The excitement builds as the lights go out and the glowing candles enter the room. Singing fills the room to the traditional tune of “Happy birthday to you…” But what is under those candles? When I was a child it was usually a homemade cake (once in a while it was an ice cream cake). If you are looking to try something different here are some new and old ideas:
- Homemade cake
- Store-bought cake
- Ice cream cake
- Doughnut tower
- Cookie platter
- Pie
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Brownies
- Jell-O or Pudding
- Rice Krispie Treats
- Ice Cream Cones
- Cheese Cake
How do you decide? Let us know: Twitter @Fairy_Tailed Facebook: @FairyTailedWish
How do we decide? We let the birthday child pick. Sometimes they want to make a cake and sometimes they want store-bought. I admit that I sometimes push them in one direction or the other depending on how many people we have or what sort of time constraints there are. Do you try and persuade yours?
There was a fun tradition we had while eating cake growing up. Everyone had to wait until the birthday person took their first bite. Then everyone could eat their cake as well. The twist was that the birthday person could not say a word until their piece of cake was consumed. It is always fun and playful to tease a little and ask silly questions. Do you have any unique birthday traditions?
Writing this made me curious as to why we even light birthday candles, although I do love this tradition. After some research, it seems that it could potentially come from a couple of different cultures. The furthest back seems to be the Ancient Greeks. On birthdays they made round cakes and placed candles on them. This was their way of paying tribute to the moon goddess Artemis. Other cultures believe the smoke from the candles would deliver the prayer (now wish) to the gods.
Now for the gross part. That we still carry out this tradition in our antibacterial germ-free society is quite surprising. Why? Just think of what happens when that cute little booger-nose birthday kid blows out those candles. That’s right…bacteria on the cake multiply an average of 14 times! Yuck times 14! Solution? Provide a small candle cake. Or just suck it up and help us all build up our immune systems because we have been doing it for a long time already, why stop now? Whatever your choice, light up the candles and fill the room with song!
Happy Birthday! I hope the night before they make a #FairyTailed Wish
