i have no idea what to do for a man's 80th birthday cake. any ideas are welcome

IMHO, I would use tha tans and browns or fall colors HTH

I just did a 80th birthday cake and I did the large 8 and 0 with 9x13 pans..I decorated the roses in teal and brown.His wife loved it!!

We are getting ready to do my dad's 80th so I have been looking at a few different things. We have decided to go with a fishing theme because that's what he likes to do but you could go with something like wing tip shoes, or top hat if he is that type. How about an old radio cake? Or old music theme? Jazz or C&W whatever he likes. Old cars or Sock Hop is usually a good one. If he drinks what is he favorite drink? Game (cards maybe?) Does he smoke Cigars? Does/did he like to shoot pool? Build things?

Just a note though, usually we do go with browns and tweeds for men BUT my Dad like bright colors so he'd be a bit turned off by browns and beiges, it does depend on the man.

If he likes chocolate, the tone-on-tone cakes that are all shades of chocolate brown can be nice. Diamonds and stripes look masculine, as opposed to flowers which to me often look feminine.

Another idea would be to do a four-tier cake and have each tier be two decades -- like 1950's and 1960's, 1970's and 1980's, etc.

I just made a cake for my grandfather's 84th birthday. He owned his own business and always had a truck for that business, so I made him a vintage truck cake, something that was a mixture of styles from the 30's and 40's. He was stunned speechless, and that is very hard to do!
Pick a detail from their life, if you know one, and run with it.
Chances are they will love it no matter which direction you go in.
Good Luck!!

thanks everyone!