Plastic Vs Fantastic – Store Bought Or Homemade?

quick-birthday-cakes

I recently got into a debate on the topic of store bought character cakes versus handmade creations from a qualified cake decorator. Where do you stand? Is it OK?

So the short version of the argument was this. They (un-named highly opinionated person on a public forum) thought that store bought character cakes that retail for around $20 are choc loaded with preservatives and are stale horrible tasting chemical filled creations that should never be served at a party.

My argument :

– Those store bought cakes are for “Special Birthday Occasions”.

– A few preservatives once a year are not going to kill anyone. (We are exposed to chemicals daily anyway right?).

– They are an affordable option for struggling families.

-Children don’t care how cake tastes – as long as it doesn’t taste like green vegetables it’s a winner.

So why did I get into an argument about it ? Because I don’t think it’s fair to make the Mother who has no creative bone in her body feel guilty for buying a cake. Just because a Mother doesn’t want to spend $300 on having a professional make a cake for their 2 year old who will probably sleep through 90% of the party anyway is no reason to put a “stigma” onto these cakes.

I usually try to make my own cakes not because I don’t want to serve something from a store . But because my children don’t pick party themes that are available in a store. (Dainty Disco, One Direction, Beach Party). My Children are lucky enough to get a party every year. (so far anyways). I can not justify spending $150 on a cake when their parties probably only cost $200 in total (My husband is reading this *wink wink*).

So what are your thoughts? Just because its not OK for you does that mean it’s not OK for everyone?

In our continuing exploration of lesser known holidays, let’s take a look at Terry Fox Day, which is probably one you know if you’re Canadian.

Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete who had a leg amputated at age 18 because of cancer and then did a cross-country run to raise awareness and funding for cancer research. He was born July 28, 1958, and the first Monday in August is celebrated as Terry Fox Day in Manitoba.

Fox is considered a kind of folk hero in Canada despite the difficulties of traveling across Canada on foot (no one on his team spoke French, for example, the weather was often bad and cars would force him off the road) and the low number of donations at the beginning of his run. He ultimately had to end his run after 143 days and 3,339 miles, or 5,373 km, because his cancer had returned and spread to his lungs, but he raised $1.7 million, and a telethon a week after he ended his run raised $10.5 million.

Check out some Terry Fox quotes collected by My Little Desire. You can learn more in this video from CBC Kids, and listen to the Terry Fox song illustrated by a first grade class.

Twinkl has a bunch of Terry Fox related activities in both English and French, including an activity pack with a maze and word search, a coring challenge, a fact sheet and coloring page.

Most of the resources I could find were at Teachers Pay Teachers, but you can learn more about the activity pack for grades 1-3 that Mrs. Bremer’s Class has made, which tells his story and has kids write things they learned and discuss why they think he is a hero.

Creative Classroom Core has a few paid resources include writing activities, reading comprehension and a Terry Fox fact book.

That Fun Reading Teacher has a K-2 singalong with a differentiated reader and activity to teach kids about him.

You can also celebrate Terry Fox Day by talking about what makes a person a hero and who the kids in your home or classroom think of as heroes. And if you’re Canadian, there are Terry Fox runs in more than 650 communities in September, so you can make plans to participate or cheer on the runners to remember his legacy.

Have you read?