I have been planning a baby shower for 6/11. I just found out I will now be making the cake also! I'm freaking out now! I feel totally overwhelmed! I am a perfectionist and it is gonna take me forever to make the cake, food, decorate, and clean my house.i figured the party will be here now cause i'm afraid to move my cake after i have it made. Any suggestions? It's a small party. 6 adults and 7 kids. i love, love, love tiered cakes but I nervous about them. but i really want to make it special for this mom. she is having a boy.

Don't you have anyone that can help? I'm a perfectionist too and like to try to do it all, but it's just not possible. Enlist another good friend to help. I'm sure someone would be more than willing.

Just remember when in doubt keep it simple. Simple will look elegant and you won't kill yourself so you can enjoy the party.
Finger foods that you can make ahead will also help. You could make a simple blue square cake decorated with white and brown. Then just use those colors elsewhere to tie everything together.

Browse the galleries, there are a lot of simple but elegant cakes on here. You will do great!!

Clean your house the week before and just dust and keep order up until the day of. Much easier than a massive cleaning right before! Like thems_my_kids said, ask a friend or family member to help. You can never go wrong with finger foods and you can prepare a lot of dips, and such, ahead of time (use a crockpot for a warm dip, like spinach artichoke).

If you want a tiered cake, do a 6" and 4". Ice the bottom tier in white with blue polka dots or stripes and the top tier just in blue. Make a little teddy bear for the topper! Use Aine2's tutorial - link on homepage. You can make the bear days in advance! I think that would be very easy and very cute.

Oh, you can do it! I am a perfectionist also. I just do everything thing I can ahead-ie I clean the baseboards and things like that like a week before. For the tiered cake, it's just like making two cakes. No big deal! Just write out a daily schedule for yourself, and it will all get done.

Just a suggestion . . . have your house cleaned a week before (like amia1024 suggests), have your cake ready a day or two in advance as well as your finger foods. I like to have everything fresh, and often will stay up late the night before to get my cake/foods done. I mean really, really late!

My son's 9th birthday party was on Sunday, I had two 3D cakes to do. I stayed up late 2 nights in a row (Sat. kids b-day party -- Sun. family b-day party) to get things done and in order. The day of the party, I could barely keep my eyes open!! I totally didn't feel like entertaining! I just wanted a nap.

Have the cake done early, pick foods that can be prepared in advance and if you want to enjoy the party, get yourself some sleep! We can burn out so easily under stress.

Good luck!

You can bake your cakes in advance and freeze them (they taste better after they've been frozen anyways). Then make up your decorations in advance then they will all dry and ready for you. If your cake doesn't need to be refrigerated, you can decorate it the day before and it will still taste fresh the next day.

If you make a small tiered cake (either a 8"and a 6" or a 6" and a 4") It really shouldn't be a problem to move. It will be much lighter than a full size tiered cake. If you use just a couple dowel rods under your top tier you will be fine, since it's not traveling, I don't think a spike is necessary.

Make sure before you make up your cake that you have a space clear for it that is out of the way so that you when you finish it you have somewhere to put it. This way you wont have to worry about anyone bumping it.

Good luck! Share your picture with us when you're done!

i would keep it simple...so you won't be stressing. try to make everything ahead of time. there are many articles that will help you in doing a tiered cake. it really isn't that difficult...you can do it.

Well I took ur suggestions and asked another mom from the play group if she could make sandwiches and she is too busy! lol
So I think I will have one mom host it at her house and I found a super cute cake in the galleries that looks like I could move it. it's bluedragonfly_79 's rubber duck in a tub cake
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1222904
And I'll make the stuff 2 days ahead and have my husband help me put all the food together the night before. Too bad my 12 yr old wont be home!
Thanks for all your help. I woke up at 4 am this morning trying to figure out how I can get all my things done!