This weekend was Oliver’s first birthday party.
I didn’t say “Oliver’s first birthday” since he doesn’t turn one until the 12 but Tucker will be at Navy Drill this coming weekend and Tucker wasn’t going to miss his son’s party.
It was the way that a first birthday party should be.
We had cake and ice cream. Chips and dip. Party hats and lots of presents.
All in all, it was low key, unstressful and from what I saw, everyone had a good time.
The time leading up to the party wasn’t so much fun.
*Since Friday, I’ve been batting around just how I wanted to write this. I don’t want to draw any unnecessary criticism my way or seem too harsh but I knew that I was going to have to write this. Especially after I tweeted through it. I’ve decided to not include a link to the woman’s website or to mention her name. If you’re in the Huntsville/Madison area and are looking for a cake maker, email you and I’ll tell you who NOT to use.*
About a month ago, I contacted the women who made my baby shower cake when I was pregnant with Oliver. They had done such a wonderful job and they are located in Arkansas [where the party was being held] so I wouldn’t have to worry about transporting a cake five hours in the back of our SUV.
Unfortunately, they were completely booked and I started looking online for cake makers in our area.
I found a woman who displayed beautiful cakes on her website – like Cake Boss caliber cakes. I was a bit afraid of her pricing [lowest price was $245 for 30 people] but I sent her this email just in case she could work with me.
Hi,
The pictures of your cakes are amazing and I was wondering if you create simple birthday cakes?
My son is turning one very soon and I need a great cake to take to Arkansas with me for Oliver’s birthday party.
If you don’t personally do children’s birthday cakes, would you have a recommendation on who I should contact?
Thank you in advance.
I wasn’t expecting a response so I was thrilled when I received this email:
Yes, Please let me know the Servings, Colors, Flavors, and Date you want your cake delivered.
Sweet action!
I immediately responded with:
25 people, blue and white or primary colors, chocolate or vanilla/yellow cake and I would need to pick the cake up on the 4th of September since we’re leaving that afternoon for Arkansas.
I promptly received this reply:
How about a chocolate cake. Is there a favorite charater you like? The price will be $40.00
Hot damn! That was WAY less expensive than I was expecting!
I sent her this reply:
He’s all boy and likes trucks but I’d be perfectly happy with a #1 or something along those lines. He LOVES chocolate so I doubt he’ll care what it looks like.
Could you send the URL of a cake that it will look like just so I can get an idea?
Thanks so much!
I got this response the next day and was very comfortable with my decision to go with a local baker:
I found a cake on confetticakes.com. It is a tonka truck under specialty kids cakes. I hope you like it the price is still $40. Thank you for your business
Just to make sure that everything was clear, I sent her this email:
Absolutely perfect.
Am I to pick it up on Friday the 4th?
And, I got this response:
Great I’m so glad that you like it. I will deliver it to you just tell me where you would like it delivered and the time. The fee for delivery is 5.00. So the total is $45.00
I was annoyed by the $5 delivery fee since I was more than willing to pick the cake up myself, but, like I said, I was MORE than pleased by the price of the cake and if Ollie ended up with a badass cake for that price then I would be one happy camper.
I told her that if she would prefer to deliver it then that was fine and I gave her my address and reiterated the 11am delivery time and the Sept. 4th delivery date. I also asked her how she preferred to be paid.
I got this reply:
I take checks and I’ll have it to you at 11:00 on September 4th. Thank you Ms Tucker.
Alright. We’re cookin’ with gas now. The cake would be delivered on September 4th at 11am and then we would leave for Arkansas around noon. Awesome.
Friday the 4th dawned and I washed some clothes and basically mulled around, waiting on the cake. I should have known when I tweeted “Really hope that the lady delivers Ollie’s cake today and that it doesn’t suck. :0″ that I was screwing myself.
At 11:14, I tweeted “Cake lady was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago…”.
At 12:06, I tweeted “I AM PISSED. We need to leave now for AR and Ollie’s cake hasn’t been delivered yet.PISSED.”
Right before that tweet, I sent this email to the cake lady:
[Name removed],I have tried the phone number several times that is listed on your website and am concerned as to whether my son’s cake is going to be delivered as it is an hour past the time that we agreed upon.
We need to leave for Arkansas very soon and REALLY don’t want to leave without the cake.
Please advise.
At 12:11, I tweeted this: “BEYOND FUCKING PISSED. SHE DIDN”T MAKE THE FUCKING CAKE AND DID NOT EMAIL ME.”
You see, right before I tweeted that, I FINALLY got a hold of the woman.
Cake Lady: I had everything ready to make the cake but then my mother told me that it was the wrong date…
[Silence]
Me: OK…it’s September 4th. The date that we agreed on. It was supposed to be here today at 11am.
Cake Lady: I know…I’m sorry. I didn’t make it.
Me: [I gasped here. Like literally gasped.]
Cake Lady: You’re leaving soon aren’t you…
Me: We wanted to leave 45 minutes ago!
Cake Lady: Well…I’m really sorry…
Me: Thank you very much. [And I hung up on her]
Pissed. Pissed. Pissed.
Granted, the woman didn’t have my phone number but she definitely had my email address and SHE NEVER EMAILED ME! Never!
I called my aunt [first person I thought of to bitch to] and she ordered a sheet cake for me [at half the cost] and I seethed the whole way to Arkansas.
In the end, of course Ollie didn’t give a damn. He had a blast and he got lots of trucks to play with and lots of cute clothes but I’m still pissed at this woman’s complete lack of professionalism.
Then again, Ollie’s cuter than any stupid cake.
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