I don't think it's in poor taste or trashy. But I don't think making a mess is cute and it's not something we did for our children.

I think it's cute.

Publix gives a free smash cake when you purchase a bday cake. We did it for both our kids since it was "American" tradition. Our first child was scared of the cake. Our second enjoyed it and ate some of it. Made great photos!

Trashy is denying a kid a once-a-year little joyful moment in life because of what other people are going to think.

How is giving the kid a whole little cake any different than giving him a piece of the birthday cake? A one year old will eat like a one year old regardless of what he's eating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trashy? TRASHY??? A baby getting messy with a cake is TRASHY???

You must be new here.

OP, I just gave DD a little slice of the birthday cake. She was not interested in smashing it or smearing it on herself, thankfully. I find it a bit gross when I see babies with food smeared all over. But apparently others find it cute!

Now I want a piece of birthday cake!

Anonymous wrote:22:15 here. Okay, I googled "baby first birthday smash cake" and saw all sorts of professional pictures with a professional cake.

I thought you were talking about giving the baby a cupcake or slice of cake of their own at the first birthday party. Is that tacky too, or is it okay?

You're right--tacky is the word I was looking for, not trashy. Though my sister's thing seemed trashy to me, for other people (who I wouldn't judge anyway) "tacky" would be a better word. I don't find giving the baby a cupcake or piece of cake tacky. I can't put my finger on it, but the whole Godzilla cake thing seems so cheesy, ridiculous, contrived, ...low class in my family's case. And we're not high-class by any stretch of the imagination.

22:15 here. Okay, I googled "baby first birthday smash cake" and saw all sorts of professional pictures with a professional cake.

I thought you were talking about giving the baby a cupcake or slice of cake of their own at the first birthday party. Is that tacky too, or is it okay?

I HATE smash cakes!! No way in hell will I give one to my son. I will definitely let him try a piece of of cake or a cupcake, but never a smash cake.

I don't know if I'd call it trashy but it definitely seems like one of those cutesy, contrived things you'd find on The Bump, alongside a photo of a sleeping newborn wearing nothing but a pink tutu. Not my cup of tea but it's pretty common so I wouldn't judge too hard if I saw someone do it.

FWIW, my mom has pictures of each of us with cake all over our faces too, but we were just given slices of the cake that was served to everyone else. I don't really see the need for a whole separate cake.

They have photo sessions for "trashing the wedding dress" so it's only right they let the kids have their fun too. Pretty much every 1 year birthday party I have attended recently has done the cake trashing.

None of my kids had smash cakes. I think it's just another example of excessive consumerism -- here's yet another thing we have to buy/do!
It's not like it's hard to cut the child a slice of the regular cake?

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess...your sister also had a "gender reveal" party where everyone had to stand around while she cut a cake to see if it was blue or pink.

Haha! Actually she didn't, but if she had, I would've been here posting about that too.

If you mean that you have to put it in the trash afterwards, yes it is trashy. Otherwise I find it adorably entertaining. Didn't do it at his party as he may have had performance anxiety, but we had a smash cake as part of his one year photo shoot. Oh wait, are those trashy too?

Anonymous wrote:Trashy? TRASHY??? A baby getting messy with a cake is TRASHY???

No, parents giving baby a cake to destroy is trashy. I did not say, "OMG my 1 yo niece is soooo trashy, she smashed her birthday cake all over lololol!!!!"