More cake. Of a different sort.

Ok.  NOW I'm back.  Really.  Sorry, sorry... excuses I know, but I was suddenly informed by the mr that there is need for us to dress as if we are from the 80's tomorrow, for reasons I'm not allowed to know.  The past few days have been spent feverishly concocting costumes based (loosely) on Ferris Bueller and Cyndi Lauper.  We will be a sight to behold.  For whoever will behold us.  If anyone.  (I know nothing...)  Rest assured, more will follow on that front.


Basically that means I am now behind - which you aren't surprised about in the least, I'm sure... hopefully things will only be pushed back a day or two, and I won't leave anything good out, I promise.


So.  Would you like some more birthday cake inspiration?  Follow along with me then...


Perhaps you are familiar with this idea:

which I initially found on Sprik Space and subsequently pinned to my pinterest "gifting" board, and was then repinned like crazy.  And why not, right?  It's hilarious.  And true. 


I remember, as I was pinning it, thinking to myself "that's stinking funny.  Too bad I don't know anyone who's turning 30 right now"


...


(Crickets chirp)


Oh, that's right.  I'M turning 30.  Which means that most of my friends are also.  And, most importantly, my BEST friend.  My best friend?  She NEEDED some "30 Sucks Suckers".  But that just wasn't good enough for her.  She needed something bigger.  Something badder.  

I began brainstorming.  First, I was simply thinking about all the things I could do with "sucks"... I could get her popsicles.  But you don't really suck those, do you?  It's more of a lick thing, and I didn't think "30 licks" had quite the same ring.  There's also the negative remark, "that really blows" - but what could I do for that?  Bubble gum?  Does she even chew bubble gum?  And then all at once I had my answer. 


The poem came to me like a bolt of lightening: 
"30 sucks.
30 blows.
And there's no lying,
30 shows!"


But first I had to find items that fit with the different lines of the poem, and then had to figure out how to compose them so they looked like a cake.  


30 sucks?  Easy.  Suckers.  I got a combination of blow pops and tootsie pops for variety.  30 blows?  Well, once I decided on a cake-inspired wrapping of said items, I knew I needed candles for the top.  30 shows?  Huh.  30 shows... I was stumped at first, but then I came up with 30 mini single serving bags of popcorn - you know, for movie or "show" watching.  Right?  Get it??


Here are some other ideas: 
30 sucks - a favorite drink with some fun twisty straws, those yummy caramel apple pops, or jolly ranchers or other hard candy.
30 blows - bubble gum, balloons, or a pack of bubbles.
30 shows - a gift card to a local cinema or a gift card to Red Box or other rental store.

Now, to wrap it all up together, I recycled some things I had at home.  The bottom layer of the cake is a large cake dome from the grocery store.  I washed it out really well, don't worry.  Then I stuffed as much popcorn in there as I could.  The second tier is a smaller gourmet-type cake dome from the grocery store.  (And before you go thinking that I buy a whole heck of a lot of store made desserts that we sure as heck don't need, these were NOT purchased for us.  Or, well, not JUST for us.)  I filled this up with blow and tootsie pops (and a few bags of popcorn, because they wouldn't all fit in the bottom...).  I didn't want to use the bottom because it would cover up the popcorn.  So I hot glued around the cake dome top and then flipped the bottom tier upside down and pushed it down onto the middle tier. The top tier is a cupcake package from, well, the grocery store.  I admit to buying this the day I made the gift because I needed something small... I let mini have the cupcake.  Anyway, I cut the middle out of the top and stuffed it with some tissue paper, then tied the candles with twine and packed them in.  I hot glued the bottom of the cupcake cup to the top of the middle tier.  I designed the poem in pages with some fun free fonts (downloaded from dafont - love that place).  

I cut slits in the sides of the card stock and threaded some ribbon through, then hot glued the ribbon around the bottom tier of the cake and tied it in a bow in back.  (I added more ribbon to the top tier, but by the time the picture was taken, it was starting to kind of fall apart.)


And that was that.  

Fortunately, El has a sense of humor and thought it was pretty funny.  Even though I was basically saying she looked old - which she does NOT.  She hasn't changed in the 15 years that we've been friends...


BUT, if you're worried that your friend DOESN'T have a sense of humor, you could always write the poem like this:
"30 sucks,
30 blows,
But, oh!  The wisdom 
30 knows!"


Not funny, I know, but perhaps a bit more sensitive.  Now, what could you do with "knows"?  Good question.  Something that looks smart?  Maybe a pair of smart-looking glasses?  Or a calculator?  Maybe a dictionary?  Or you could just not represent the "30 knows" with a present... just skip it entirely.  Hey, if you figure it out, let me know.


AND, furthermore, here're the two poems in printable form, just for you.  Just right click and download to your computer.

Of note, as I was driving down to visit El on her birthday, I realized that we have now been friends for as long as we were NOT friends before we met... essentially, we've been friends for half our lives.  For those of you who have lots of lifelong friends, maybe that's not so big.  But it was a fun discovery for me to make.  

*Be sure to check just below for all the fun parties I link to!