order... then you make commission off supplies and pocket the fees less your cost. HTH

if you contact CNC for information, tell them Alabama Lori sent you (the owners name is Lori too )