My idea well is bone dry! Was wondering if anyone had any ideas I could use or work from to make a retirement cake for a gentleman who is a janitor at a local company. I finally talked the customer (my bother-in-law) out of the 3D toilet cake he wanted. Would like to do a more elegant or classy cake, without having a theme to it or based on a janitors daily duties! But I need some help brainstorming decoration ideas. Any help would be much appreciated.

Anytime I am doing a retirement cake or milestone birthday I like to do a tiered cake and add elements of all the things the person likes..Meaning...Hobbies,sports,music,Job,theatre,favorite teams,cars etc.. anything personal that means something to the birthday person..Find out what he likes besides his work..HTH

A mop bucket spilled w/a figure mopping up.
What do they plan on doing after retirement? One cake I did had fondant plaques of a grandfather playing w/kids; suitecase packed for travel; another a boat for fishing in FL sunset. Another gave a nod to what he retired from - a pig buyer so there was a little pig w/words: no more pigs!