Cake Smash Wooden Letters

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GerryD

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Gerald Davies
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I'm doing a cake smash in 2 weeks, and need to order some wooden white letters to spell the age One. I have no idea what size letters to buy as I cannot picture the scale, so they to not over power the baby. Can anyone advise what size letters to get?
 
taxi said:
I'm doing a cake smash in 2 weeks, and need to order some wooden white letters to spell the age One. I have no idea what size letters to buy as I cannot picture the scale, so they to not over power the baby. Can anyone advise what size letters to get?
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Surely a key factor is how big is the cake and how large any iced lettering will be??? Then maybe there can be insight in regard to the letter size you seek.
 
Hobbycraft sell big letters/numbers but I don't think they are wood - some sort of card/papier mache. Could be painted.
 
Box Brownie said:
Surely a key factor is how big is the cake and how large any iced lettering will be??? Then maybe there can be insight in regard to the letter size you seek.
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My hands are tied with the cake as it's being supplied by the parents. It's a one tiered sponge cake. So should not be to large.

I'll also be using the letters in a pre-cake smash shoot with the baby.
 
Photodiva said:
Hobbycraft sell big letters/numbers but I don't think they are wood - some sort of card/papier mache. Could be painted.
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Thanks Carol. I've seen them and if everything goes well, I'll want to use them on repeat shoots. I don't think they'll last that long as little hands can be very destructive.
 
The card/papier maché ones are relatively soft so shouldn't hurt the baby if he/she hits one of them while smashing the cake - wooden ones might. Factor the cost of the letters into the price of the shoot and give them to the parents as part of the package.
 
Nod said:
The card/papier maché ones are relatively soft so shouldn't hurt the baby if he/she hits one of them while smashing the cake - wooden ones might. Factor the cost of the letters into the price of the shoot and give them to the parents as part of the package.
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Thanks for the feed back Nod. I've seen the card ones and I don't think they'll last that long, even once painted. Looking at the smaller wooden letters they won't be that heavy and will last longer.

If I do, do more of these shoots I don't want to be running back and for to hobby craft every few weeks replacing the letters.
 
I wouldn't bother. Personally I think they look almost as tacky as the cake smash itself.
 
Speak to a local Joiner. I know we've done wooden letters for customers before
 
connersz said:
I wouldn't bother. Personally I think they look almost as tacky as the cake smash itself.
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Whilst I don't agree with the less than helpful comment about them being tacky, my first thought to be honest was to not use letters either. These cake smash things are associated with 1st birthday's already and sort of goes without saying... I don't do many of them myself, and I'll keep my opinions to myself as to why I don't, but I've found the best success comes with the 'less is more' setup... a kid, a cake and a big wooden spoon. And the rest will take care of itself. :)

Just my opinion of course. :)
 
owenb said:
Not a fan of them then I guess????
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IMHO A baby's first birthday is an important milestone and it's the photographers job to document their growth and personality at this fantastic age. I don't believe that letting a baby cover themselves in cake achieves this and the only thing I think it will be good for when the child has grown up is nothing more than 'a laugh'.

I've seen all sorts of cake smash photos and a lot seem to include some sort of bunting on the backdrop along with giant letters and in some cases the baby is wearing and over-the-top tutu. All of this totally distracts from the important person in the pictures and instead makes the image solely about the props and the cake. I guess it's no surprise that a trend that came out of America would include the portrayal of someone going at a giant cake like they've never before been fed.

I'm a specialist family photographer and have been asked to do these on a number of occasions but under no circumstances have I said yes. In most cases after a bit of education the clients decide to go with something a bit more 'tasteful' (so to speak).

Does that answer your question by the way?
 
connersz said:
IMHO A baby's first birthday is an important milestone and it's the photographers job to document their growth and personality at this fantastic age. I don't believe that letting a baby cover themselves in cake achieves this and the only thing I think it will be good for when the child has grown up is nothing more than 'a laugh'.

I've seen all sorts of cake smash photos and a lot seem to include some sort of bunting on the backdrop along with giant letters and in some cases the baby is wearing and over-the-top tutu. All of this totally distracts from the important person in the pictures and instead makes the image solely about the props and the cake. I guess it's no surprise that a trend that came out of America would include the portrayal of someone going at a giant cake like they've never before been fed.

I'm a specialist family photographer and have been asked to do these on a number of occasions but under no circumstances have I said yes. In most cases after a bit of education the clients decide to go with something a bit more 'tasteful' (so to speak).

Does that answer your question by the way?
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Yep everyone's entitled to their own opinion just wondered the reason behind it so yep answered lovely thanks ;-) What do you define as tasteful?
 
i must admit id never heard of this, it does seem an odd idea. mind you its no worse than some of the other so called cute props or cliche used
 
I hadn't heard of it until i started using this board. I assumed i didn't understand as I'm not a parent or maternal in any way. Seemed like a waste of cake :-D it just doesn't seem to make any sense, I don't understand the connection to first birthday and why that equals smashing cake. Googling it it seems to be a big thing, even here, but given that almost every couple/friend I know has kids - none of them have done it (and they range from pretentious to down to earth ;-) )

On a constructive level, wood seems more durable idea if letters is what you want to portray.
 
dan_yell said:
I hadn't heard of it until i started using this board. I assumed i didn't understand as I'm not a parent or maternal in any way. Seemed like a waste of cake :-D it just doesn't seem to make any sense, I don't understand the connection to first birthday and why that equals smashing cake. Googling it it seems to be a big thing, even here, but given that almost every couple/friend I know has kids - none of them have done it (and they range from pretentious to down to earth ;-) )

On a constructive level, wood seems more durable idea if letters is what you want to portray.
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It's just a phase. In 5 years time no one will be wanting this kind of thing and the photos they had done will start to look out of date and a bit silly. A friend told me the other day that his sister had a 'mermaid newborn' photoshoot in Australia recently so maybe that will be the next big thing?
 
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