There are lots of reasons to not use the traditional birthday-cake-and-candles setup: you’re serving cupcakes, your kiddo wants cake pops, you’re concerned about spreading germs. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people thought that blowing out candles on a cake all the guests were going to consume was gross. I wasn’t necessarily part of that group, but my kids frequently opted for non-traditional birthday treats which left me in a quandary – how do we sing “happy birthday” and blow out the candles?
Thankfully, I came up with some great (and easy) alternatives. So if you’re looking for birthday candle alternatives, here are some options.
Cupcake or Smash Cake: Don’t want to have the birthday boy blow out the candles and increase the germ count 1400%? {It’s science. I’m not making this up.} The easiest solution is to give them a separate cake or cupcake, and serve your guests from the main cake.
Sparkly Centerpiece: This has been my go-to when my kids opted for cake pops or cupcakes. I buy a festive balloon weight from Dollar Tree, wrap a bamboo skewer in electrical tape (to camouflage the skewer), and affix a birthday candle to the top. You can also put the centerpiece in a mason jar if it matches your decor.
Bow Centerpiece: This was more of a table centerpiece than a cake centerpiece. I found these super fun bows at Dollar Tree, wrapped some dry foam for artificial flowers in tissue paper (to disguise the green), and added traditional birthday candles that I affixed to lollipop sticks with regular scotch tape. If you don’t have flower foam, you can use something like a paper cup and decorate the outside.
Flower Arrangement: Do you have real {or fake} flowers? Attach some candles to wooden skewers or lollipop sticks and add them to the bouquet!
Sparklers: How festive is this? I just bought some flower foam, decorative flower filler, and pipe cleaners from the dollar store and made a centerpiece. TIP: have more than one person light the sparklers or else your first ones will burn out before you let the last ones lit.
You can still sing “Happy Birthday” and blow out candles if they’re not attached to the cake. Keep the tradition alive even if you’re serving cake pops or are concerned about spreading germs!
