Once it was enough to celebrate a child’s first birthday by throwing a modest party for close friends and family, with a glass of fizz for the adults and a slice of birthday cake for all — some of which would inevitably end up smeared round the face of the birthday boy or girl.
But while there’s still cake smeared over the little one, the difference now is that it’s highly likely the parents will have paid hundreds of pounds for the privilege.
Welcome to ‘cake smash’ — a way of marking your offspring’s first birthday that involves letting them loose with a birthday cake, complete with lots of sticky icing, while a professional photographer captures the messy yet cute consequences.
Tiffani Colquhoun, 24, a care assistant who lives in Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, says she wanted a Peter Rabbit theme for son Leighton. She said: ‘Leighton loved destroying the cake and he ate almost all of it!’
The trend has been huge in the U.S. for several years and has now taken off here, with Coleen Rooney celebrating her son Cass’s second birthday with a professional cake smash photo session that she uploaded to her Instagram account last month.
Whether the cake smash is just a bit of silly fun, or a shameful example of wasteful over-privilege, depends on your perspective.
Sally Slack, a photographer based in Braintree, Essex, first had the idea of offering cake smash photo shoots in 2011 when she was living in the U.S.
When she returned to the UK, she decided to see if the idea would go down well here, too.
‘I enlisted a cake maker and was surprised at how popular it was,’ she says. ‘I’ve now photographed over 200 cake smashes!
‘Pricing for digital packages starts at £270, including the cake, but the average spend is about £400.’
Sally is now a dab-hand at doing shoots with babies. First, she takes some portraits of the child by themselves in their party best, plus family and sibling shots.
Gracie Maile dips head-first into hers. For Tracey Maile, 47, an executive assistant from Chelmsford who is married to Greg, 46, a technical manager, a cake smash was a touching way to mark a milestone birthday for a much longed-for baby, their two-year-old daughter Gracie
‘Then, once the child is getting bored, we introduce the cake and that often gives them a second wind. Some children are more adventurous than others; some need a bit of encouragement from Mum or Dad. Most play with the cake and eat very little.
‘There is a huge range of how much the children smash the cake. I’ve had children smash it completely to pieces, and others very little. For me, the most important thing is that they’re enjoying themselves. They’re never forced to do anything they don’t want to for the sake of an image.’
For many, a cake smash is planned months in advance.
‘We did a newborn shoot with our youngest daughter, Phoebe-Rae, a few weeks after she was born,’ says Annee Halliday, 33, a stay-at-home mum from Southend-on-Sea.
‘I thought it would be a lovely idea to mark the milestone of the first year.’
With her husband, 37-year-old IT consultant Mike, she has three daughters — Isobel-May, 11, Amelie-Joy, eight, and one-year-old Phoebe-Rae.
‘My mum made the cake, and the photographer, Michelle, had props such as a wooden spoon and a cute, flowery pointed hat. To be honest, Phoebe-Rae didn’t really go for the cake or want to make a mess of it — so I had to use cheese and raisin snacks dotted around and on top of the cake for her to dig into with the wooden spoon.
‘We paid £150. We’ve printed out lots of photos for family, and my mum has even turned one into a magnet on her fridge. I posted the pictures on Facebook, of course, and got some lovely comments.’
The allure of a jungle-themed cake smash was even enough to persuade Kate Hall, 31, a nurse who lives in Milton Keynes with her husband Adrian, 32, a plasterer, to give her boys — Evander, four, and Lucian, one — their very first taste of the sweet stuff. Lucian is pictured above
When cake smash parents such as Annee share their pictures on social media, it naturally piques the interest of their followers
‘I follow lots of mum bloggers from the U.S. on Instagram, and when I saw pictures of cake smashes, I knew I wanted Millie to do one,’ explains Chelsea Leigh, 30, a veterinary nurse who lives in Hertfordshire with her partner Ryan, 33, a quantity surveyor, and their daughter Millie, one.
‘Millie loves food, so I knew it wouldn’t be a problem putting a cake in front of her and her going in for the grab.’
The couple also have a French bulldog called Frank — and he and Millie wore matching crowns for her cake smash photo-shoot.
‘Frank is like our first-born, so he had to be in the photoshoot, too. It was quite hard to find a photographer who allowed animals in the studio, but I came across Oana Puie, who was really lovely and keen on the idea. The basic package was £150, which included the frilly nappy and crowns, cake and 10 digital images.
