I'm trying to come up with a cake idea for one of my children's birthdays. (it's not until May but I have a compulsion to prepare things early!)

He'll be 3 and he loves, among other things, In The Night Garden.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/inthenightgarden/
http://www.inthenightgarden.co.uk/en/default.asp

I was thinking of an 8" garden themed cake with a 6" gazebo/carousel from the programme.
There's no way I can make the figures myself ( I can't do characters for toffee), so should I leave the cake at that or add some *gasp* plastic figures? I know that plastic "flotsam" is frowned upon and I don't really like it but my son would like it because he can keep them and he's only 3.

http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Babies-R-Us/Toys/Playsets/In-The-Night-Garden-Story-in-a-Box-Figure-Pack(0023139)

What's do you think?

Deco Pac makes a fortune using plastic on a cake, and if a legitimate baker wants to sell a copyrighted cake, they will use the Deco Pac plastic.

Ain't no "gasp!" to it. Make the cake that your son will love! *HE* won't turn his nose up because there's (gasp) plastic on it!

Plastic "flotsam" is actually wonderful for wee ones, as they love the toys. Besides, if its a real toy and not the cheap stuff made for cake deco-ing it's not quite the same as the cheap stuff is just going to end up being junk floating around the house, while a real toy is basically just another present, but it's on the cake instead of being wrapped.

I have done this kind of thing before & my kids loved having the toys to play with afterwards. Who are you trying to impress anyway?? Good luck

I think the cake idea sounds lovely and I think that you should do whatever will make your little boy happy - plastic figures and all!

I make sugar figurines for cakes, but as a mom, I always tell my clients that they are better off with toys especially for the little ones.

Maybe its not the best way to handle it business wise, but after my daughters 1st birthday she wanted all her Sesame Street figurines I made and I didnt want to give them to her because they would break and some were pretty heavy.

It's for YOUR child and the only thing that matters is that he likes it. If that's what he likes, then other people's opinions don't matter. My son loves monster trucks so for his birthday, instead of making a 3D monster truck cake, I'm going to make a monster truck dirt track cake and put real Hot Wheels monster trucks on it driving over real Hot Wheels cars so he can keep them all.

I agree with everyone else. The kids love to play with the toys later. I'm making a "Super Why" (PBS) cake for my son and I ordered some little toys to go on it. But then again, now he's telling me he wants to eat them.... lol

Agreed - I even get clients to supply a little train for Thomas cakes, specifically so the kid can keep the toy afterwards, and I do not risk copyright infringement.

Do what's best for your own child and you

Thank you for your replies I did have a little laugh as I read them. I love the people on this site!!

I thought the plastic toys would be good for him so that's the way I'll go!