Thanks for all the input. I felt somewhat better after I read all your good advice. I, like alot of people have a hard time saying NO. I should have listened to my "gut instinct" on this one!! But, the little girl and my son are in the same class and he will be attending this party....SOOOOO....
lol. I am going to call Mom this afternoon, the only thing I have made is the frosting and I have another cake to make early next week, so I can always use it for that......I don't want any surprises when she picks up the cake and I charge her $25.00 for it. After looking through the bag of items from her husband, they bought the 2 smallest bags of conf. sugar, and the canned "spray" frosting with the tips attached....(maybe she thinks I don't have any!) and they spent 6 dollars on the decorations.

This is the first time I have ever had anyone bring me some of the ingredients. Usually I have people call weeks in advance and say here is what I need a cake for...there will be x number of people there and if you can do this type of cake great, if you...whatever you do I know will be awesome. I haven't had any complaints yet.

BIG LESSON LEARNED....

Thanks for all your help, like I said before you guys are always great.

Oh and I love the Olive Garden idea...and since Sunday is Father's Day, I think I will call them. I just got a good deal at Sam's on Pasta Sauce and some ravoli, hopefully they can whip that up with breadsticks and salad for me!!!

So what happened???

Yah, this gal knows she has you hooked. You really need to decide what you'll CHARGE and tell her right away. If she trys to talk you down I'd say no to the whole thing. This woman will be back, pulling the same stunt, if you don't set this straight. I really hope you aren't going to allow clients to do the shopping for you and set your prices too. She's already taken advantage of you by going this far. I'd set my price for a half sheet cake and take off no more than $5 for her mixes and sugar. I'd also nicely let her know that this is NOT the way you normally do things and then DO NOT let it happen again.

Wow -sometimes i can't believe the nerve of some folks!!! But i do understand your wanting to keep the peace because your kids are in the same class. I agree with everyone else - charge her!! Actually, i would have gone a step step further - i would have called her with the price and told her you will need a small deposit - 'cause i get a feeling, this lady is going to give you trouble when i comes down to payment. Please let us know what happens!

So what happened with this??

Hi, sorry I haven't posted to this before. I did end up calling the Mom on Friday afternoon with some questions. Of course I got the machine. I made the cake and already had the frosting prepared so I waited a while for someone to return my call. NO CALL. Finally I called them back at about 8:00 in the evening, and Dad told me that he had come to my house but no one was home (guess there phone doesn't return calls!) He was here during the 30 minutes I was gone to check on my mother in law! because I had been here since school got out at 2:30pm. ANYWAYS....Dad told me he would have his wife call when she came home from work at 9:00. NO CALL....I was up until after 11. I decorated the cake to their specifications, colors and all and put their decorations on it. There were SO many things that I could have done to make the cake look so much better, but didn't wan't to hear...."that's not what we ordered." A small piece of the castle turret broke when I was removing it from the bag, the castle and carriage were made out of chocolate and were lollipops that were to be stuck into the cake at appointed locations!
The only thing I didn't use of their material was the canned frosting! I matched the color and don't believe that they noticed. I boxed the cake up and I delivered the cake to the party along with my son. Dad watched me struggle with the door to the place the party was held at, but didn't see the need to help with the door. THe bar on the inside of the door that is used when you exit the building caught me in the side....if the room hadn't been full of kids and people I didn't really know....WELL...I could have thought of a few more words than ....man, that hurt. They immediately took the cover off and remarked about the cake... the first thing out of Dad's mouth was....I told you we didn't need anymore of the frosting sugar!! I wasn't shy to inform him that it wasn't nearly enough and that I had used my own. Mom then asked if she owed me anything....with the comment about the frosting sugar, the lack of time on the cake, no returned call and the fact that my side was killing me...OH YOU BET YOU OWE ME something I told her $25.00. She paid it and said nothing else. I don't know if it was worth $25.00 or not, I am going to try to post a picture. It was one of the plainest, unimaginative cakes I have ever made, but it was exactly what they wanted. Big lesson learned there.

Thanks for all the advice and input. I do appreciate it. I just do cakes for fun and mostly for my friends and family. I love to make them and never expect to get rich on anything that I do....but I don't want to be taken advantage of.

Sorry this is so long...I will try to post a picture

Elaine

I'm so sorry that you went through all of that! You know we still love you here! I think we all learned a lesson from your "adventure". Go spent that $25 on yourself!! You earned it and a lot more!

Jasmine

very strange people.....

I'm glad she offered money....I am more glad that you took it......and I'm even more glad that you told the stupid father that you used your own sugar!

What I'm wondering is how (from just looking at the cake) did he determine that "we didn't need anymore frosting sugar"??? OK Einstein.

I'm also glad you spoke up and gave her a $ amount.
I
f you ever decide to deal with her again, make sure to lay out some ground rules for this wacky couple.

Good for you I'm so glad you got paid!