I'm afraid to admit I just finished brainwashing my oldest son into "picking" the party theme I wanted him to pick because I had the perfect cake idea in mind. He had originally been thinking of doing a slightly different theme, and though I know he really will like this one more (he had actually been talking about doing this one for three years now), I do admit his hand was a little more than "guided" in his choice.
He naively thinks it was his idea, and he innocently believes I am doing all for him ... he doesn't realize his mother is a caking addict who went for a stretch without decorating and is now absolutely itching to do exactly what she wants, hiding the virtual icing tracks even as she pushes her cake ideas.

And, by the way, my other two children (whose birthdays aren't till July and October) also have their thees all picked out already. Oh, the shame!

Caking has made me a little nuttier than I ever was, if at all possible .

My boys had a pirate party one year because I really wanted to make a treasure chest cake. I convinced them by telling them everyone could dress up like pirates

One year it was Star Wars so I could make R2D2.
Two years ago my dd had a circus party cause I saw this way too cool cake that I had to make. That party turned out to be really fun though cause we set up a bunch of carnival games and the kids had a total blast.

Right there with ya on this one. I'm sure someday I'll let them pick their own birthday theme

Brainwashers Unite!!!
(I too am guilty)!

LOL!! I am SO glad it's not just me that does this!!! I pick the cake, then work on getting the kids to pick the theme.

Only once has my daughter picked a theme before I thought of the cake. That was a picnic party, which was SO much fun, and the cake came together great, with a checkered tablecloth, and BC ants carrying away the food

High fives to all my fellow brainwashers

I'm lucky that both mine are young enough that I can pick their themes. We are doing Jessie from toy story and mickey mouse.

I just did that for my son's birthday!! I based the theme on the cake I want to make; and make them think it is their idea LOL!!

Guilty! I just spent a few days arguing with my three year old (soon to be 4) about choosing a ladybug cake instead of a castle cake that she wants. She finally gave in when I showed her a cake I want to copy. It's soooooo bad but I can't help it!

My arrangement is that they don't pick a cake at all. It's a surprize! That way I can make whatever I want and they get to guess and try to figure it out. They think it's lots of fun and I have carte blanche on cake design. I'm sneaky...very sneaky

LOL to funny. I am working on my 7 year old as we speak, he announced the other day and then proceded to draw his birthday cake, he draw a 4 tier (yes I said 4 tier) round cake with a cowboy riding a bull as the topper and each tier would have a plaque saying 'yee haa Joshua', oh and he wants fondant (even says it 'fon dont') now he will be 8 how many children does he think he's inviting lol. I told him 4 tiers might be a little much but he continues in his battle for 'his birthday cake'. And you know he'll probably win this one. lol

yep guilty here too, convinced my son to have a club penguin party since I wanted to try making figures and I figured blobby penguins was a good starting place

So glad to know that I'm not the only brainwasher out there.

I'm um guilty. And what's worse, my youngest isnt even born yet, but I bought her first birthday outfit, and already planning her cake & party.

WOW! and i thought i was the only one! lol I like to plan all parties on the cake and i try to convince everyone else to too!

Oh the shame of it all! I admit brainwashing my daughters as well. The oldest one is turning seven and wants to choose her own this year (curses!) a snake/reptile of all things!

I do the same thing with my 2 kids! Every year it gets more and more elaborate!!

I'm sort of guilty of this one. My youngest son is all into pirates now so we've decided to do a pirate theme for his 3rd birthday. There are several themes we could choose and I could do a really cool cake.

For my oldest son's most recent birthday, I was just too tired to do anything elaborate. I had 4 cakes including his to do in one weekend (all for friends) and the best I could do for him was a giant cupcake. Luckily he doesn't care. It's hard to come up with really cool ideas for a child who is non-communicative. I just try to do things that are kid friendly and bright for him.

My baby girl is only 3 weeks old and I've already been thinking about ideas for her first birthday cake.

Congrats on the new little one erinalicia ! I always get excited when my little girl, who is now 7, wants us to design her cake! She actually draws a picture of the cake in great detail. My future assistant!!

I to am guilty of guiding my children to their party themes!! How else am I suppose to practice the techniques I want to learn.

Isn't "gentle guiding" just another name for "GOOD parenting"? We certainly only want our kids to have the best!!!!

I just made a princess castle cake for my 23 YO daughter's BD cause I really wanted to do it, and we all joke that she is the family princess. My 10 yo son still has a few good cake years in him. I look forward to having little ones (no rush) to decorate for. In the meantime, I've got church kiddos and friends!

I'm glad to see I am in good company. I was starting to feel guilty about handing my 4 year old her princess cake. You all make me feel better.

We are going to have grandparents over in a couple of weeks and I saw this hello kitty cake that I thought was really cute so I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. She went into this elaborate explanation of what she wanted (in her 4 year old way) and when she got done I said, "How about I make you a Hello Kitty cake" in my super excited fun voice. She was good with that!

LOL! That is too funny! And yes to the "Good parenting" comment, hehe ... at least, that's what I keep telling myself. I LOVE it that my OCD caking impulses have found so many kindred spirits!

I convinced my husband to marry me so I could make my dream wedding cake! In the end, I ran out of time and energy and decided to go with something simple!!! LOL

HA! Gomo, start working on it now ... the more subtle you are in introducing it, the less they realize what you did .

I'm guilty too. My little one is asking for a monster truck cake for his birthday but I'm tired of making monster truck cakes. Poor thing, I've made monster truck cakes for everyone else's kids so I don't feel like making one for my own child.

I want to do something I've never done before. I will probably give in if he keeps insisting but boy I hope I can convince him to pick something else.