Sejal Nirban, 32, a doctor who lives in Milton Keynes with her husband Christian, 30, also a doctor, had a cake smash for their daughter Nova, 14 months. Sejal says: ‘I’m part of an NCT group where quite a few of the mums had cake smashes for their baby’s first birthday’
‘It was hard for Millie to keep still, but with some background songs and distractions, we got some great shots in an hour.
‘I got about 50 likes on Instagram and lots of lovely comments.’
To make their photos stand out from the crowd, many parents are now giving their cake smash parties a unique theme — from superheroes to unicorns — complete with costumes.
‘I met Sarah from Mirror Image Photography a few years ago, at a baby playgroup, and she told me about the idea of a cake smash,’ says Tiffani Colquhoun, 24, a care assistant who lives in Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, with Wyatt, 26, who’s in the Army, and their children Lydia, three, and Leighton, one.
‘Sarah did Lydia’s cake smash photos and I loved them so much that I booked her again for Leighton when he was one.
‘We had the best time. I wanted a Peter Rabbit theme and Sarah provided the cake and the whole Beatrix Potter-style setting.
‘Leighton loved destroying the cake and he ate almost all of it! I posted the pictures on Facebook and Instagram and loved reading the responses from people saying what a great idea it was.’
The trend has been huge in the U.S. for several years and has now taken off here, with Coleen Rooney celebrating her son Cass’s second birthday with a professional cake smash photo session that she uploaded to her Instagram account (above) last month
Not everyone is a fan, though. Sue Atkins, parenting expert and author of Parenting Made Easy: How To Raise Happy Children, admits: ‘I don’t like these cake smashes at all. It’s all for the parents’ benefit, not the child, and it seems such a waste.
‘Children get messy anyway, but to deliberately set them up to get all messy with cake, and even having to push their heads into it, just for the sake of some photos, is very demeaning.’
When it comes to the cake itself, it’s the look that’s all-important, not the flavour, says Sally Slack. ‘I’ll generally go for an iced cake with decorations. Parents often want a cake with characters from their child’s favourite book or a favourite soft toy that the child will be able to relate to. Any flavour will do.’
Sejal Nirban, 32, a doctor who lives in Milton Keynes with her husband Christian, 30, also a doctor, had a cake smash for their daughter Nova, 14 months.
Sejal says: ‘I’m part of an NCT group where quite a few of the mums had cake smashes for their baby’s first birthday.
‘I found Oana online and told her we wanted a mermaid theme. She paid so much attention to detail. Nova wasn’t really interested in getting her sequined “tail” messy, though, so we had to dip her hands into the cake ourselves at one point!
‘I paid £220 for the shoot and I’ve had a big photo blown up for Nova’s bedroom.’
The allure of a jungle-themed cake smash was even enough to persuade Kate Hall, 31, a nurse who lives in Milton Keynes with her husband Adrian, 32, a plasterer, to give her boys — Evander, four, and Lucian, one — their very first taste of the sweet stuff.
‘I’m quite strict when it comes to the boys’ diet and I liked the idea of them having their first ever taste of sugar as a treat at their first birthday cake smash,’ she says.
‘I follow lots of mum bloggers from the U.S. on Instagram, and when I saw pictures of cake smashes, I knew I wanted Millie to do one,’ explains Chelsea Leigh, 30, a veterinary nurse who lives in Hertfordshire with her partner Ryan, 33, a quantity surveyor, and their daughter Millie, one
‘Lucian really went for it. It was so lovely to watch him enjoying himself, and he was pretty exhausted after the two-hour feeding and mashing frenzy! It cost us £120 for the jungle-themed session which included the cake, decorations and ten pictures.’
For Tracey Maile, 47, an executive assistant from Chelmsford who is married to Greg, 46, a technical manager, a cake smash was a touching way to mark a milestone birthday for a much longed-for baby, their two-year-old daughter Gracie.
‘We had two miscarriages and three failed rounds of IVF before we gave birth to Gracie, although we sadly lost her twin,’ she says. ‘As it took us so long to have her, we want to mark every special birthday.
‘We made a family occasion of it and took my dad, who lives in Australia, and was over for a visit, and Greg’s mum, so we could do some pictures with them as a Christmas present.
‘Gracie had a great time doing the shoot and went head-first into the cake, which was very funny!
‘We now have a framed collage of nine pictures up in our hallway, which always makes me smile as I walk past.’