My cousins (two sisters) will likely be getting engaged soon. I love them and their parents to death.

I know I shouldn't offer to do their cakes for free, but I was curious as to what everyone else does for their family/friends?

Aunt Debi gives all nieces/nephews the wedding cake as their gift, if they want it. If they want to go elsewhere for their cake, that is a-ok with me and I get to be just a guest at the wedding like everyone else!

I do draw the line at nieces/nephews ... cousins, friends, neighbors of friends, cousins of friends of neighbor, etc...... play regular price.

If you don't want to do them for free, but want to do SOMETHING, some options are offering them a dollar amount off of their cake ($200 off) or they buy the stuff, you'll make the cake.

All in all, my happy family discount is $25%. Sometimes I do things as a gift tho, just depends on the situation.

I charge 'em double!!

i did my uncles wedding cake for free, as a gift to him. but all circumstances are different...

Woo Hoo Cakepro. I knew I liked you!!

I didn't even know you were suppose to get paid for family, mine just tell me what they want and I do it, I am a pushover. I usually don't charge my friends much just the cost of ingredients. One day it will come to the point where enough is enough and maybe I will say something.

I usually will either charge my minimum price, give it as a gift, or take a chunk of the $$ off so I don't have to buy a gift and they pay the difference. However, if the cake is ultra expensive, I'll charge accordingly, but it is still less then what I would charge a regular customer !l

I charge cost for close relatives, and very good friends. I also tell people that I and only I, reserve the right to discount whatever I want and to whomever I want.

Therefore an acquaintence (sp?) who I am not that close to, WILL NOT ANYMORE get the same discount as my best friend, or my sister.

Also I have a very simple rules that all friends and family MUST follow. 1.) If you are a PITA/Bridezilla, you will not get the special friends discount.

2.) If you do not pay me my cost of ingredients in a timely manner, you will not get the special friends discount.

3.) If you are not willing to work around MY work/baking schedule, you will not get the special friends discount.

4.) If more than 5 phone calls are recieved per day regarding your cake, you will not get the special friends discount. (I had to recently add this one)

5.) I am not a Wilton instructor, I DO NOT GIVE CLASSES. If you want to take cake decorating classes, I refer you to your nearest Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

I can meekly stand up and say, with IndyDebi pushing me the entire way. I will NOT be taken advantage of ANYMORE!

<exits soapbox>

I did my brother's wedding cake at cost when he got married. I told him the rest of it was my gift to him and his wife. They were totally cool with that. If my other brother gets married then I will do the same for him.

All my other cousins are married so that is not an issues for me, nor do we have anyone else old enough to get married. I'm the last of us.

If you do offer to do them free make sure you let them know that is your gift to them and what you are willing to do. Before I offered a totally free cake I would find out what they are wanting. If they want a 5 tiered cake with satalite cakes for free are you willing to do that? If they want table cakes for every table, are you willing to do that for free?

Usually with close relatives' weddings (I've done 2 BILs, 1-MIL, and a cousin), I do their cake for free--but only to a certain quantity, like up to 125 guests. If they want to have 500 of their closest friends at the wedding, or specialty flavors etc...they pay full price for the balance.

My niece had a best friend get married last month, and niece wanted to pay for the cake (from me). I gave her $0.50/serving off my current prices, and they were happy with that. When niece gets married, I'll do hers for free, up to 125 guests.

For birthdays, showers, etc., if they ask and I'm not busy, AND I'm in the mood, I do them for free, but I haven't done one of those in over a year.
Lately they assume I'm too busy with other weddings, and that's just fine with me.

jayde, here's my "rule" for free cakes:

"I will do the cake for free as my gift. If I get a Bridezilla attitude .... YOU get an invoice for the full amount."

Add an addendum that the 'zilla attitude applies to mothers and sisters who chime in and break any of the aforementioned rules.

Hmmm... There's lots to consider!

I think I'll offer at cost for up to 200 guests. I'll then charge half my rate for the number of guests over 200. Knowing their "popular" personalities and ease of making friends, I wouldn't be surprised if they each had 400 guests! Their mother is also the Martha Stewart type (but very sweet!!).

I like to give presents so I'd hate to say that's all they get from me

Darlin', if that's "all" they get from you, you've STILL given them the most expensive present of anyone!

Family is always free on my end. That is usually my gift though. Otherwise if I was still buying them something as a wedding gift I would say @ cost would be nice.

I make them buy all my supplies. Which they are very thankful for as they know how long it takes to make/decorate a cake. But just my immediate family and very close friend. Unless it's a gift I will cover the cost then.

I usually do immediate family for free! only inmmediate family unless for some reason I offer oterwise.

I have done family cakes for free at first then told them for birthdays I need at least 2 weeks notice or they find their own cake. One sis offered to pay but then never forked over any money.

So far the only ones to get married in my family were my own kids which I did their cake. Now my 2 nephews got married but IndyDeb did the oldest since she also catered it ...( that is where I first really got to meet her and love her) and I didn't do weddings yet. The other nephew got married out in Colorado and I didn't get to go to that since we took the motorcycle to Sturgis at that time. I would probably do neices n nephews for free as my gift too but it doesn't look to promising that any of them will get married in my lifetime....lol.

This is something I struggle with....so much that everything I've done has been free. Sucks for me and I don't know how to even begin to ask for $$. Don't know why, and I know this is stupid of my part, but I feel embarassed asking for $$ (feel like I'm taking advantage taking money from family)...even though I know how expensive and time consuming it is to make a cake. I need help

Free to family....discounts for close friends

I do free cakes for my parents, grandma, neices and nephews, my siblings and my SILs.

Other family gets a discount like 25%

As far as wedding cakes I figure that I would never spend more than like $75 on a present so I will definately not give them a huge cake for free. Now if they want to pay me what it cost to make the cake my work will be their gift.

[/quote] (Big Sigh!) Fax me a dollar and I'll send you that backbone you need!

You should really fax her that dollar, Debi has helped me find my spine....Shes good, real good .

If I volunteer to make it, it is 100% discount.

Cakes for my parents and my siblings are free. I am from a very large family with almost 30 nieces and nephews. I periodically do free cakes at my discretion. No one gets a discount on chocolate candies or decorated cookies. That's way to time consuming and costly just to hand over. I have also learned that when you give away too many freebies, everyone expects it.

I think that every situation is different. If I offer to take the cake with my family or very close friends, then the cake is free. But if they ask for a cake, I usually just charge the cost of the ingredients. But the work is the same if the cake is free or not, so sometimes I hope they don´t ask for a cake because I can´t resist to make it. It´s hard with the family, so I agree with Cakepro: "charge them double".