Any parents of special needs kids out there? I have a support group reunion coming up and I wanted to make something special, relevant, sensitive and uplifting. (A tall order!!)

Any ideas for me? At the moment the well is dry.......

Newbie

That is a tall order! I always liked the quotes Children are like flowers, they all bloom at different times or Children are like flowers in life's garden. You could use one of these on a cake and put large flowers on it with children's faces as the centers kind of like these...

http://www.earlenescakes.com/baby_cakes.htm

Great idea! I've not seen that idea before - those cakes are beyond beautiful. I wouldn't be able to do the faces (lack of time and talent) but even without the faces, the lovely saying you suggest with lots of flowers would be just right for the occasion.

Thanks again - Newbie

to make the faces, why don't you make a rose out of buttercream. and make the faces out of fondant. Just get it and roll it out , cut out a small circle and draw faces on them with the edible ink pens and set it in the middle of each rose before it hardens.. Just a thought..Love that cake!!!!!

You're welcome Newbie. An idea on the faces...you can check your local craft shop for small doll faces. Maybe you could use those instead of making them.

Every year i volunteer for a special need picnic. All the volunteers get shirts to wear that say somewhere on it 5 annual picnic and such. The main part of the shirt is usually designed by a special needs child or a parent. They always have really cute sayings on them 2 years ago the shirt said ONE TEAM........ ONE DREAM

Last year they had a 9 yr old girl do the shirt. She drew a pic of kids playing out side under a rainbow. One of the kids is in a wheel chair and the saying is.....PLAY AFTER EVERY STORM.

I think either saying with a pic could be used for a cake.

My 4-year old is autistic and attends full-day preschool at Easter Seals. If I were to make a cake for the school, I might try to do a bct of the Easter Seals logo or something.

Also, if any of the children are autistic, you could do one of those "ribbon cakes" (where wither the cake or the decoration are in the form of a ribbon) I don't know if your group is a "mixed batch" of special needs children, but the autism awareness ribbon looks like a puzzle with the pieces being all different colors

Another idea would be to make a "mountain cake" to symbolize the heights that we parents are willing to go to in order to normalize our children as much as possible......

Another option is to make just a regular cake...so as not to single out the children as "different" <grin>

Thank you all so much - these are inspiring ideas. Your comments are all much appreciated too.

Newbie

When I was pregnant with my 3rd child, they had to induce my son so they could operate on him right away. He had his first surgery at 2 days old. I got my first gray hair at 26. For the first 6 months of his life, he was a human pin cushion.

What I've learned from all of that is to take each day at a time, and to be thankful for those who pull alongside us when our kids can't pull for themselves. We lend our strenght to each other and are made stronger along the way. At least that's my prospective.

I have a son who is ADHD with Asbergers Syndrome (in the autism spectrum), he finally got into a special ed school where he is flourishing in the second grade (God bless his teacher!)... if I were to do a cake for a special needs parenting group, I think I would do a cake with a turtle climbing a hillthat has a lake on the other side, with a caption saying "It may not be easy, but it will be worth it!". Good luck!